The Green Bay Packers made a key contract move on Wednesday, restructuring OLB Preston Smith's contract, per Field Yates of ESPN:

“The Packers and OLB Preston Smith have agreed to a restructured contract that creates $2.4M in cap space for the team in 2024. Smith’s compensation for this year is now $10M.”

The Packers have been active in clearing space ahead of the NFL's free agency period. Earlier this week, the team restructured fellow linebacker Rashan Gary's deal, clearing nearly $5 million.

In 2022, the Packers officially extended Smith on a four-year deal worth $52.5 million. The massive contract was stuffed with a ton of incentives, which could have been worth up to $71 million.

Smith, who has never missed a game in his career, had eight sacks, two forced fumbles, and four pass deflections for the Packers. As the team transitioned from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love at quarterback, Smith and the defense helped keep the Packers afloat until their stretch run that saw them reach the playoffs and upset the Dallas Cowboys.

Love sat down with Micah Parsons earlier this month and discussed that game:

“I think ya'll biggest weapon is ya'll pass rush. Great DBs over there too but I feel like they rely on the pass rush, you know what I mean? When you got a great pass rush you think as the quarterback you got to get the ball out of your hands quick. And so, we were able to take advantage of that by getting some chips on you (Micah Parsons) and slow you down a little bit. [DeMarcus] Lawrence, slow him down a little bit but I knew I was going to have to hang in that pocket, take a couple hits from you, take a couple hits from those guys. The guys we have at receiver, man, I was confident they were gonna go out there and do what they need to do against ya'll DBs.”