Green Bay Packers fans don’t often forget when a long-time player leaves their team and creates controversy in the process. We have seen a handful of players over the last decade be released by Green Bay amid controversial reports.
One of those players lost his job today, and fans were there for it.
“Just To Get Released” Packers Fans Rip Former Starter Who Loses Job (Report)
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler:
Source: The #Lions plan to release pass rusher Za’Darius Smith.
NFL veteran had nine sacks last season.
Smith’s contract structure was the problem. Next week, on March 15, will be the third day of the new league year, and he is due $8.99 million in bonuses.
If Smith had played for the Lions in 2025, his salary would have risen to $11 million. Then there’s this: If he hadn’t re-signed after 2025, he would have counted $5,242,500 against the cap in 2026, even though he’s not on the roster. Releasing him now made the best sense for the team.
Here is a Iook at Smith’s career stats:
| Def Interceptions | Fumbles | Tackles | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Age | Team | Lg | Pos | G | GS | Int | Yds | IntTD | Lng | PD | FF | Fmb | FR | Yds | FRTD | Sk | Comb | Solo | Ast | TFL | QBHits | Sfty | AV | Awards |
| 2015 | 23 | BAL | NFL | DE | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 2 | |
| 2016 | 24 | BAL | NFL | DE | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 25 | BAL | NFL | DE | 14 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.5 | 24 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 3 | |
| 2018 | 26 | BAL | NFL | ROLB | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.5 | 45 | 26 | 19 | 10 | 25 | 0 | 6 | |
| 2019 | 27 | GNB | NFL | ROLB | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13.5 | 55 | 41 | 14 | 17 | 37 | 0 | 12 | PB |
| 2020 | 28 | GNB | NFL | ROLB | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12.5 | 52 | 35 | 17 | 12 | 23 | 0 | 14 | PB,AP-2 |
| 2021 | 29 | GNB | NFL | DE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 30 | MIN | NFL | ROLB | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.0 | 44 | 32 | 12 | 15 | 24 | 0 | 9 | PB,AP CPoY-9 |
| 2023 | 31 | CLE | NFL | DE | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 | 27 | 18 | 9 | 8 | 20 | 0 | 9 | |
| 2024 | 32 | 2TM | NFL | DE | 17 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 35 | 22 | 13 | 9 | 17 | 0 | 8 | |
| 2024 | 32 | CLE | NFL | DE | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 23 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 4 | |
| 2024 | 32 | DET | NFL | DL | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 4 | |
| 10 Yrs | 140 | 96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 69.0 | 333 | 220 | 113 | 85 | 173 | 0 | 66 | |||||
| 17 Game Avg | 17 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.4 | 40 | 27 | 14 | 10 | 21 | 0 | 8 | |||||
| BAL (4 Yrs) | 58 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.5 | 119 | 71 | 48 | 24 | 52 | 0 | 14 | |||||
| GNB (3 Yrs) | 33 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 26.0 | 108 | 77 | 31 | 29 | 60 | 0 | 26 | |||||
| CLE (2 Yrs) | 25 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.5 | 50 | 33 | 17 | 14 | 27 | 0 | 13 | |||||
| MIN (1 Yr) | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.0 | 44 | 32 | 12 | 15 | 24 | 0 | 9 | |||||
| DET (1 Yr) | 8 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 4 | |||||
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