The Green Bay Packers’ defense is primed for a big year under new defensive coordinator Joe Barry. One of the players who is projecting a big season for himself is Za’Darius Smith. While at Game Four of the NBA Finals in Milwaukee, Smith shared his goal for sacks in 2021.
Huge game 5. If Bucks can pull this out then all of the momentum moves there way. Also, wanted to share this video from game 4. Big Z saying he gets 20 sacks this year. pic.twitter.com/IDdFUEPln7
— Jack Demet (@jackdemett) July 17, 2021
In the above video, a fan asks Smith how many sacks he believes he will get this year. Smith responds by saying 20.
Can Smith Reach 20 Sacks?
If Za’Darius Smith is able to record 20 sacks in 2021, he will be just the 12th player ever to do it. The feat as been accomplished 12 times in the past. The most recent season in which a player had at least 20 sacks was 2018 when Aaron Donald of the Rams had 20.5. JJ Watt, now with the Cardinals, had two seasons in which he had at least 20 sacks. His most recent season with 20 came in 2014.
If any player on the Packers’ roster is going to get 20 sacks, it is Za’Darius Smith. Over the past two seasons, he has 26 combined sacks. In his first season with the Packers, he had 13.5. Last year, he had 12.5. The last Packers’ player to have back-to-back seasons like that was Aaron Kampman. Kampman had the third highest sack total in Packers history in 2006 when he had 15.5. He followed that campaign up with 12.0 sacks in 2007.
The Packers’ record for most sacks in a single season is 19.5. The record was set by Tim Harris in the 1989 season. Former Packers’ great, the late Reggie White, once had 21 sacks in a season while he was with the Philadelphia Eagles.
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