New Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith is now on his fifth NFL team, and in his talk with the media today in Detroit, he talked about how eager he is to play against two of his former teams, the Packers and Vikings.
Smith said he has no ill will toward any of his former teams, but it will mean a little extra to him to play against the Packers in Week 14 and the Vikings in Week 18.
“When I got the phone call, they told me I was coming here, I had that in the back of my mind that I get to come back to the North and play these guys again,” Smith said. “But all is well, I love those teams too, the cheese heads, great fan base. And going to the Vikings with the Skol was big too. But now I’m in the right place. . . . I get to face them twice so I can’t wait. It’s going to be big.”
Smith entered the NFL as a fourth-round draft pick of the Ravens in 2015, went to the Packers in 2019 and the Vikings in 2022 before signing with the Browns in 2023. Now he’s hoping he’s on his best team yet with the Lions in 2024.