NFL insider thinks the Lions will get a deal done to acquire Za'Darius Smith

There has been plenty of reports suggesting the Detroit Lions have interest in trading for Cleveland Browns edge rusher Za'Darius Smith, but it takes two to tango in trade talks. A loss Sunday to the Los Angeles Chargers seemed sure to push the Browns into full sell-mode, and as that was happening Sunday afternoon Pro Football Talk reported the expectation the Lions would get a trade done for Smith very soon.

As of early Monday afternoon, there have been no reporters of a Smith acquisition, or any trade for the Lions. That doesn't mean Mike Florio was wrong or will be proven wrong, just that a deal is not done yet.

That being said, it'd be nice to see some further sentiment pointing to Smith becoming a Lion. And no, not his Instagram post from Sunday showing him wearing blue. Reporter sentiment, to be precise.

ESPN's Adam Schefter made his regular Monday visit to "The Pat McAfee Show", with Tuesday's trade deadline as an automatic prominent topic for Schefter to share what he's hearing.

Adam Schefter thinks Lions and Browns will get a Za'Darius Smith trade done

When prompted by McAfee along the lines of "how do we know what's real?" in trade deadline reporting, Schefter used Smith's name (after McAfee had mentioned Smith) as the starting point to his overall answer.

"We’ll use Za’Darius Smith. Do I think the Lions and Browns have had significant talks? Yeah. Do I think they have agreed on compensation? No. I think they’re still arguing about that," Schefter said. "Could there be another team that steps in? Yes. Do I think, ultimately, the Browns and Lions will figure out a way to get it done? I do."

"But things change, you never know. But I think there have been enough conversations. You can go on with almost every player. Teams are checking in on all these guys. ‘Hey, any interest in this? No? Yes?’ There are always teams checking in, just to kind of get a feel because they don’t want to miss a way to try to upgrade their roster, whether they’re acquiring a player or draft pick compensation," Schefter added. "We could look at the teams right now with two wins and say would any of those teams be in the market to move on and trade some players to get draft pick compensation? You know the winning teams want to upgrade. So that’s sort of where we’re at, with teams continuing to check in with one another.”

As Schefter reinforced, things can change before a trade is all the way done. In the case of Smith, multiple teams are likely interested in him. Maybe one of those other teams makes a better offer than the Lions are willing to, and they will have to pivot to another option.

At this point it would be a surprise if the Lions don't get a deal done with the Browns and bring Smith to Detroit. But it's not done until it's done, and we're not quite there yet as of about 25 hours before Tuesday afternoon's deadline.