Packers vs Za’Darius Smith; A tale of two stories

The unforgiving business side of the NFL can quickly sour relationships in the NFL. Take the Green Bay Packers and Za’Darius Smith, for example, two sides that worked tremendously well together for three years before falling apart last year.

It takes a lot to build a positive relationship like the one Smith and the Packers had. He helped establish a positive culture in the locker room following Mike McCarthy’s departure and Matt LaFleur’s hiring. He also set the tone on the football field with a massive presence constantly looming over the opposing quarterback.

After years of working well together, establishing an identity as a team, and being voted captain, it quickly fell apart.

The Green Bay Packers and Za’Darius Smith have two very different ideas about what transpired last season that led to Smith’s departure.

Smith recently opened up in an interview with Tyler Dunne in which he shared all sorts of feelings about the Packers, “That’s why I felt the way I did with Green Bay — I gave that shit my all. I put my blood, sweat… I put my back on the f–king line. I put everything. And that Year 3, I was treated bad. That’s why I’m here now. So, I can play them twice a year.”

Perhaps, it began when his teammates didn’t vote for Smith as a team captain at the start of the year. After being a captain the previous year, this was a sign of lost trust from his teammates which had to make him feel some type of way.

He had been dealing with a back injury all preseason and didn’t suit up, but tried to tough it out in Week 1. That only made the injury worse and he sat out the rest of the regular season before playing again in their postseason loss.

Smith doesn’t feel like the Packers appreciated what he was risking with his back injury and that they just tossed him to the side like he wasn’t an essential part of the team. The Packers, meanwhile, saw an opportunity to cut a player who was only available for one game last year and save a bunch of money in the process. Smith took that personally and is out for revenge.

The Packers don’t see it that same way. When Matt LaFleur was asked his thoughts about Smith’s comments, he responded, “I think we may have a different perspective on how things transpired.”

Shortly after signing with the Minnesota Vikings this offseason, Smith tweeted “Meet at the quarterback”, potentially signaling his negative intentions to wreak havoc on Aaron Rodgers. When Rodgers was asked about Smith’s comments, he took a diplomatic approach and said he agreed with LaFleur’s perspective.

This is often the case when players get tugged around in the NFL business. Unfortunately, teams treat them as dispensable and have no problem cutting or waiving them if it’s in the business’s best interest. It’s impossible to stay neutral in those situations, leading to these disagreements. Not all of them go public and I’m sure Smith will have some more to say before it’s all said and done.