Clay Matthews + Nick Perry + Reggie Gilbert = -24.05

That was the final line for three of the four edge rushers who played for Green Bay a season ago. The individual grades were:

Reggie Gilbert -7.10
Nick Perry -7.65
Clay Matthews -9.30

Thankfully Kyler Fackrell had a pretty significant improvement from 2017 (-5.20) to 2018 (+3.15) or it could have been even worse.

Regardless of Fackrell’s improvement, it was quite obvious that a drastic overhaul was needed at the position. And that’s exactly what Brian Gutekunst did. Gone are Perry and Matthews. Matthews will playout his last NFL seasons in his home state while Nick Perry will get paid to NOT play for Green Bay. In fact Perry has yet to be picked up by any of the NFL’s 32 franchises – just another indictment of how far he has fallen.

With the subtractions of Perry and Clay, Green Bay needed an influx of young talent who could completely makeover this unit and give Mike Pettine the weapons he needs to really unleash his scheme. Enter Rashan Gary, Preston Smith, and Za’Darius Smith. I’ve already detailed Gary and Smith in breakdowns, but today it’s time to take a look at what Za’Darius Smith brings to the table.

https://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/self-scout-what-i-got-wrong-about-rashan-gary-515

https://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/grading-the-pack-adrian-amos-preston-smith-555

Let’s start off by taking a look at Za’Darius’ game-by-game grades in 2018:

Week 1: +0.0
Week 2: +0.5
Week 3: +0.8
Week 4: +0.4
Week 5: +0.55
Week 6: +1.15
Week 7: -0.2
Week 8: +0.55
Week 9: +0.75
Week 11: +0.25
Week 12: +0.4
Week 13: +0.00
Week 14: +0.35
Week 15: -0.2
Week 16: +1.10
Week 17: -0.25
Wild Card: -0.25

Total: +5.90

If you were to compare this to the rest of the Packers’ edge rushers from 2018, it would look like this:

New Packers:

Za’Darius Smith +5.90
Preston Smith +2.60
Rashan Gary: TBD

2018 Packers:

Kyler Fackrell +3.15
Reggie Gilbert -7.10
Nick Perry -7.65
Clay Matthews -9.30

If you include everyone that I have grades on for the defense in 2018, the top 5 would have graded as such:

Kenny Clark +13.10
Jaire Alexander +7.00
Mike Daniels +6.85
Adrian Amos +6.00
Za’Darius Smith +5.90

Let's take a look at @TheRealZSmith first! The first thing that stands out his his versatility and his ability to win in a variety of different ways.

Fast hands 
Athleticism 
Effort/Motor 
Ability to drop in coverage 

It's a first glance, but there's A LOT to like!!! pic.twitter.com/N6ta7Wfg5I

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) March 12, 2019

Strengths

Za’Darius’ biggest strength is his versatility. He can literally play anywhere across the defensive line as pictured below. He can play left to right, out wide, standing up, on the ground, and even over the center.

Check out the versatility on @TheRealZSmith in just the 1st quarter of Week 1 last year:

LOLB
LDE
NT
LDT
ROLB
RDT pic.twitter.com/a2dWmwcET0

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) June 25, 2019

On obvious running downs, Za’Darius was predominantly on the outside and usually standing up, but on passing downs he was able to play anywhere that the Ravens wanted him too. I’d expect to see a lot of him lined up inside on obvious passing downs in Mike Pettine’s defense, but make no mistake, he’s going to be all over the field and Mike Pettine will find advantageous matchups that Smith can win one-on-one.

Ravens HC John Harbaugh on Za’Darius Smith’s versatility as an inside and outside defender. pic.twitter.com/DbORdQncuF

— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) February 27, 2019

Smith is also very explosive off the line of scrimmage and uses his hands incredibly well. When you see Za’Darius at his best he’s able to get a quick jump off the line at the snap, quickly use his hands to swipe away the offensive lineman’s hands, and then use his agility and closing speed to explode to the quarterback.

Kudos to Baker for escaping this, and to be fair, Za'Darius probably needs to finish this, but this gives you an idea of exactly what Smith can bring to the table! pic.twitter.com/NtGBQhBiYZ

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) March 19, 2019

Smith is also very slippery. I’ve seen him sneak between two linemen by getting small and then once again use his quickness to get past them and get into the backfield. He uses a hesitation move from time to time and generally is a player that hustles and plays through the whistle. There are multiple plays on tape where he’s chased down players from behind.

As an edge-setter, Smith is really good but not yet great. The only time he gets into trouble is when he explodes up the field too quickly and leaves himself susceptible to draws and traps. He can also lose discipline on reverses and jet sweeps but in general he’s very solid in this area.

He also is very adept at “shutting the back door” as the backside defender. This means that he will scrape down the line and make sure that running backs aren’t able to cut back and find a hole on the backside. When running backs try to cut back against Smith he’s more than happy to make them pay for it.

