Green Bay Packers Cut ’em or Keep ’em & Prediction: Za’Darius Smith
By Paul Bretl
Now up in the Cut ’em or Keep ’em and Prediction series for the Green Bay Packers is Za’Darius Smith.
With the Green Bay Packers about $51 million over the 2022 salary cap — with other expenses not accounted for — Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball will have plenty of financial maneuvering to go through this offseason in an effort to get under the cap while also trying to field a competitive team. That means making some veteran cuts as one way to create that precious cap space.
In this series, I will be going through each potential cap casualty, discussing why the Packers could keep that player, why they might move on, as well as a final prediction on what I think Green Bay will do.
If you’ve missed any of the previous players that I’ve taken a look at, you can find them below.
Why the Green Bay Packers would keep Za’Darius Smith
2022 cap hit: $27.66 million
Alright, if the Green Bay Packers were to keep Za’Darius Smith for the 2022 season, there is a zero percent chance that he is playing on his current contract. With 2022 being the final year of his deal, the team would either add voided years as part of a restructure or give him an extension–which the two sides were reportedly working on last spring.
Unfortunately, Smith would miss pretty much the entire 2021 season with a back injury, playing just 37 total snaps between Week 1 and the NFC Divisional Round. Smith would record two pressures and a sack per PFF ($$).
But the reason that Green Bay would bring him back is because of what he did during his first two seasons as a Packer when he was one of the most productive edge rushers in football.
During that two-year span, Smith would tally 164 pressures, including a whopping 105 in 2019, along with 32 sacks, and he was named a second-team All-Pro in 2020. He also quickly emerged as one of the leaders in the locker room. The obvious hope on the Packers’ part in bringing him back would be that he would be able to regain some of his dominant form—pairing that with Gary would be quite the formidable duo.
It’s also important to note that the edge rusher depth heading into 2022 is also a big question mark for this Green Bay Packers team, and as good as Rashan Gary was this past season, he can’t do it all himself.
Even if Smith were to return, I would still have edge rusher as one of the bigger needs that the Packers have to address this offseason, but it without a doubt becomes priority No. 1 if both Preston and Za’Darius are cut to save cap space.