Smith Brothers debut on NFL Top 100 Players list, joining fellow Packers Bakhtiari & Adams

The NFL’s list of the Top 100 Players of 2020 is currently in the midst of its reveal, and after the opening night on Sunday came and went with no Green Bay Packers on the list, Monday’s batch of players from 70 through 41 featured four members of the Green and Gold.

Two of the Packers revealed on Monday night were new arrivals to the top 100 list, and both are named Smith. Specifically, those two are edge rushers Za’Darius Smith, who ranked 48th, and Preston Smith, who came in at 63rd.

Together, the Smith Brothers burst onto the scene in 2019 in each player’s first season with the Packers after signing big free agent contracts last offseason. Za’Darius’ 13.5 sacks led the team and were a career-high, while Preston finished second on the team with 12. While Za’Darius finished third in the NFL in total quarterback pressures, according to Sports Info Solutions, Preston demonstrated good coverage ability to go with his pass-rushing, recording an interception and four pass breakups.

Joining those two new Packers pass-rushers are a pair of players who are no strangers to the top 100 list. Left tackle David Bakhtiari continues to set the NFL’s gold standard for pass protection on the blind side, as he earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2019. Bakhtiari came in at number 62, one spot ahead of Preston Smith, though that represents a drop of 19 spots from his 43rd-place ranking a year ago.

Finally, the Packers’ star wide receiver shows up on the countdown. Like Bakhtiari, Davante Adams also makes the list for the third straight season. In all of those iterations, Adams has cracked the top 60, as he reached number 57 for 2020.

Adams failed to reach 1,000 yards in 2019, finishing with 997 for the second time in four years. However, he missed four games in the first half of the year with a foot injury and was well on pace to approach his career-high totals from 2018 if not for that absence. Adams was also a monster in the postseason, as he caught 17 passes for 298 yards and two touchdowns in Green Bay’s two playoff games. He also was named to the Pro Bowl for the third consecutive season and continues to be recognized as one of the NFL’s best route runners.

The Packers reportedly have two more players left to reveal in the top 40. The league will announce players 40 through 11 on Tuesday evening with the top ten reveal taking place over two hours on Wednesday.