The Packers are landing one of the top EDGEs on the free agent market."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections The APC PodcastPackers Film RoomFantasy Football AdviceCDTShareTweetShareSharePackers Free Agency 2019: OLB Za’Darius Smith will sign in Green Bay Jason Spriggs Jersey , per reportPatrick McDermott-USA TODAY SportsAfter staying mostly quiet on Monday as the free agency negotiation window opened, the Green Bay Packers made a huge splash early on Tuesday morning. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Green Bay is expected to sign outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith, formerly of the Baltimore Ravens.One early report from Jason La Canfora suggests that the contract could be worth over $16 million per year. Rapoport later announced details of the deal as being for four years and $66 million, an average of $16.5 million per year.Smith Kyler Fackrell Jersey , a fourth-round draft pick in 2015 out of Kentucky, had a big season for Baltimore in 2018. He recorded 8.5 sacks but landed an astonishing 25 quarterback hits along with a forced fumble and 10 tackles for loss. For his career, Smith has 18.5 sacks.This move is one that makes a great deal of sense. On Sunday night, Peter King reported that the Packers had once tried to trade for Smith in the past. In addition, Milt Hendrickson — a key Ravens scout for the past decade — jumped over to the Packers’ front office to work for general manager Brian Gutekunst. Hendrickson’s familiarity with Smith likely played a role in his expected signing.Smith is a bigger player for the 3-4 outside linebacker position Justin McCray Jersey , listed at 6-foot-4 and 272 pounds. That could make him a candidate to rush from an interior position on passing downs in addition to manning an outside linebacker spot in the base defense.We’ll have more on this news as it comes available. The refusal of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to say whether he has spoken to former coach Mike McCarthy since the release of last week’s bombshell from Tyler Dunne of BleacherReport.com speaks volumes. Logic and common sense suggest that Rodgers hasn’t spoken to McCarthy at all, and that Rodgers presumably realizes admitting this would tend to make the allegations regarding a chronically fractured relationship between the two men more credible.Along those same lines, the lingering silence of the Packers tends to make some or all of the report seem more credible. And, at some level, Rodgers has to be upset that the Packers haven’t shouted from the roof tops Preston Smith Jersey , “Fake news!”Here’s how I processed the situation during Wednesday’s #PFTPM. If someone reported that I had been feuding with my former boss at NBC for years and that the boss of my former boss had specifically told me, when hiring a new boss, “Don’t be the problem,” and if I thought it all was a “smear attack” fueled by disgruntled former colleagues and and overly ambitious reporter and if I had taken great pains to say so on the record, I’d be upset if NBC said nothing at all about any aspect of the situation.When it comes to the reporting regarding the highest paid and most important employee of the Green Bay Packers Ty Summers Jersey 2019 , the fact that the Packers haven’t issued any type of denial has to bother Rodgers. The fact that CEO Mark Murphy hasn’t gone public to flatly deny that he told Rodgers “don’t be the problem” makes it worse.So here’s where we are, from the perspective of Rodgers and the Packers. Day one: A blistering report is published. Day two: PFT reports that the Packers privately deny the specific allegation that Murphy told Rodgers “don’t be the problem” and that only Rodgers (but not the team) is expected to publicly deny it. Days three and four: Nothing. Day five: Rodgers launches a full-blown assault on the story, attacking former teammates Jermichael Finley and Greg Jennings for using false claims about Rodgers to stay relevant and claiming that Dunne embraced false allegations to advance his career. Day six: Nothing. Day seven: Rodgers refuses to say whether he has spoken to McCarthy in the week since the story was published, and receiver Davante Adams contends that multiple players who logically would have been contacted to comment on the situation as part of the exhaustive reporting weren’t. (Even if they quite possibly were.)Looking at the situation broadly and comprehensively, the silence of the Packers becomes Jace Sternberger Green Bay Packer , from Rodgers’ perspective, curious at best and troubling at worst. While it’s safe to assume that the organization simply hopes to look toward the future, Rodgers remains stuck in the quicksand of the past — and the Packers are standing nearby with a rope, whistling.