Green Bay Packers: Offenses Can’t Escape the Versatile Za’Darius Smith

It was a quiet few weeks for Za’Darius Smith, but it is only a matter of time before he and his versatility wreak havoc on opposing quarterbacks.

Despite the lack of recognition from many in the NFL media, Za’Darius Smith put together an All-Pro worthy season in 2019 with the Green Bay Packers. Smith’s 13.5 sacks ranked as the fifth most in the NFL, while his 105 total pressures were the most.

This season, however, began a bit slower. Entering Monday Night’s game against Atlanta, Smith had just three total pressures along with two sacks. Although he did also have a crucial forced fumble against New Orleans and it just so happened to be off Taysom Hill. But I digress.

If we extrapolate that level of production out for the entire season, Smith would finish with roughly 10 sacks and 16 pressures. Not a bad sack total, but overall a far cry from his 2019 production.

While even Smith himself admitted that the 2020 season had gotten off to a slow start, it was really just a matter of time before he broke out and took a game over. Well, unfortunately for the Falcons, that breakout came against them on Monday. Smith left that game with three sacks, seven total pressures – basically video game numbers – and a game ball from Matt LaFleur. Not to mention that he is now tied for the league lead in sacks with Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.

After playing nearly 84 percent of the defensive snaps last season, Smith has been on the field for over 90 percent of the snaps this year. Although conventional thought was that the emergence of Rashan Gary would afford Smith more rest, he actually sees the field more in an attempt by Mike Pettine to get Smith, Gary, and Preston Smith on the field together as often as possible.

And being able to do this is a credit to Za’Darius Smith’s versatility.

Late last season, we saw Smith spend more time in a rover role, lining up over the center and guards and taking 79 total snaps from the box. This year through a quarter of the season, Smith is on pace for 120 snaps as a rover. What this does is it makes it difficult for the offense to know where Smith will be rushing from, it allows Smith to use his natural ability and instincts to shoot gaps between blockers, and it creates more one-on-one matchups for him. Meanwhile, Preston and Gary can rush from the traditional edge-rusher positions.

Or to put it simply, it stresses the heck out of the offensive line.

While Smith is known for his pass-rushing ability, he’s also been getting after the ball carrier quite well this season. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) has credited him with nine stops this year, and for those wondering, stops are tackles that result in a loss for the offense. This is the fifth-highest total by an edge-rusher through four games.

Whether as a rover, traditional edge-rusher, or against the run, Za’Darius Smith is about as close to a one-man wrecking crew as you will see. And it’s that versatility that not only creates opportunities for himself but his teammates as well (via Packers.com).

"“You don’t know where he’s going to go,” inside linebacker Christian Kirksey said. “When you have a guy that high-caliber, you can use him in many ways and that’s the advantage for us on defense, that he can play good in the run and also play good in the pass and he’s versatile to be able to play all over the field. And he’s smart enough to play all over the field. Having a player like that definitely helps us.”"