GREEN BAY, Wis. — Concerned with the Packers’ pass rush—or lack thereof— this season? It would be a fool’s errand to invest any time or energy worrying about it now because it’s unlikely they’ll be a unit that is anything to write home about for the rest of the year.
The outlook was bleak even with Preston Smith in the mix, but after trading him to the Steelers, that group consists of Gary and a handful of question marks.
Deadlines spur action and that remained true on Tuesday. The trade deadline came and went, and while the Packers didn’t make any exterior acquisitions to their roster, they flipped Smith, who turns 32 in two weeks, for a seventh-round pick. Perhaps more importantly than the day-three selection, the Packers were able to remove his contract from their books. They freed up just north of $2 million dollars worth of immediate cap space, but that number shoots up to $7.6 million next year and then it skyrockets again to $18.2 million in 2026…