Kentucky is taking over the Detroit Lions defensive line room

The Detroit Lions are a bonafide Super Bowl contender. Some would consider Dan Campbell’s team the favorite. After holding onto both coordinators after last season’s NFC Championship Game run, the NFC North franchise entered 2024 with arguably the best roster in the NFL and have played like it ripping off seven wins in the first eight games.

Detroit knows that they have a chance to win the franchise’s first Super Bowl this year. The front office at Ford Field is all-in. To help replace the production lost when former top-five pick Aidan Hutchinson was lost for the year, the Lions got aggressive at the trade deadline. Detroit acquired 10-year veteran Za’Darius Smith from the Cleveland Browns for a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick. The Lions got back a 2026 seventh-round pick. The move gives this defense some more pass rush pop.

Smith, 32, has recorded 23 tackles, seven QB hits, and five sacks in nine games this season. Now the pass rusher will get to play for a defense that is often playing for ahead. That should equal more pass rushing opportunities. In Detroit, the former Kentucky defensive lineman will reunite with another former Kentucky defensive lineman.

Smith will be playing with a Paschal again.

“He’s a great player. Kentucky dude too. So good to have another Kentucky guy in the room,” Lions defensive lineman Josh Paschal told the media on Wednesday. “He actually played with my brother (TraVaughn) back in college, so I know him a little bit from the past. So I’m excited to have him here.”

Kentucky connection pic.twitter.com/BqsnBr0e6P

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) November 7, 2024

Paschal is a former second-round pick who is now in year three in the NFL. The Detroit Lions will have a true Kentucky connection in the defensive line room as Smith and Paschal will finally get to play on the same team.

Josh Paschal has non-cancerous mass removed

After playing in the first six games for Detroit and earning two starting assignment, Josh Paschal missed the last two games with an illness. The 24-year-old was getting a non-cancerous mass removed from his shoulder.

After the health scare, everything is good with Paschal and the young pro is ready to return to the lineup for the Lions in Week 10.

“It was definitely frustrating,” Paschal said of his two-game absence. “But I’m glad to be back now and ready to get after it this week in practice and set myself up for a big game on Sunday night.”

“I can’t even put it into words. I’m just ready to get back after it. It’s a big game to come back to, Sunday Night Football, I’m just ready to get back and help my team.”

Za’Darius Smith and Josh Paschal will be on the field together as the Lions continue their run at a world championship.