The Green Bay Packers have a knack for letting veteran players go when they reach a certain age. That “age” is certainly player to player, but the 30-year-old mark seems to be a consistent factor.
That being said, one veteran Green Bay released will be looking for another home in 2025.
Breaking: Former Packers 88-Game-Starter To Be Cut Ahead Of 2025 Free Agency (Report)
Preston Smith’s acquisition by the Steelers at the trade deadline was thought to give them a deep edge rusher corps. Pittsburgh’s OLBs include Smith, Watt, Highsmith, and Herbig. However, the new addition made little difference:
Smith played in eight games but registered just two sacks and two QB hits. He was not active for Pittsburgh’s playoff tilt against Baltimore. Following the former Washington and Green Bay EDGE’s underwhelming performance in Pittsburgh, Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline notes he is soon expected to become a cap casualty.
The Packers gave Smith a four-year, $52.5MM contract in 2022, doing so upon moving on from Za’Darius Smith. Staying in Green Bay for 5 1/2 seasons, Preston Smith racked up 44 sacks with the team. This included four seasons with at least eight sacks; a 12-sack 2019 — when the Packers returned to the NFC championship game — headlined this successful stay. As the Packers wanted to free up more playing time for Lukas Van Ness, they moved on from Smith for a mere seventh-round pick.
Here is a look at Smith’s career numbers:
| Def Interceptions | Fumbles | Tackles | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Age | Team | Lg | Pos | G | GS | Int | Yds | IntTD | Lng | PD | FF | Fmb | FR | Yds | FRTD | Sk | Comb | Solo | Ast | TFL | QBHits | Sfty | AV | Awards |
| 2015 | 23 | WAS | NFL | DE | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 | 35 | 24 | 11 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 3 | |
| 2016 | 24 | WAS | NFL | LOLB | 16 | 16 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.5 | 38 | 22 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 0 | 7 | |
| 2017 | 25 | WAS | NFL | LOLB | 16 | 16 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 8.0 | 42 | 31 | 11 | 10 | 21 | 0 | 8 | |
| 2018 | 26 | WAS | NFL | LOLB | 16 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.0 | 53 | 30 | 23 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 8 | |
| 2019 | 27 | GNB | NFL | LOLB | 16 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12.0 | 56 | 36 | 20 | 11 | 23 | 0 | 9 | |
| 2020 | 28 | GNB | NFL | LOLB | 16 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 1 | 4.0 | 42 | 29 | 13 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 7 | |
| 2021 | 29 | GNB | NFL | LOLB | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 9.0 | 38 | 25 | 13 | 9 | 17 | 0 | 7 | |
| 2022 | 30 | GNB | NFL | LOLB | 17 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.5 | 59 | 38 | 21 | 9 | 20 | 0 | 8 | |
| 2023 | 31 | GNB | NFL | LB | 17 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 | 48 | 28 | 20 | 4 | 21 | 0 | 7 | |
| 2024 | 32 | 2TM | NFL | DL | 17 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.5 | 32 | 12 | 20 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 5 | |
| 2024 | 32 | GNB | NFL | DL | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.5 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | |
| 2024 | 32 | PIT | NFL | LB | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.0 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| 10 Yrs | 163 | 138 | 5 | 56 | 0 | 22 | 27 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 32 | 2 | 70.5 | 443 | 275 | 168 | 74 | 157 | 0 | 69 | |||||
| 17 Game Avg | 17 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7.4 | 46 | 29 | 18 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 7 | |||||
| GNB (6 Yrs) | 91 | 88 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 1 | 44.0 | 262 | 162 | 100 | 42 | 96 | 0 | 42 | |||||
| WAS (4 Yrs) | 64 | 50 | 4 | 51 | 0 | 22 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 24.5 | 168 | 107 | 61 | 29 | 59 | 0 | 26 | |||||
| PIT (1 Yr) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.0 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |||||
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