Pittsburgh Steelers general manger Omar Khan is staying busy, acquiring Green Bay Packers edge rusher Preston Smith in his second major trade of NFL trade deadline day on Tuesday.
The Steelers are sending one of their three 2025 seventh-round draft picks to the Packers in exchange for Smith. They have their own and two from the Philadelphia Eagles in the Kenny Pickett trade.
The Packers are getting a 2025 seventh-round pick from the Steelers for Preston Smith, according to a source.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) November 5, 2024
Smith, 31, has been the Packers’ starting edge rusher since 2019. He will become part of a rotation in Pittsburgh that also includes T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig. Herbig is expected to return soon from a hamstring injury. Smith will help offset the loss of hybrid defensive lineman DeMarvin Leal, who is out for the season with a neck injury.
In nine games this season, Smith has 19 tackles, 2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss and four quarter back hits. He finished 2023 with 48 tackles, eight sacks, four tackles for a loss and 21 quarterback hits.
His contract runs through the end of the 2026 season. The Steelers will owe Smith almost $2 million for the rest of this year. He is set to make $13.4 million in 2025 and $14.1 million in 2026, but none of that money is guaranteed.
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound edge rusher was originally a second-round pick of the Washington Redskins in the 2015 NFL Draft. He played four seasons in Washington before joining the Packers in 2019 and has played 155 games over his 10-year career.
His most productive season came in 2019, when he recorded 12 sacks in 16 Ames. Smith had eight or more sacks six times in his first nine seasons and has 68.5 sacks in his NFL career.
The move came after Khan had already acquired New York Jets wide receiver Mike Williams.