Green Bay Packers’ Preston Smith takes his second pay cut in six years to stay with the team.
Rashan Gary, Jaire Alexander, and Kenny Clark are likely to come to mind as the Green Bay Packers’ finest defensive players. And rightfully so. Gary is one of the NFL’s greatest young pass rushers, and Alexander and Clark have both made several Pro Bowl appearances.
When it comes to players that carry the G and sacrifice their own money to stay with the Packers, many may point to Aaron Jones as the most recent example. Other noteworthy players who have done so include Packers Hall of Famer Gilbert Brown and Pro Football Hall of Famer LeRoy Butler.
All of those players deserve to be recognized for their on-field successes and/or their team-first approach. However, there is one player on the team who does not receive the respect he deserves, either on the field or for the sacrifices he makes for the team’s benefit.
That player, of course, is Preston Smith, who recently took his second salary cut in six years to stay with Green Bay.
The Green Bay Packers and Preston Smith Agree on a Restructured Contract.
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Packers and Smith have agreed on a modified contract that will pay him $10 million in 2024. He was originally supposed to earn $12.4 million.
According to Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated, Smith has three incentive tiers for 2024 dependent on his number of sacks:
“According to a source, with a 10-sack season, he will return the most of the lost money. With 12 sacks, he will earn slightly more than expected. With 14 sacks, he will receive a $4 million bonus.
Smith hasn’t had ten sacks in a season since 2019, his first year with the Packers.
The reworked agreement, however, is significant for the Packers in a number of ways. First, it allows them more leeway with their 2024 salary cap. While Smith may end up making more money dependent on the amount of sacks he has, money connected to incentives does not count against salary cap space at the start of the new league year. Furthermore, the Packers did not have to include any vacant years in Smith’s contract (kick the can down the road) to make it work.
Second, one of the Packers’ most valuable veterans will be returning in a vital position. Kingley Enagbare is rehabilitating from a ruptured ACL, thus Smith’s return to the team was crucial for depth and consistency.
Preston Smith has led the Green Bay Packers in sacks since joining the team in 2019.
Smith, of course, was part of Brian Gutekunst’s crazy free agent spending spree in 2019, which also included signing Za’Darius Smith and Adrian Amos. Both of those players did not complete their contracts, while Preston signed an extension in 2022.
The old adage goes that availability is the best ability, and Smith has certainly demonstrated this. Since joining the Packers in 2019, he has not missed a single game (in fact, he has never missed a game in his career) and has started 79 of 82 games.
During that time, he has 41.5 sacks, tying Mike Butler for the 11th most in franchise history. It is also 10 more sacks than the next-closest Packers player over the same time period (Rashan Gary, 31.5).
