A truly dominant first season with the Green Bay Packers vaulted outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith to the very top of Doug Farrar’s edge rusher rankings for Touchdown Wire.
Smith, who signed a four-year deal with the Packers in 2019, broke out as the NFL’s most disruptive edge rusher last season, tallying 13.5 sacks during the regular season and leading all players in total pressures.
His body of work convinced Farrar to rank Smith above all other edge rushers entering 2020, noting his unique ability to rush the quarterback and disrupt the passing game from all angles and from any gap in the defensive front.
From Farrar: “Smith led the NFL with 105 total pressures, the most by any edge defender since Von Miller matched that total in 2015, and he did it from all over the field — everywhere from wide-nine end to inside linebacker Wherever he aligned, trouble was coming for opposing quarterbacks. As great as he was on the edge, he was perhaps more effective inside the tackles.”
It’s been an amazing year and a half for Smith, who finally got on the field as a key part of the Baltimore Ravens’ front in 2018 before landing in Green Bay on a big deal and emerging as a top edge rusher.
Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine helped unleash Smith’s full potential, giving him equal opportunities to rush from the edge on early downs and create havoc from the interior on obvious passing downs. It turned Smith from a useful rotational player in Baltimore to a legitimate pass-rushing star in Green bay.
From the team side, the signing was a stroke of genius from GM Brian Gutekunst. Adding Za’Darius and Preston Smith revived the Packers’ pass-rush and powered a big improvement from Mike Pettine’s defense during a 13-3 season. If Smith keeps producing at rates similar to 2019, his signing will be remembered as one of the greatest in recent NFL history.
In Farrar’s rankings, Smith – who wasn’t an All-Pro but was a late addition to the Pro Bowl – ranked right above Nick Bosa, Danielle Hunter and Chandler Jones for the top spot.
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