Packers’ Preston Smith Gets Sack Incentives in Exchange for Pay Cut

Veteran pass rusher Preston Smith, who is coming off a third consecutive season of at least eight sacks, accepted a cap-saving pay cut.

INDIANAPOLIS – Green Bay Packers defensive end Preston Smith accepted a pay cut to help keep his place on the roster and help the team in its pursuit of clearing as much cap space as possible ahead of the start of the league-year.

Smith was due a total of $12.4 million in 2024, including a $5.7 million base salary and $5.4 million roster bonus. A source said Smith’s base salary was cut by “a bit more than $2 million.”

As reported by ESPN.com’s Field Yates, the actual figure is $2.4 million, which cut the total compensation to $10 million. That $2.4 million will give the Packers additional salary-cap relief.

To make up for it, Smith can make additional money through sack incentives. According to a source, with a 10-sack season, he’ll recoup most of the lost money. With 12 sacks, he’ll make a bit more than previously scheduled. With 14 sacks, he’ll collect a $4 million bonus.

Smith hasn’t reached 10 sacks since he had a dozen in Year 1 with Green Bay in 2019. However, he dropped into coverage 41 times last year, so there will be additional opportunities to rush the quarterback.

The move has Green Bay about $9.5 million under the $255.4 million salary cap.

Unlike this week’s restructure of Rashan Gary’s contract, this move will have no future salary-cap ramifications.

Smith, who turned 31 in November and is the oldest player on the defensive side of the ball – and would be the oldest player on the roster if the team releases David Bakhtiari – is coming off another strong season.

Smith started all 17 games for a second consecutive season. He had eight sacks – his third consecutive season with at least eight – and 21 quarterback hits, according to the official league stats. Over the final five games (including playoffs), he had at least a half-sack in four games for a total of 4.5.

He had 45 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, which ranked 44th among edge defenders. He cut his missed-tackle count from 15 to six. Plus, he’s been consistently the best run defender among Green Bay’s outside linebackers.

Now, he is headed back to defensive end in Jeff Hafley’s schematic switch. Really, the change will be rather trivial for Smith, other than he won’t have to cover Davante Adams or Justin Jefferson.

The Packers had to tread carefully with Smith. Kingsley Enagbare will miss the first half of the season with a torn ACL, so they already are a man down behind Smith, Gary and 2023 first-round pick Lukas Van Ness. Had Smith declined the pay cut, the Packers would have been precariously thin at the position.

In five seasons with the Packers, Smith has 41.5 sacks. Officially, he is tied with Ezra Johnson for sixth place on the franchise career list.

Smith, who is under contract through the 2026 season with future base salaries of $12.0 million and $12.6 million, set the tone after the season-ending loss at San Francisco.

“We’ve got to have a championship offseason,” he said, “so everything rolls into the season because, at the end of the day, those games come back to following your training, trusting your technique and trusting everything you worked hard for this offseason.

“Coming into this next season, we’ve got to focus on the things that we can improve on, make sure that our weaknesess are our strengths, and we improve on the things we’re good at.”

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