Breaking: Za’Darius Smith Exposes Packers’ Dirty Secret: ‘They Wanted Me to…’
Before he was even traded to the Detroit Lions, with merely a mention of the possibility after they lost Aidan Hutchinson, Za’Darius Smith had revenge games against two teams he had played for in the NFC North on his mind.
“If I was to go to Detroit, I would like it, because I get to play Green Bay twice a year and the Vikings twice a year”, Smith said in mid-October when he was with the Cleveland Browns, via Scott Petrak of the Chronicle-Telegram. “So, yeah, that’ll be big.”
Smith got his first opportunity at a “revenge game” against the Packers in Week 14, with a sack in the Lions’ victory. On the field after that game, he had some pointed comments about the Packers in a conversation with Stacey Dales of NFL Network.
“Za’Darius, you told me this week, kind of a little bit of a revenge game because you gave that franchise, for three years, your everything”, Dales said.
“Two years I gave it to them, and once I got hurt, they sent me down like I wasn’t nothing”, Smith said. “But, I’m glad to be on the other side now. You know I had a chance to go to the Vikings and get my revenge. And I came to Detroit and got my revenge again,” Smith said.
Za’Darius Smith reveals the root of his hatred for the Packers
Smith’s comment to Dales about going to the Vikings and getting his initial revenge showed the Packers have a special place on his bad side.
Tyler Dunne of Go Long recently visited Allen Park, and he caught up with Smith. Smith had previously opened up to Dunne about how the Packers handled his back injury, but he had a lot more to say this time.
“It wasn’t right. I gave that team my all. They lied to me about my back,” Smith said. “For a lot of fans who think I did wrong or was the mean guy in the locker room, that’s not my M.O. I’m not that type of player. I want to help my team win. But they didn’t know that story. And outside looking in, I’d be mad at me, too.”
Watkins found a bulge in Smith’s back, which was causing nerve issues. Smith says having surgery and doing his rehab in California led to the Packers fining him for each day he was gone.
After returning to the team about a month after surgery, the Packers wanted him to run and test his surgically repaired back.
“Trying to rush me in back. When I was running, ‘What the f**k y’all doing? Why are y’all doing this?’ They gave me something to squat with,” Smith said. “I got my stuff and I went home. I left. So that’s where the confusion came from: ‘Z ain’t a team leader. He just ditched his teammates.’ But the world’s not knowing.”
