The Detroit Lions have made a case to be considered a top contender in the NFC, bolstering their pass rush ahead of Tuesday's NFL trade deadline by acquiring star defensive back Za'Darius Smith from the Cleveland Browns, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter .

The deal will help the Lions offset the loss of star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who underwent surgery to repair his broken tibia and fibula last month and was placed on injured reserve. Detroit's depth chart now looks like this:

LDE: James Houston, Pat O'Connor, Isaiah Thomas, Aidan Hutchinson (IR)

RDE: Za'Darius SmithJosh Paschal, John Cominsky (IR), Marcus Davenport (IR)

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that the Lions also received a 2026 seventh-round pick as part of the deal, while sending the Browns a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick. According to Spotrac, Detroit now only has its first, second, fourth, sixth and seventh round picks in 2025.

Meanwhile, Cleveland has a pick in every round of the 2025 draft, including two picks in the third and sixth rounds, according to Spotrac.

The Browns also removed Smith's $605,000 cap hit from their salary cap for the remainder of the 2024 season, which isn't much for the Lions to add to their salary cap. Smith has a non-guaranteed salary of $11 million for the 2025 season. According to Spotrac, Cleveland recorded $4.63 million in dead money hits this year and $16.1 million in 2025.