When the Steelers obtained Preston Smith at the deadline, the trade looked to have given them a deep cadre of edge rushers. Smith joined T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig as Pittsburgh OLBs. But the new addition was not much of a factor.
Smith played in eight games but registered just two sacks and two QB hits. He was not active for Pittsburgh’s playoff tilt against Baltimore. Following the former Washington and Green Bay EDGE’s underwhelming performance in Pittsburgh, Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline notes he is soon expected to become a cap casualty.
Pegging the odds of a release at roughly 99%, Pauline anticipates Smith hitting free agency soon. Teams will begin to cut players following Super Bowl LIX, and Smith can aim for a fresh start around that point. A post-June 1 cut would not be relevant here, as no dead money is in this equation, so Smith could be cut within a few weeks. The Steelers, who are already projected to hold more than $40MM in cap space, would save $13.4MM by releasing the formerly productive edge rusher.
The Packers gave Smith a four-year, $52.5MM contract in 2022, doing so upon moving on from Za’Darius Smith. Staying in Green Bay for 5 1/2 seasons, Preston Smith racked up 44 sacks with the team. This included four seasons with at least eight sacks; a 12-sack 2019 — when the Packers returned to the NFC championship game — headlined this successful stay. As the Packers wanted to free up more playing time for Lukas Van Ness, they moved on from Smith for a mere seventh-round pick.
Smith, 32, requested a trade months after the Packers had shifted to a 4-3 scheme. Smith had played in 3-4 looks in Washington and during his first five Green Bay seasons, and while he slid into a second-string role in Pittsburgh’s long-held alignment (after starting nine games with the Packers last season), no major impact occurred to justify the Steelers signing off on a $12MM 2025 salary. While the Steelers could try to dangle Smith in trades, his fetching a seventh-rounder last year probably points to a simple release coming soon.
The Steelers remain in great shape at OLB moving forward. Watt is under contract for 2025, with the team understandably prepared to hammer out a second extension with the future Hall of Famer. Highsmith’s 2023 extension runs through the 2027 season, while Herbig (5.5 sacks last season) is under contract through 2026 on a rookie deal.