Za’Darius Smith predicted a “dominant” season is coming for fellow Packers edge rusher Rashan Gary in 2021 and the team’s defensive coaches believe he’ll have some company on that front.
Smith and Gary are joined by Preston Smith off the edge in Green Bay and outside linebackers coach Mike Smith said recently that he has “a bunch of tough, mean, nasty dudes” in his room. The trio combined for 21.5 sacks in former defensive coordinator Mike Pettine’s defense last season and new coordinator Joe Barry said that he thinks the whole group is ready to thrive this time around as well.
“All three of those guys, I’m excited about,” Barry said, via Jason Wilde of Madison.com. “It’s great. Whether we have two of them on the field, all three of them on the field, we’ll get creative and have some fun with it. You can’t have enough great pass rushers, and I’m excited to be working with all three of those guys. All three of those guys are in a great place.”
There’s plenty of attention being paid to the quarterback position in Green Bay this offseason, but they’re going to need a productive pass rush however the Aaron Rodgers saga ultimately plays out. Barry and Smith sound confident that they’ll bring that to the table.