Brian Gutekunst has started making some moves with the Green Bay Packers to extend Jordan Love and try to be active in free agency. Less than a week ago, the Packers restructured outside linebacker Rashan Gary’s contract to clear 4.781 million in cap space. By doing so, he will get an additional 1.59 million per year from 2025 to 2027.
The Packers are making room as they plan to be aggressive in free agency and have money to sign their future draft picks. The restructure of Rashan Gary and Preston Smith is a good start.
Green Bay Packers and Preston Smith Agree to Restructure
Per Field Yates, the Green Bay Packers and outside linebacker Preston Smith have agreed on a restructure. The restructure will create 2.4M in cap space for the team in 2024. Smith will now make 10 million this year. Per Tom Silverstein, Preston Smith has a sack incentive that would give him a chance to earn four million dollars. He will need at least ten sacks to reach the incentive. This is the second time Smith has taken a pay cut to stay in Green Bay.
At 31 years old, Preston Smith is the oldest player on the Packers roster. He’s been a valuable leader of the defense and still performing at a high level. Since arriving in Green Bay, he has started 79 of the 82 regular season games. His availability and reliability have been important.
His 2023 season stats, including playoffs per PFF:
Total Tackles: 52
Sacks: 11
Quarterback Hits: 14
Hurries: 27
Forced Fumbles: 2
Overall PFF Grade: 70.5
Preston Smith may not be the elite guy the Packers signed back in 2019, but veterans like him are essential for a young team. I would expect Preston and Rashan Gary to be the starting edge rushers. Lukas Van Ness will get more snaps and rotate with Smith while Kinglsey Enagbare recovers from his torn ACL. Brenton Cox Jr. is the only other outside linebacker currently on the roster.
Gutekunst and the Packers will have to decide whether to address the edge position in the draft early or later. If they wait until late, they might have to find some cheaper depth pieces at the position.
Thank you for reading and supporting PackerNotes.com.
Contact/Follow us @Packer_Notes on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Green Bay Packers news, notes, opinions, and analysis. You can also follow Jimmy Malchow on Twitter @JimmyMalchow.
