PITTSBURGH — For his first nine seasons as an NFL regular, new Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker Preston Smith played in a 3-4 defense.
He entered the league as a second-round pick of the Washington Redskins in 2015, when Washington played a 3-4 under defensive coordinator Joe Barry. Smith was a backup to Pro Bowler Ryan Kerrigan, learning the finer points of the position, and he wasn’t a backup for long, taking over as the opposite outside linebacker to Kerrigan in his second season in 2016.
After his four-year rookie contract in Washington was up, he joined the Green Bay Packers in 2019, where they played another version of the 3-4, coached by Mike Pettine. Among the defensive linemen on that first Smith Packers teams were current Steelers Dean Lowry and Montravius Adams.
The scheme is familiar, the players around him are familiar, and Smith is hitting the ground running in Pittsburgh.
“Just getting out here, getting in the system I’m comfortable being in and playing at a high level, man, I’m loving right now,” Smith said on Wednesday after joining the Steelers the day before. “Just what I’ve been playing in the last nine years of my career, until this past season, is what I was comfortable playing in and what I got used to playing in the previous nine seasons. Being back in that system, it’s like riding your favorite bike again.”
Smith explained that he requested a trade from Green Bay a few weeks back, looking for a better scheme fit. The Packers had made a change at defensive coordinator, with Barry, who joined Smith in Green Bay in 2021, fired after the Packers’ playoff loss at the end of last season. The new scheme, installed by former Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley, is a 4-3 — something Smith didn’t feel like was maximizing his abilities.
“I didn’t feel like I was being useful in the system and it wasn’t catering to my play style,” Smith said. “And moving forward, I wasn’t surprised when I got the call. I got what I asked for and I’m at a place that’s a great place with some great teammates and I’m excited for a new start and I’m excited for the rest of the journey for this season.”
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Smith acknowledged that asking for a trade from 6-3 Packers, currently in a playoff position in the NFC, was a crap shoot. The team could have found a better scheme fit, only for it to be on a bottom feeder. Smith had previously identified the Steelers as a team that played the way he wanted to play.
“I’ve been watching this team for a long time,” he said. “Of course, when you watch film or you see a team playing in big games, you see their play style. It’s kind of one of those things where you’re just like, man, I’d love playing in that system. You gotta be careful what you say because I was talking about I was falling in love with this system and now I’m here.”
Of course, when he got the call, he wasn’t sure about exactly how the 2024 season was going for the Steelers. A quick check to the NFL standings, where the Steelers are alone in first place in the AFC North.
“It could have been any team, but it was a relief,” he said. “When I was on the phone, I was looking up the record because I don’t keep up with every team’s record. But I seem the record and I was, like whoo.”
When the Steelers traded for Smith, it was as depth. The team had starters T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith and backup Nick Herbig was only about a week out from his hamstring injury. Smith would’ve made four quality options at the edge rusher position.
Then Highsmith suffered a serious-looking ankle injury late in the Steelers’ win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday. Highsmith is expected to miss multiple weeks rehabbing his third injury of the season, and now the decision by Khan to add what looked like an over-abundance of depth to the most important position on the Steelers’ defense seems awful prescient.
That could mean a lot more of Smith this week against the Baltimore Ravens, though he said he said it doesn’t matter to him how much or how little he plays. Despite starting every game for the Packers this season, Smith played more as a backup for the Steelers in Week 10 than he had in Green Bay in Week 9.
“I didn’t really have an expectation on a snap count,” he said. “I was just going to play where they put me in, and whenever they needed me, I was going to go into the game and do what they needed me to do.”
Against the Commanders, Smith had three tackles, one for a loss, one quarterback hit, and generally seemed to fit in just fine in a defense that he’s certainly comfortable in. He also seems to fit right into the defensive mentality of the Steelers defense.
“These dudes are relentless as hell,” Smith said on Sunday. “I love the mindset and the dawg mentality they have around here. It’s not just one person. The dawg mentality means everybody’s got dawg mentality. A great mindset and it’s a great group to be around. Everybody feels like they’re a big dawg and they prepare and they play like. When you get a great group of guys to be around, that’s when you get good results.”
With Highsmith injured, the Steelers might need to rely on Smith more than they originally thought they would, but he seems just fine with that.
“I’m just here to do my job,” Smith said. “Whatever they ask me to do, that’s what I’m going to do. I can’t control what happens. How many plays I get, how they use. I’m just here to play at a high level and help this team win.”