Gutekunst’s free-agent bets on defense hit immediate jackpot

No team spent more on its defense than the Packers this offseason. The three high-priced additions earned their considerable paychecks on Thursday.

CHICAGO – Other than the guaranteed money in the contracts, there are no guarantees in NFL free agency.

In 2018, the New York Jets signed three free-agent defenders to deals totaling $100 million but finished 29th in points allowed. In 2016, the New York Giants signed three of the five most-expensive free-agent defenders – a total financial outlay of a staggering $193 million – but finished 28th in points allowed. On the other hand, in 2017, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens each signed two of the seven highest-paid free-agent defenders; the Jaguars finished second in points allowed and the Ravens finished sixth.

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst knew he needed to make some bold moves this offseason. At outside linebacker, the Packers had made big financial investments in Clay Matthews and Nick Perry but received a miniscule return on investment of just five sacks in 2018. At safety, Gutekunst traded Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and released Jermaine Whitehead at midseason.

With cavernous holes at those positions, Gutekunst made an unprecedented splash. He signed three of the 12 most-expensive defenders in free agency, with a four-year, $66 million deal for outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith, a four-year, $52 million deal for outside linebacker Preston Smith and a four-year, $36 million deal for safety Adrian Amos. Including the re-signing of safety Ibraheim Campbell, the Packers spent a league-high $154.7 million on their defense this offseason.

On Thursday night, those high-profile additions – the “new toys,” as defensive back Tramon Williams called them – were worth their weight in gold. It’s almost inconceivable that the Packers could have knocked off the Chicago Bears on Thursday night without the 1.5 sacks by Preston Smith, one sack by Za’Darius Smith and end-zone interception by Amos.

“We’ve got a lot of guys with great attitudes on this defense,” Preston Smith said in the raucous visitors’ locker room at Soldier Field. “I knew ‘Z’ before I got here and I knew what type of guy he was, and I knew he was a guy that wanted to work hard and get better and help the team. I knew Amos is a guy that works hard and wants to help this defense be great. There are a lot of guys with that similar mind-set. You see the energy they bring and guys feed off of that and make that energy roll over to the games.”

Gutekunst took a calculated gamble. Za’Darius Smith never had more than 8.5 sacks in his four seasons with Baltimore. Preston Smith never had more than eight sacks in his four seasons with Washington and had only four sacks last year. Amos had three interceptions in four seasons with Chicago. Gutekunst had spent great-player money on players who were not great players. However, these weren’t shots in the dark on past-their-prime players. Rather, all three are in the prime of their careers.

“We’re young, we’re talented and we’ve got a lot of great guys that want to play football, want to lead,” said a beaming Za’Darius Smith, who insisted on Preston Smith joining him to start the interview. Their chemistry and bond is evident.

While Preston Smith had the clinching sack, Za’Darius Smith dominated. According to Pro Football Focus, he had 10 total quarterback pressures. That’s the most by a Packers defender since Matthews had 10 against Philadelphia in the opener to the 2010 season.

“The things that they do, their intelligence, their ability to get after the quarterback like you saw today,” linebacker Blake Martinez said. “I think Za’Darius hit him like 30 times or some crazy amount, and Preston to end the game. To have those types of guys makes football fun.”

In fact, Za’Darius Smith had more total pressures than Khalil Mack (three) and all of the Bears’ edge rushers (seven) combined.

“It feels great, man,” he said. “We came out and dominated. We did the little things right. To have a franchise quarterback like AR, it’s great. For him to be a leader on that side of the ball and for the defense to come together and to make plays like that and get a big win, that’s a big birthday gift for myself. My birthday is Sunday – I’ll be 27 – and I’m just so excited because we get to go home with a ‘W.’ That’s the best birthday present ever.”

While the Smiths spent much of the game in the Bears’ backfield, Amos made a triumphant return to Chicago. With the Bears knocking on the doorstep of the tying touchdown with 2 minutes remaining, he correctly predicted what play the Bears would run and positioned himself perfectly to intercept Mitchell Trubisky’s end-zone pass to Allen Robinson.

The understated Amos, who refused to gloat after the game, credited defensive coordinator Mike Pettine for putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

“Pettine is a great coach,” Amos said. “He tries to put us in positions where we feel comfortable to succeed. We have a lot of talent on defense and we’re starting together more and more each and every day. This was our first game but we were coming together in camp and we’re starting to trust each other and we’re starting to have fun playing with each other. All of us had a goal and a mind-set to win.”