Green Bay Packers defensive end Preston Smith has missed just one game in his 10-year career.
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Will the Green Bay Packers trade defensive end Preston Smith?
Although it seems unlikely, NFL Media’s Ian Rapaport said Smith is “on the radar of multiple teams” as the Nov. 5 trade deadline approaches.
Smith, 31, was Green Bay’s oldest player until the Packers signed 33-year-old kicker Brandon McManus earlier this week.
Smith has 2.5 sacks and 14 tackles for loss through six games. Green Bay rotates its defensive linemen, but Smith ranks second among Packers defensive ends, playing 58.5% of the snaps.
Smith, currently in his 10th NFL season, has only missed one game in that span due to an oblique injury, the Week 7 game in 2021. The epitome of reliability, Smith played in the first 102 games of his career and the last 50.
Smith spent his first four years in Washington before signing with Green Bay as a free agent in March 2019.
“I think Preston is just a model of stability in terms of availability. You can always rely on him and he’s been doing that for years,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “I think having a player like him in a locker room with a lot of young players is invaluable.”
The Packers are rotating defensive ends Rashan Gary (65.4% of snaps), Smith, Kingsley Enagbare (41.3%) and Lucas Van Ness (39.2%). Smith’s departure will give Green Bay’s young team an opportunity to grow, but it will also take away a key piece of a defense that ranks ninth in scoring.
Smith has 44.0 sacks over his first five years with the Packers, which ranks sixth on Green Bay’s all-time list. Defensive end Aaron Kampmann ranks fifth with 54.0 sacks.
Smith is one of only two NFL players (T.J. Watt) to record 65 or more sacks (66), 5 or more interceptions (5) and 5 or more forced fumbles (9) from 2015-2023. ) was one of them. He is also one of 11 players with at least 8.0 sacks in each of the past three seasons (2021-23).
Smith became the first Packer player since Kampmann (2006-08) to have eight or more sacks in three consecutive seasons (2021-23). He has also recorded eight or more sacks six times since 2015, the fifth-most in the NFL during that span.
Smith was just one of two players in the league (Aaron Donald) to record 30 or more tackles and four or more sacks between 2015 and 2023. He also has seven sacks in six seasons since 2015, the seventh-most in the NFL during that span.
Smith ranked eighth in the NFL with a career-high 12.0 sacks and was named a Pro Bowl alternate in 2019 in his first season with the Packers after finishing second on the team with 29 quarterback hits and 43 pressures. .
Before the 2024 season began, Smith expressed how excited he was to play in his 10th NFL season.
“It’s always been a goal to come here and just keep ticking,” Smith said. “To continue to cut trees and continue to do what it takes to stay here, to continue to do what it takes to achieve my personal goals, and to make sure that. Because I’m very close to a lot of guys.”They – and I had a lot of chances and I feel like I still have a lot of balls left in me. I feel like I have a lot of gas left in the tank, I still have a chance to make some big plays, and I think I can be in this league for a long time. ”
