Gary Produces Pain Despite Elbow Injury

When Rashan Gary was injured vs. Seattle, position coach Mike Smith offered himself to the football gods.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Mike Smith is a glutton for punishment.

He knocked out a tooth while trying to change the oil on some lawn-and-garden equipment. He broke a wrist while finishing his kids’ treehouse.

When his star outside linebacker, Rashan Gary, suffered an elbow injury vs. Seattle that Smith feared was major, he offered himself to the football gods.

“I said a long prayer on the way home driving from the game,” Smith recalled on Thursday. “I told God, ‘Break my other arm, wrist, I don’t care, leg. I’ll take it to get his butt back.’”

Smith got Gary back without having to visit his dentist or put on a cast. Gary missed the game the next week at Minnesota but returned for the showdown against the Rams before the bye.

This week, he’s not even on the injury report.

“The thing about Rashan is he’s tough. There’s not a lot of guys that would have came back,” Smith said. “He got really lucky. Thank(fully), God answered it. I’m just glad he’s OK. He’s a tough kid. He sat out a week and came out and played. Not a lot of guys that’ll do that. Knowing that he’s in a lot of pain, he’s tough. We all know that and how much he loves football. Thank God he’s playing well and he’s OK. That would’ve been a bad one.”

With the team having signed Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith in free agency, general manager Brian Gutekunst’s decision to use the 12th pick of the 2019 draft on Gary, a talented player with ho-hum production at Michigan, was scrutinized. Gutekunst and Mike Smith – who routinely gushed over Gary’s potential throughout a quiet rookie season – have been proven overwhelmingly correct.

While his 6.5 sacks and two forced fumbles aren’t overly impressive and probably will leave him out in the cold in terms of postseason accolades, he’s seventh among edge defenders with 50 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. Of the 53 edge defenders with at least 240 pass-rushing snaps, Gary is third in PFF’s pass-rush win rate.

With explosive athleticism, brute force and a hunger to improve, Smith said Gary “hasn’t even scratched the surface” of his immense potential.

That’s good news for the Packers. And potential bad news for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields on Sunday.

“Rashan deserves all the credit,” Smith said. “He puts the time in. A night won’t go by when he won’t text me about something. He’ll shoot me a text, make sure I put this cut-up on there. He puts the work in in practice and at night. Truly every day he finds something to get better at. That’s how I challenge those guys. It’s no fake, phony, ‘I’m trying to be a teacher’s pet’ type deal. It’s not. It’s not.

“Everything I give him, everything, every little detail is written down and he takes it right to the game. Still things we’ve got to improve on but couldn’t be more proud of him. Every day he does something where I’m like, ‘He’s getting it. He’s getting it and he’s getting it.’ He’s one of those guys where once he does it a couple times and he feels it and he sees it and looks at it and walk through it and do it again, it’s pretty good. Still gives me goosebumps when I see him every day. Very fortunate to have him.”

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Rashan Gary isn't a super-villain yet but he's trending the right way entering Year 3.

Our #Packers roster countdown continues with Bane Gary.https://t.co/lqeQgQSaZe

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 26, 2021