Green Bay Packers sign Preston Smith: Grade, reaction and more
It’s been a busy few days for the Green Bay Packers. And the franchise has been showing the cheddar. Their latest addition is outside linebacker Preston Smith.
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For a franchise that usually relies on the draft to restock its talent base, the Green Bay Packers have certainly broken form in 2019. So far this offseason, the club has added safety Adrian Amos (Chicago Bears) and outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith (Baltimore Ravens). Now add another bookend to defensive coordinator Mike Pettine’s unit.
The club is bringing another outside linebacker in four-year pro Preston Smith, late of the Washington Redskins. That team’s second-round pick in 2015 has been a 16-game starter each of the past three seasons and over that span has totaled 16.5 sacks, nine passes defensed, four interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries. He comes off a year in which he racked up a career-best 53 tackles to go along with four quarterback traps.
Second-year general manager Brian Gutekunst and the organization have been extremely aggressive these last two days, especially in regards to fixing a defense that finished 18th in the league this past season.
Contract Details
Via NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Smith will sign a four-year contract with a base value of $52 million. There’s a $16 million signing bonus and more than half of the deal ($27.5 million) comes over the first two seasons.
National Reaction
Za’Darius Smith, Kenny Clark, Mike Daniels & Preston Smith. Hello, Packers pass rush.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 12, 2019
The #Packers look to be moving on from Clay Matthews and Nick Perry, who have been their edge guys for the past seven years. Preston Smith will be a starter on the outside and Za'Darius Smith will be more of a nickel rusher. Preston Smith has big upside.
— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) March 12, 2019
Packers are releasing Nick Perry after agreeing to terms Preston Smith and ZaDarius Smith. Was set to make $11M this season. Will b e a market for him for sure. Young enough and is healthy after battling injuries in 2018
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 12, 2019
Interesting factoid about Preston Smith: he's never missed a game in his four-year career. A perfect 64 for 64. Know how #Packers deal with injuries at edge rush basically every year? Bet Brian Gutekunst will like getting some stability there.
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) March 12, 2019
A-. Smith is the league’s 19th-ranked edge performer according to <a href=. OLB. Green Bay Packers. PRESTON SMITH
The Green Bay Packers are coming off consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1990 and ’91. The defense certainly deserves its share of the blame. But Smith is the latest move in what has been quite a haul for the organization.