First things first: Za’ Darius Smith might be the first person in the history of advanced civilization that got paid $16.5 million dollars last year to rehab an injury. I can’t believe the Packers put him through that. Sad!
Second things second: I LOVE this added component to the Packers/Viking rivalry and Week 1. You just knew when Za’Darius went to Minnesota that there was going to be a fair amount of chirping heading into opening weekend and here we are. This is what makes rivalries great! And the fact that the Vikings continue to be a Habitat for Humanity Resale Store for old Packer players keeps adding fuel to it.
For his part, Matt LaFleur would not take this bait after practice yesterday. He essentially said, and I’m paraphrasing here, that he has a lot of respect for Za’Darius, he disagrees with Z’s take on his final year in Green Bay, and he’ll leave it to his favorite snarky Packer blog, Strange Brew, to handle the commentary. I’ll take it from here, Coach!
Look, obviously some stuff happened behind the scenes with Za’Darius in Green Bay last season. His back injury was the biggest part of his season narrative in 2021 (he only played part of Week 1, then we didn’t see him again until the playoff game), but he wasn’t voted as a team captain, and he continued to reference that on his Instagram page all season. Team captains are voted on by other players on the team, and it is VERY rare for a previous captain (Za’Darius was a captain in 2019 and 2020) to not get that vote the next season. That’s all we know. Why that happened is anybody’s guess.
But it’s a bummer to see his relationship with the Packers take the turn it has. When they signed Za’Darius and Preston on the same day in 2019 (along with Billy Turner and Adrian Amos) it was the biggest free agent day in the history of the franchise. That first season was a lot of fun! Za’Darius and Preston were like a WWF tag team from the 80’s, always interviewing side by side and always having fun and talking trash. Za’Darius had a borderline DPOY type of year in 2019 and put up double digit sacks again in 2020. But clearly something was off last year, in addition to his injury. It will only add fuel to the fire on Sunday.
PS: If I’m honest, I don’t love the idea of David Bakhtiari coming back from an 18-month injury having to deal with a hyper-motivated Za’Darius Smith on Sunday. That’s if I’m honest.
Double PS: FOOTBALL TONIGHT! MAINLINE IT:
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