Green Bay Packers: Matt LaFleur “Hopeful” Za’Darius Smith will Practice this Week

The Green Bay Packers were fortunate, as they were able to stay relatively healthy throughout training camp and the preseason, not suffering any major injuries.

However, they were without two of their star players. David Bakhtiari was of course on the PUP list as he continued to recover from his ACL injury—this was not a surprise. But the team was also without Za’Darius Smith, who began camp on the NFI list, and participated in only one practice.

While there was some minor speculation during this time that Smith was sitting out of practice because he was upset with his contract situation, GM Brian Gutekunst was asked about that and quickly shut it down:

"“No. We worked something earlier to kind of move money around and stuff — earlier, like right at the beginning of training camp, I believe,” said Gutekunst via the Wisconsin State Journal.“Listen, I don’t really talk about the details of contracts, but this specific thing, he’s got an injury that we’re working through.”"

So although Smith’s contract doesn’t appear to be an issue — at least not right now — there was some legitimate concern surrounding Smith’s status for Week 1 against New Orleans due to the back injury that kept him sidelined:

"“That’s a great question. I’m not quite sure when we’ll get Z back,” LaFleur said via Packers Wire. “He’s injured right now. I know he wants to be out there, but we’re going to be smart with him. He’s a big-time player for us. Yeah, it definitely is a concern.”"

It goes without saying, but Smith’s presence would be greatly missed on this Green Bay Packers’ defensive front, and put even more pressure on Preston Smith and Rashan Gary to perform.

There is the obvious, which is the production that Smith adds, tallying 32 sacks and 164 pressures, according to PFF ($$), over his first two seasons in Green Bay, but he is also one of this team’s leaders both on and off the field.

Not to mention that Smith’s absence would mean that Green Bay will also have to rely on the inexperienced Jonathan Garvin or Chauncey Rivers to play meaningful snaps as well.

But the Green Bay Packers did get some good news on Monday. During Matt LaFleur’s press conference, he mentioned that he was “hopeful” that Smith would be able to practice this week.

Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who was in attendance at Monday’s practice, would report that Smith was in fact at practice and also participating in individual drills—which is certainly a good sign.

I imagine that the Green Bay Packers will ease Smith back in and reevaluate after each day to make sure that there aren’t any setbacks. The next step for Smith as he works his way back will be participating in team drills.

Overall, this is certainly a good sign, but we still have to see how the rest of the week plays out before we know whether or not Smith will play this coming Sunday. It’s a long season, and as much as we’d all love to see Za’Darius on the field against New Orleans, it’s better to take things slowly if that’s what’s best.