Would the Green Bay Packers trade defensive end Preston Smith?
It seems unlikely, but NFL Media’s Ian Rappaport said that Smith is on “several teams’ radars” as the Nov. 5 trade deadline nears.
The 31-year-old Smith was Green Bay’s oldest player before the Packers signed 33-year-old kicker Brandon McManus earlier this week.
Smith has 2.5 sacks and 14 tackles through six games. Green Bay rotates its defensive linemen, but Smith ranks second among the Packers’ defensive ends playing 58.5% of the snaps.
Smith, now in his 10th NFL season, has missed just one game in that time — a Week 7 contest in 2021 due to an oblique injury. Smith, the poster child for reliability, played the first 102 games of his career and has played in the last 50.
Smith spent his first four years in Washington, then signed with Green Bay in free agency in March, 2019.
“I think Preston’s just the model of consistency in terms of his availability, you can always count on him, and you have been able to do that for years,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I think with a bunch of young guys in the locker room, to have a guy like him is invaluable.”
The Packers rotate defensive ends Rashan Gary (65.4% snap count), Smith, Kingsley Enagbare (41.3%) and Lukas Van Ness (39.2%). Moving Smith would give Green Bay’s younger ends more opportunities to grow, but would also be taking away a key piece of a defense that ranks ninth in scoring.
Smith has 44.0 sacks during his first five-plus years with the Packers, which ranks No. 6 on Green Bay’s all-time list. Defensive end Aaron Kampman holds the No. 5 spot with 54.0 sacks.
Smith was one of only two NFL players (T.J. Watt) with 65-plus sacks (66), five-plus interceptions (five) and five-plus forced fumbles (nine) from 2015-23. He’s also one of 11 players to post at least 8.0 sacks in each of the last three seasons (2021-23).
Smith became the first Packer with eight-plus sacks in three straight seasons (2021-23) since Kampman (2006-08). He has also posted eight-plus sacks six times since 2015, tied for the fifth most in the NFL over that span.
Smith was just one of two players in the league (Aaron Donald) with 30-plus tackles and four-plus sacks between 2015-23. He has also posted seven sacks in six seasons since 2015, tied for the seventh most in the NFL over that span.
Smith was named a Pro Bowl alternate in 2019 in his first season with the Packers after ranking No. 8 in the NFL with a career-best 12.0 sacks and finishing No. 2 on the team with 29 quarterback hits and 43 pressures.
Before the 2024 season began, Smith talked about how excited he was to play in his 10th NFL season.
“Now that I’m here, it’s always a goal to just keep on chopping,” Smith said. “Keep on chopping at the wood and making sure that I keep on doing what it takes to stay here and keep on doing what it takes to reach my own personal goals and to make sure that — because I’m so close to a lot of ’em — and I got so many opportunities and I still feel like I got so much ball left in me. I feel like I got a lot of gas left in the tank and I still have an opportunity to make big plays and play for a long time in this league.”
This post was originally published on here
