When the Green Bay Packers placed Za’Darius Smith on injured reserve in the middle of September, the hope was that he would be back on the field in a matter of weeks. Now, they are just hoping that he will make it back at some point before the 2021 season is over.
According to Mike Garofolo of NFL Network, Smith is “expected to be out an extended period of time” after undergoing surgery this week on a lingering back issue that has kept him sidelined for the majority of the past two months. While he added there is hope that Smith won’t be forced to miss the remainder of the season, there is no telling when he might return for the Packers.
The 2020 All-Pro pass rusher was placed on the non-football injury (NFI) list when he arrived for training camp on July 27 and managed to practice just one time in a limited capacity on August 16 before bowing out of the rest of camp. Nevertheless, Smith was able to play in Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints — albeit, just nine pass-rushing snaps — and looked like he might be able to contribute while working back from the injury until the Packers placed him on injured reserve on September 17.
Smith’s injury deprives the Packers of one of the most formidable defensive weapons. He tallied a combined 29 sacks and 144 quarterback pressures over his first two seasons in Green Bay, using his pass-rushing prowess to bully opposing offenses and make life easier on his teammates in the secondary. Without him, the Packers’ outside linebackers struggled to generate pressure from the edges, getting one or fewer sacks out of Preston Smith (1), Rashan Gary (0.5) and Jonathan Garvin (0.5) through the first three weeks.
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Has Smith Played His Final Snap for Packers?
For now, it is way too early to say whether Smith will return during the 2021 season. According to Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated, the Packers are keeping open the possibility of him coming back for a potential playoff run, but he also wrote that “it is not the expectation or something the team is counting on.”
If Smith does end up missing the rest of the year, though, it is quite possible that he has already played his final snap for the Packers.
Smith will be entering the final year of his contract in 2022 and is set to carry a cap hit of about $28.13 million, a number that would slightly decrease if he missed the rest of the current season. In either case, the Packers would have a tough time fitting such a high charge on their books for next season considering they are already projected to be more than $32 million over the 2021 salary cap. A contract extension is one possible way for them to reduce the cost, but they could also save about $15.75 million if they simply released or traded him.
Another reason to think a contract extension is unlikely for Smith is his reported displeasure with the Packers’ handling of his contract over the past year. Back in late July, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote that “Smith is believed to be unhappy about the team exercising the automatic conversion option in his contract” during the offseason and understands that “come next year, the magnitude of the cap charge for keeping him around means he’ll likely be cut or traded.”
While the Packers did later restructure Smith’s deal again to potentially address his issues, it did little to change the financial reality of his situation heading into 2022.
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Concern Grows About Za’Darius Smith After Latest Injury News