Packers: Why Za’Darius Smith wasn’t overpaid in free agency

For the past decade, the Green Bay Packers have lived by the idea of steering away from signing free agents during the offseason, and trying to improve their team by developing the players they draft.

This offseason, the organization broke that tradition by announcing that they had signed four coveted free agents to the team. One of the players who played a role in the culture change was OLB Za’Darius Smith, who signed a massive four-year, $66 million contract with the team.

Smith previously played with the Baltimore Ravens for four years. The first three years of his career were quite stagnant in Baltimore, as he recorded an average of about 3.3 sacks and 24 combined tackles.

However, in his fourth year Smith took a major jump, where he put up a career-best 8.5 sacks and 45 combines tackles in the 2018 season. The stats showed people that Smith was a player trending in the right direction, a player with his prime ahead of him, and a player who was on the verge of becoming a dominant edge rusher in this league. When you sign a player like that you have to be prepared for a lot of criticism. And for Smith, there’s been plenty of that.

Immediately after the signing, several fans and analysts took to social media to express their disapproval for this signing. Most criticism stemmed from the fact that Smith only had one good season. The fact that Smith only performed during a contract year. The fact that he was excessively overpaid for his skill.

None of this is true.

The reason that Za’Darius Smith was so good last year compared to previous years probably has the simplest explanation you can possibly provide: he improved.

If you look at his tape just two years ago, in the 2017 season, you’ll see that Smith is primarily just putting his head down and running at the offensive line with his hands stretched out. He’s trying to run the quarterback over. It’s nothing too special, it’s something you would expect from an average NFL edge rusher.

In 2017, Smith primarily relied on strength and speed to try to run over the lineman on every snap. He wasn’t able to integrate different moves into his game at that time, and he didn’t reach his full potential as a result.

In 2018, he changed his trajectory to reach that potential completely. In that season, he was able to use several different edge-rushing moves, from the arm over to the dip and bend. He was able to work back inside. He was more effective against the run. Simply said, he improved.

Another thing to note about Smith is that he’s only been playing football for nine years (he first started playing as a senior in high school). He hasn’t been playing football for as long as most in the league, but that gives him a higher ceiling. He has a lot to learn, but the level he’s reached with the experience he has is impressive. It’s an indication that he’s going to continue to grow as a player.

Za’Darius Smith didn’t get such a large contract because he had only one good year. He received so much money because he’s a player that’s been working on his game, and because he has tremendous potential for his skill set.

It should be interesting to see what he is able to bring to the Packers defense in the upcoming season.