The 2019 offseason was a busy one for Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst. In his second offseason at the helm of the franchise’s personnel department, Gutekunst headed into the start of free agency with a plan: spend money to bolster a few position groups in desperate need of help, most significantly the edge defenders.
Gutekunst did just that, first agreeing to a 4-year deal with former Washington Commander Preston Smith before landing one of the biggest fish in the pond: Za’Darius
Smith, who had spent his first four NFL seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
The Smith Brothers proved to be a formidable tandem for the next two seasons. Za’Darius recorded back-to-back Pro Bowl campaigns in 2019 and 2020, as he posted 13.5 and 12.5 sacks in the two seasons, respectively. Preston also had a double-digit sack season in the players’ first year in Green Bay with 12, though he tapered back a bit with just four in 2020.
The 2021 season brought an abrupt end to the experiment, however. A back injury and controversy about not being voted a team captain led to Za’Darius playing in just one game, the season opener, before being shut down on injured reserve. Green Bay released him in the offseason before the last year of his 4-year contract, and he signed with the Minnesota Vikings, where he posted another ten-sack Pro Bowl season. Since then, Smith has bounced around to various teams, spending time with the Browns, Lions, and Eagles before landing in Atlanta this offseason.
With a limited workload through two games with the Falcons, Smith has flashed some of the power rushing ability that made him a Pro Bowler in Green Bay and elsewhere earlier in his career. He has 2.5 sacks in just 44 defensive snaps so far this season, making him the only player on the Falcons’ roster with more than a half-sack so far this season despite being third among the team’s defensive ends in snaps. Two of those sacks came against his old teammate Aaron Rodgers in Week 1; meanwhile, Pro Football Reference has him down for a total of six QB pressures, certainly a solid rate to start the season.
Thursday night’s game will be Smith’s fourth time matching up with the Packers since his split with the team after the 2021 season, though only one of the previous three games took place at Lambeau Field. That came right away in 2022 with the Vikings, though Smith had little impact with just three tackles in a 41-17 Packers victory late in the season. Smith’s other two games also both came as a divisional opponent — the Vikings defeated the Packers in Minnesota in week 1 of that 2022 season, and Smith was a member of the Detroit Lions in 2024 when they beat Green Bay 34-31 at Ford Field on Thursday Night Football. Both of those two games saw Smith record a sack.
With starting end Samson Ebukam limited on the Falcons’ injury report this week, Smith might well be in line for a heavier workload. His snap count increased from 16 against the Steelers in Week 1 to 28 last Sunday against the Panthers. If Ebukam is significantly limited or inactive on Thursday, Smith will almost certainly be on the field for more than 30 snaps, and the Packers will need to find a way to cobble together a pass rush plan to minimize his impact on the game.
