Za'Darius Smith ponied up a little to get No. 99 upon his arrival to the Lions

It's been a whirlwind few days for Za'Darius Smith. The morning of trade deadline day, Tuesday, he was traded from the Cleveland Browns to the Detroit Lions. It was a long-rumored move, and one Smith was apparently aware of being possible soon after the Lions lost Aidan Hutchinson, but it's still a big change in the middle of a season.

With that in mind, and with this being the Browns' bye week, the Lions gave Smith a couple days off before his first practice with the team on Friday. He of course also met with Lions reporters for the first time on Friday,

Over the course of his career Smith was worn No. 90 (Baltimore Ravens, 2015-2018), No. 55 (Green Bay Packers, 2019-2021; Minnesota Vikings, 2022) and No. 99 (Browns, 2023, 2024). So a question, however minor in the bigger picture, quickly became what number he would wear as a Lion.

Images from during and around Friday's practice showed Smith wearing No. 99, as was sort of expected. But that number was taken on the Lions' roster, by defensive tackle Brodric Martin, who was revealed to have switched to No. 96 with Smith taking No. 99.

Za'Darius Smith ponied up to get No. 99 from Brodric Martin

If a new player on a team wants a number he has worn previously but it's taken, there's usually a transaction made to persuade the incumbent player to give up the number. Most of the time, the player who wants the number pays to get it.

Smith said he was offered number options in the 60's, 70's or 80's if he wanted, to which he said "no way."

"I was like, who has No. 99? They told me who he was and we looked his number up and called him real quick,” Smith said, of Martin. “Thankful to him, a guy from Alabama, Tuscaloosa, had a chance to talk to him a little while, and I had to pay up a little bit, but all is well. I got No. 99 now."

How much did Smith pay Martin for No. 99?

He didn't specifically say when asked what the "going rate" to get a jersey number is among NFL players, but gave a ballpark figure.

"The going rate? There’s three zeros on the end of it,” Smith said. “I’m not going to tell you the exact price, but for sure, he’s going to have some good money. Put some gas in his car."

Smith really wanted No. 99, and Martin got a little supplemental income to give it up. That's what we call a "mutually beneficial" transaction.