Cutback against Za'Darius Smith at your own risk.

P.S. Za'Darius Smith is fun to watch! pic.twitter.com/OOKGZELATs

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) July 13, 2019

Maybe the most important aspect of Smith’s game is that even his bad games aren’t that bad. He had four games that graded in the negative, -0.2, -0.2,-0.25, and -0.25. Those are basically neutral games. At no point in 2018 was he overmatched regardless of his opponent and even when he had off games he was able to make a few plays to make up for it.

Just one of the many ways in which Green Bay & Mike Pettine can use @TheRealZSmith in 2019. pic.twitter.com/osB6qik1dW

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) June 26, 2019

Weaknesses

I’d argue that the biggest weakness in Za’Darius’ game right now is his full move-set and path to the quarterback. As mentioned, Smith can win with quickness and he uses his hands incredibly well, but he needs to develop more counters and a way to win when his initial effort is stymied.

Smith also isn’t afraid to hit the quarterback and make sure the QB knows he’s there after the play. It’s mostly a good thing but he was flagged for one roughing penalty last year and there were probably a couple more that could have been called. At times it bordered on being a little bit cheap.

Green Bay has also already mentioned that they don’t want Smith really dropping back in coverage because that’s not how he wins. Expect to see Preston Smith with more coverage snaps although Za’Darius wasn’t bad at it in 2018.

Lastly, Smith will disappear from time to time and while that’s normal for most defensive linemen and edge rushers, he’s got to find a way to make an impact with a bit more consistency to take that next step as a top tier pass rusher in the league.

Smith isn’t a Pro Bowl or All-Pro caliber player at this point in his career but he’s really, really good and the difference between the edge rushers that Green Bay put on the field in 2018 and Smith will be immediately noticeable to all Packer fans. Smith is going to come up with some very big plays in 2019.

Smith should be able to have a similar role as he did last year because of the newfound depth on the edge. Rashan Gary, Kyler Fackrell and Preston Smith should all be capable of playing as many snaps as needed so that none of the four players has dead legs by the end of a game or the end of the season.

While Smith is a really good player, he’s always going to be matched up against his 4-year - $66.0 million contract that makes him the 10^th highest paid edge rusher in football. Smith was good last year, but not top-10 good. And honestly, that’s ok. He’s going to be such an improvement that even if he’s not a top-10 edge rusher, he can more than make up for it by being a massive improvement for this defense and making a true impact. Barring injury, I have a hard time imagining Smith busting and Green Bay ending up disappointed with this contract by the time it’s over with.

Edge rusher is by far and away going to be my favorite position group to watch as we enter this season. Preston Smith, Za’Darius Smith, and Rashan Gary all have Pro Bowl level talent and a coach in Mike Smith who has a reputation for developing that talent and getting them to play at a very high level. They are all perfect scheme fits within Mike Pettine’s scheme and if one or two of them can really breakout in 2019, than Green Bay is going to have a chance at a legit top-10 defense this year.

"We're going to complement each other & we're going to do some great things here in Green Bay."@PrestonSmith94 on teaming up with @TheRealZSmith on the #Packers defense. #GoPackGo pic.twitter.com/DPwSgCnse1

— Green Bay Packers (@packers) March 14, 2019

There’s no question that this is the season where hope springs eternal and everyone has the highest of hopes for the team and the players they acquired in the offseason, but the best way to predict future success is by looking back at past behavior. When I look as closely as humanly possible at the 2018 tape of Gary, Smith, and Smith, it’s impossible not to be excited about the massive makeover that Green Bay underwent throughout the offseason.

Kudos to Brian Gutekunst on addressing a major area of need with some really exciting talent and replacing players that struggled mightily in 2018 – the improvement should be immediately noticeable as Green Bay kicks off the season against Chicago.

How I Grade

• Each player starts by getting a zero or neutral grade on a play. If they performed as expected on a play, their grade stays at zero.
• For a slightly above or below average play, the player gets graded -0.1 or +0.1. The vast majority of grades on the vast majority of plays are graded -0.1, 0, or +0.1.
• The highest and lowest grades on an individual play are +2.0 and -2.0 respectively. These would be large, game-changing plays.
• I won’t grade a play negatively if I cannot tell which player was at fault.
• Most of the time it’s impossible to tell the play, so I’m not grading on the execution of the play call as an NFL coach would.
• The goal of this exercise is to grade every snap over the course of the season to get a long-term view of which performers are performing well and which are not meeting expectations. This is very similar to what Pro Football Focus tries to achieve. Is it perfect? No. But what you are getting is a consistent grader who is watching specifically Packer games and putting multiple hours into every week to breakdown film and assign grades.
• Grades are for offense and defense only (including two point conversions). Special teams does not factor in.

Let's eat.@TheRealZSmith pic.twitter.com/y4I51uLns1

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 24, 2018