The Green Bay Packers might be attempting to get some value back before making a final decision on the roster status of outside linebacker Preston Smith.
According to Albert Breer of MMQB, Smith is one of several veteran players involved in trade discussions around the NFL over the last few weeks.
Breer mentioned Smith, who is set to count $16 million on the Packers’ cap in 2021, as a “short-term fix” for any team that doesn’t want to spend big to get one of the top pass-rushers in free agency.
The Packers could save $8 million in cap space by releasing or trading Smith. He has a $4 million roster bonus due on the third day of the new league year, creating a deadline of sorts for making a decision.
Last week, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said he was expecting Smith back on the roster in 2021.
“Preston has played a lot of really good football for us, and certainly we’d like to have him back next year. He’s under contract, so we certainly expect him to be back,” Gutekunst said, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Smith, who had 12 sacks and 55 pressures in 2019, dropped to just four sacks and 26 pressures during a disappointing 2020 season.
Trading a player like Smith might be tricky for the Packers. Teams are expecting a bunch of veteran players with bloated contracts to get cut, likely incentivizing others to wait and avoid giving up compensation for players. Any team trading for Smith would have to be willing to pay him $12 million in 2021.
Also, if the Packers want the savings from Smith’s contract before the start of the new league year, a trade doesn’t provide it immediately. Gutekunst still needs to shed around $12 million in salary to get under the cap floor to start 2021, and trades don’t finalize until the start of the new league year.
If the Packers do trade Smith, they’d create cap space for free agency, get back some value in terms of draft capital and clear more playing time for Rashan Gary, who was terrific to end the 2020 season.
Moving on from Smith has always looked like a likely scenario for the Packers. Getting draft capital back would make losing him – with a dead cap hit of $8 million – more tolerable, even if it looks unlikely as free agency approaches.
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