Chris Smith is entering his fourth season with the Detroit Lions. However, he has never made the roster out of training camp and has 46 career snaps. So, while he was not on many people’s radar to start training camp, he is firmly in the mix to make the Lions roster now.
Colton Pouncy of The Athletic revealed his 53-man roster projection. It was notable that he has Smith on the roster. Pouncy added that Smith is still not a lock to make the team, but he does think he fits.
“Smith was a toss-up, but the Lions could use some size after losing DJ Reader and Roy Lopez,” wrote Pouncy.
This was after his preseason performance. When asked to assess the performance of Smith, head coach Dan Campbell had a great anecdote revealing why beat reporters should start to get used to the name.
“Chris Smith, I thought, played his tail off,” said Campbell. “I mean, one clip, we only got ten on defense, and he just, he’s smart enough to say, you know what, fine, he gets to a zero nose to balance out the front, we’ve only got three, and he battles in there, he takes three guys on.”
Campbell is saying that the defensive line was a man short. Instead of four across, they had two ends and just Smith along the interior. So, instead of having a gap wide open next to him, Smith slid into a nose tackle gap to take on the three interior linemen on his own. He turned the four-man front look into a three-man front look.
Campbell loved it. That is the stuff that will get you attention as an end-of-the-roster player. It could get him on the 53-man roster.
Detroit Lions Veteran Chris Smith Makes Push For 53-Man Roster
GettyLions GM Brad Holmes.
Smith was a UDFA from Notre Dame in 2023. He made the Lions’ practice squad out of training camp in 2023 and 2024. However, he got called up to the active roster in Week 1 of the 2024 season. He was sent back down, but he did get called up for four more games.
Still, those five games are the only games he has been active for in his NFL career. He does have 294 preseason snaps with the Lions, including 29 in the 2026 preseason opener. He recorded a tackle in the Lions loss.
Chris Smith is Fighting in a Crowded Lions Defensive Line Room
Pouncy listed Aidan Hutchinson, Tyleik Williams, Alim McNeill, and Tyler Lacy as the four starters on the line.
Then, he put D.J. Wonnum, Derrick Moore, Ahmed Hassanein, Levi Onwuzurike, Skyler Gill-Howard, and Chris Smith as the reserves.
This left Payton Turner, Mekhi Wingo, Anthony Lucas, Tyre West, Eric O’Neill, Myles Adams, Ben Stille, and Aidan Keanaaina off the roster.
Wingo and West are notable as former draft picks. However, the rookie West has not been healthy enough to make the team, and Wingo has had enough chances on the roster. Eric O’Neill has had an impactful preseason, but that likely has him on a practice squad radar, not on the 53-man roster radar.
So, if Smith can hold off the young draft picks, he has a good chance to stick on the team as one of the last players on the roster.
Lions Veteran With 46 Career Snaps Emerges as Surprise Roster Pick