The 90 to 1 Green Bay Packers roster countdown: No. 3 – Za’Darius Smith
The Green Bay Packers, and their 90 players on the roster, are in the midst of their first training camp under coach Matt LaFleur. In an annual tradition from my 11 years at Packer Report, I rank the players in order of importance from No. 90 to No. 1. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. Our rankings take into account talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than the ranking, we hope you learn something about each player. (Note: The start of this series can be found with my former employer.)
No. 3: OLB Za’Darius Smith ($7,250,000 cap)
With last year’s starting duo of Clay Matthews and Nick Perry combining for a feeble five sacks last season, general manager Brian Gutekunst knew he needed to make bold changes. The boldest of all was opening the vault for Za’Darius Smith.
Smith was on the Packers’ radar before the 2015 draft, but the Baltimore Ravens selected him a handful of picks before Green Bay was on the clock in the fourth round. Gutekunst followed Smith’s career and pounced in free agency with a monster four-year, $66 million contract.
“Kind of the player he’s become is what we saw,” Gutekunst said after signing Smith. “That defense in Baltimore, he was stuck behind some really, really good players. There were times we thought (getting him here) might be a possibility. It didn’t happen, but I’m glad we got him today.”
In terms of average salary, Smith is the 10th-highest paid edge rusher in the league. In all, 12 edge defenders are earning more than $15 million per season.
Chicago’s Khalil Mack, $23,500,000: A four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, Mack has 53 sacks and 15 forced fumbles in five seasons. With Chicago, he turned a good defense into a great defense with 12.5 sacks and six forced fumbles.
Dallas’ Demarcus Lawrence, $21,000,000: In five seasons, Lawrence has 34 sacks and nine forced fumbles. He’s overcome the injury bug to post 26 sacks and six forced fumbles in back-to-back Pro Bowl campaigns.
Kansas City’s Frank Clark, $20,800,000: In four seasons with Seattle, Clark tallied 35 sacks and eight forced fumbles. He had a career-high 13 sacks and three forced fumbles last season.
Denver’s Von Miller, $19,083,333: In eight seasons, the three-time All-Pro has 98 sacks and 26 forced fumbles. In the seven seasons in which he’s been healthy, Miller reached double-digits sacks and was picked for the Pro Bowl each time. That includes 14.5 sacks and four forced fumbles last year. Miller’s career sack total ranks second among active players.
Detroit’s Trey Flowers , $18,000,000: After missing most of his rookie season, Flowers recorded 21 sacks and five forced fumbles the past three seasons for New England. That includes career highs of 7.5 sacks and three forced fumbles last year.
New Orleans’ Cameron Jordan, $17,533,333: A four-time Pro Bowler and one-time All-Pro, Jordan has 71.5 sacks and 10 forced fumbles in eight seasons. He piled up 12 sacks last year.
Cleveland’s Olivier Vernon, $17,000,000: In seven seasons, Vernon has 51 sacks and seven forced fumbles. He made his first Pro Bowl last year with the Giants with his seven sacks. He’s recorded between 6.5 sacks and 8.5 sacks each of the past six seasons.
San Francisco’s Dee Ford, $17,000,000: Coached in Kansas City last season by new Packers outside linebackers coach Mike Smith, Ford had a Pro Bowl season with 13 sacks and a league-leading seven forced fumbles. In five seasons, Ford has 30.5 sacks and nine forced fumbles.
Arizona’s Chandler Jones, $16,500,000: Jones has 77 sacks and 19 forced fumbles in seven seasons. After a league-leading 17 sacks and 28 tackles for losses in 2017, Jones had “only” 13 sacks last year. Surprisingly, he’s only a two-time Pro Bowler.
Green Bay’s Za'Darius Smith, $16,500,000: In four seasons, Smith has 18.5 sacks. After recording 9.5 sacks and starting only eight games in his first three seasons, Smith blossomed with 8.5 sacks and one forced fumble while starting eight times last year.
L.A. Chargers’ Melvin Ingram , $16,000,000: In seven seasons, Ingram has 42 sacks and 14 forced fumbles. He’s recorded at least seven sacks each of the past four seasons, including eight sacks and five forced fumbles in 2016. He’s made the Pro Bowl the last two seasons.
Houston’s Jadeveon Clowney, $15,967,200: In four healthy seasons, Clowney has 29 sacks and four forced fumbles. He’s made the Pro Bowl each of the last three seasons, including 2017 (9.5 sacks) and 2018 (nine sacks).
So, one of these guys is not like the other. And that guy is Smith, whose numbers simply don’t hold a candle to the other high-priced edge rushers.
The Packers, however, see an ascending player and team leader.
“He’s everything we thought he was going to be, and I can’t say enough about the person, either,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “He brings so much leadership to our defense and he’s been a lot of fun to be around. I think he raises the level of everybody around him.”
During his time in Baltimore, Smith watched and learned from Terrell Suggs, who has 34.5 more sacks than any other active defender. Suggs wasn’t just a dynamic defender for the Ravens. He was the team’s emotional leader, too.
“Man, just the leadership – doing the little things right in the film room, in the weight room, everywhere,” Smith said. “He’s a character, now. For you to be down in one situation and for him to come in the room and light up the room is another thing that I learned from him. Football, it’s take advantage of your opportunities with your iPad. That’s something that he said that they didn’t have back in the day. To have that now, you get to take it home and learn your mistakes – every little mistake – and learn from other guys that you’re trying to key in on tendencies. That’s another thing that I learned from him. To be able to learn all those great things from him, it’s just great that I had the opportunity to be around him.”
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has seen Smith step into a leadership role.
“‘Z’ is kind of a scary guy just looking at him,” Rodgers said. “Walking in the door, he has that clout, as Julius Peppers did, where there’s a healthy, ‘I’m not going to cross that person.’”
Leadership is great but the NFL is a production-based business. Smith is being paid to put up big numbers and change the face of a defense that was among the NFL’s best at sacking the quarterback but among its worst in play-to-play pressure. Smith, with his ability to rush from the edge and move inside on passing situations, must lead that charge.
“I think I can rush from anywhere, man,” Smith said. “That’s the one thing about Z and the other guys. The outside linebacker room, we do a great job of moving. We could go anywhere in our front. We could be over a center, we could be over a guard, and I just feel like, I don’t want to say that that’s my best pass rush or my best spot individually, up against a guard or against a tackle, but for myself, I can play anywhere. I am just glad I’m here and I get to do that here with the Green Bay Packers.”
