Former Green Bay Packers edge rusher Preston Smith is returning to his first NFL home. According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, Smith — who played 5.5 seasons with the Packers — is signing with the Washington Commanders, who originally selected him in the second round of the 2015 NFL draft.<\/p>\n
Smith, who turns 33 in November, was a free agent after being released by the Pittsburgh Steelers in February. The Packers traded Smith to the Steelers at the trade deadline last season. Now, the veteran rusher will join the team coming off a primetime loss to the Packers last week.<\/p>\n
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Smith will likely help the Commanders make up for the losses of Deatrich Wise Jr., who is now on injured reserve after being injured in last Thursday night’s 27-18 loss at Lambeau Field.<\/p>\n
One part of Brian Gutekunst’s free agent spending spree in 2019, Smith helped revive the Packers to start the Matt LaFleur era. He produced 12.0 sacks in 2019 and had 8.0 or more sacks in four different seasons in Green Bay. Smith played in 91 regular season games and had 44.0 sacks and 96 quarterback hits while with the Packers. He also played in seven playoff games, adding another 3.5 sacks and nine quarterback hits.<\/p>\n
Last season, Smith produced only 2.5 sacks and four quarterback hits across 17 games with the Packers and Steelers, and he was inactive for Pittsburgh in the postseason.<\/p>\n
The Packers received a seventh-round pick from the Steelers for Smith. The draft pick turned into cornerback Micah Robinson, who is currently on the Packers practice squad.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Former Packers edge rusher Preston Smith signs with Commanders<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Preston Smith, who played a little over 5 seasons with the Packers, is returning to Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":94441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2448,19,3723,3722,9,2198,27,244,444],"class_list":["post-94440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl","tag-green-bay","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-micah-robinson","tag-mike-garafolo","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-network","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-preston-smith","tag-washington-commanders"],"yoast_head":"\n