Cory's Corner: Preston Smith Is The Boring Ironman

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Cory's Corner: Preston Smith Is The Boring Ironman

The 31-year-old has failed to start only three games since 2016.

May 21, 2024

My uncle used to say that two-thirds of life is just showing up.

When I say Ironman, what do you think of? Cal Ripken, Brett Favre or Robert Downey Jr. perhaps?
Those are all solid answers, but if you want to know the solution that wears green and gold, it’s Preston Smith. You probably read that and said, “You’re crazy Cory. Are you drinking expired milk again?”

Luckily, I am not.

The last time Smith has not started a game was in 2020. If you go all the way back to 2016, his sophomore season as a pro, he only failed to start three games.

Think about that for a second. That’s amazing. Smith is 31. He plays linebacker and is constantly smashing his body all over the place. He played 730 snaps last year, which was more than the 688 he logged in 2021.

But there’s a lot more to the Packers defensive player that plays a lot. He also does it really well. He earned his best tackling grade from Pro Football Focus in five years and last year he tallied his best rushing defense grade in his nine-year career.

I was intrigued when the Packers brought Smith aboard with a four-year, $52 million deal in 2019. But I wasn’t too keen on a four-year $52.5 million extension that was signed in 2022. But he has continued to prove his worth. He has been first or second on the Packers in sacks and quarterback hits in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

And despite all of his solid play and amazing consistency, he still opted for a contract restructure that would save the Packers $2.4 million in cap space in 2024. Saving cap space shouldn’t exactly be his top priority since he has a finite amount of time left as a professional football player.

But that’s just who Smith is. He is the guy that will do whatever it takes to win, putting his body on the line each and every week and then he will double down and agree to a contract restructure.

I think that’s utterly amazing. There were numerous times when people were willing to give Smith a pass for his age, but he kept returning it time after time. When Za’Darius Smith went elsewhere, that was the time when I thought that Preston Smith would likely see a dip in production.

The opposite happened. He actually got better.

Ironman isn’t running laps around Camden Yards or dying at the hands of Thanos. He is producing at a high level for the Packers by starting every game.

That may sound boring. But boring wins.

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Cory Jennerjohn is a graduate from UW-Oshkosh and has been in sports media for over 15 years. He was a co-host on "Clubhouse Live" and has also done various radio and TV work as well. He has written for newspapers, magazines and websites. He currently is a columnist for CHTV and also does various podcasts. He recently earned his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. He can be found on Twitter: @Coryjennerjohn

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NFL Categories:

Green Bay Packers

Comments (28)

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Spock

May 21, 2024 at 06:51 am

"Ironman" I agree with, but I suspect Preston might take umbrage with being called "boring". Smith has had many exciting plays for GB and hopefully he'll adjust to the new scheme (several here have said he played with his "hand in the dirt" in college) easily. I suspect he will.

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