Paul Bretl | 11/5/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The trade deadline has come and gone for the Packers and no, they didn’t make an acquisition, however, they didn’t stand pat either.
About 90 minutes before the trade deadline hit, it was reported that the team was trading defensive end Preston Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In return, Green Bay received a 2025 seventh-round pick.
“I just want to say thanks to Preston Smith,” said Brian Gutekunst on Tuesday afternoon. “2019, we signed four guys and didn’t really know how that was going to shake out. For him to be here still 5 ½ years later and produce like he’s produced, he’s done a lot of good things for us. I’m really appreciative. He played a lot of good football for us and won a lot of games. I wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
In the weeks leading up to the trade deadline, it was reported by Ian Rapoport that with numerous teams in search of pass rush help, Smith was someone that organizations were reaching out to the Packers about.
Smith joined the Packers during the 2019 offseason as one of four significant free agent additions, along with Za’Darius Smith, Adrian Amos, and Billy Turner. Now in his sixth season with the team, Smith had been extremely durable, missing only one game during that span, in addition to totaling 41.5 sacks in his first five seasons, and being a leader and mentor within the locker room.
“Man, any guy in this locker room will tell you Preston is Preston,” said Rashan Gary during offseason programs. “Preston is the heartbeat, man. He’s going on 10 years. I’ve been with him my whole six years. Everybody feeds off him. When Preston talks, everybody be quiet and listen because when 10 years talk, he’s coming from experience and understanding. That’s what P brings, man, just a leader through in and through outs.”
However, despite all of that, this move doesn’t come as a complete shock either–and not only because there were reports of other teams being interested in him.
Operating as a 3-4 edge rusher for much of his career, the shift to Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 hand in the dirt defensive scheme came as a change for Smith. Although we don’t definitively know what role–if any–that played in his on-field production this season. Smith’s numbers have taken a tumble.
Through nine games, he is responsible for generating just 10 pressures and ranks 143rd in pressure rate among players with at least 100 pass rush snaps, according to TruMedia. The writing also seemed to be on the wall in recent weeks, with Smith’s playing time decreasing. After averaging nearly 40 snaps per game over the first five games, Smith was playing on average just 27 snaps per game over the last four, including a season-low of 21 against Detroit—and as Gutekunst mentioned, that trend of decreased playing time was only going to continue.
“I think it’s no different than last year,” said Gutekunst of the trade referencing the Rasul Douglas trade from 2023. “There’s some players we want to see. I think that the trend of how the snaps were going was only going to continue that way.
“I think again, it wasn’t something that we set out to do. It wasn’t something that we called a bunch of teams saying ‘hey are you interested in Preston Smith’ because we know his value. But when the opportunity came and we got the phone call, we just thought it made sense for us for what we’re trying to do.”
This is a move for the Packers that will provide some salary cap relief as well. Instead of releasing Smith in the offseason, the team restructured his contract, which helped lower his 2024 cap hit, but inflated his salary impact in future seasons.
But now, with Smith in Pittsburgh, who will take on his contract as is, the Packers will create $2.023 million in 2024. In 2025, Green Bay has now freed up $7.62 million, along with a hefty $18.21 million in 2026.
Now the big question is how the Packers make up for Smith’s absence. Realistically, it’s going to take a group effort, with more on the plates of Lukas Van Ness and JJ Enagbare, along with the team relying on Arron Mosby–who saw some third down snaps against Detroit–and Brenton Cox as well.
“We’re excited to see both of those guys, see some more snaps,” said Gutekunst. “I think certainly they’ve earned it. I thought they did a really nice job in training camp, and they’ve continued that through practice, and I think Mosby’s done a really nice job on teams for us. Brenton’s just really, I think he’s eager, and we’re eager to see him.”
Overall, the Packers haven’t gotten enough consistent production out of their pass rush this season. According to ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, which measures how often the Packers’ pass rushers win their matchup within 2.5 seconds, Green Bay will enter their bye week ranked 29th. The success that they have found in getting after the quarterback has often come from manufactured pressures designed by Hafley.
When it comes to the Packers defense as a whole reaching its ceiling this season, an improved four-man pass rush over the second half of the season will be a must, they’ll now have to do that without Smith and relying heavily on several young players.
“I think from that entire group, we need more from those guys as we move forward into the second half of the season and I think we’ll get that,” Gutekunst said of the defensive front. “I think as the last few games have trended, Lukas’ snaps have kinda already gone up to where he’s kinda gonna be probably and J.J. and then those guys, so I like that group. I like the way they work. They gotta continue to keep pushing and I think the addition of some of these guys getting some more snaps will help that.”