The Green Bay Packers have created some spending flexibility and ensured a key veteran piece of Jeff Hafley’s defense is back in the fold by restructuring outside linebacker Preston Smith‘s contract.
According to a report from ESPN’s Field Yates, Smith and the Packers agreed to a reworked deal that sets the 31-year-old’s compensation at $10 million for the 2024 season and creates $2.4 million in additional cap space.
Prior to Wednesday’s restructure, Smith was poised to enter the third season of a five-year contract, worth $52 million that he signed before the 2022 season.
Smith produced 48 total tackles with eight sacks last season, and remains a focal point of the Packers’ defense.
After restructuring Smith’s contract, the Packers now have approximately $12.7 million in cap space, with the beginning of the new league year and free agency looming on March 13.
Smith Has High Hopes for Packers in 2024
After making a return to the postseason, and knocking off the Dallas Cowboys in blowout fashion in the NFC Wild Card game, the Packers have become a chic pick to make a Super Bowl run next season.
Smith believes that whatever success is ahead for the Packers next offseason begins with a strong offseason for Green Bay.
“We just have to have a championship offseason,” Smith told reporters in the aftermath of the Packers’ 24-21 season-ending loss to the 49ers. “So everything rolls into the season. At the end of the day, those games come back to falling on your training, trusting your technique, and trusting everything you worked hard for this offseason.”
Much of the optimism surrounding the Packers’ trajectory is centered on quarterback Jordan Love’s emergence as one of the most exciting young players at the position throughout the league.
However, Smith believes that he and his teammates also share accountability in what next season might look like for the Packers.
“We have to focus on what we need to improve on,” Smith says. “Come out there and make sure that our weaknesses are our strengths now and that we improve on the things that we’re good at.”
Brian Gutekunst Setting Out to Keep Nucleus Together
The Packers’ defense proved to be a bit of an Achilles heel down the stretch in 2023, but general manager Brian Gutekunst isn’t expecting to make an offseason overhaul of that unit.
Despite new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley importing a scheme that emphasizes dominant secondary play, Gutekunst sounds prepared to stick true to form for what has made the Packers’ defense successful during his tenure.
“The edge and the speed and the aggressiveness that we play with, I think that’s what’s the most important,” Gutekunst told reporters at the NFL Combine.
“We have a really good nucleus of players coming back. We need to fill each room with enough competition that those guys feel that and can grow like our offense did this past year. That will be on us to do that. But I do think we’re in good hands right now.”
Keeping a key veteran contributor such as Smith around for at least one more season is a big step towards Gutekunst, and head coach Matt LaFleur maintaining some continuity ahead of a 2024 campaign that will bring a new coordinator and new scheme.
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