Chris Unger/Getty Images
Za’Darius Smith has no love lost with the Green Bay Packers.
The two-time Pro Bowler says he felt the Packers abandoned him last season when he a back injury.
“How I was [perceived] Here in the building, I came down to here, to a nobody,” Smith told NFL reporter Tyler Dunne. I was like, ‘Damn, why am I being treated like this?’ I brought the culture. I helped change this s–t. Why the f-k am I the one being treated like that?”
After Smith made back-to-back Pro Bowls in his first two years in Green Bay, a back injury limited him to one game last season. The Packers released Smith in March, and he chose to sign with the Minnesota Vikings over the Baltimore Ravens in part because he felt slighted by Green Bay.
“I put my all into it. That’s why I felt the way I did with Green Bay—I gave that s–t my all. I put my blood, sweat … I put my back on the f–king line. I put everything. And that Year 3, I was treated bad. That’s why I’m here now. So, I can play them twice a year.”
Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters he did not feel the Packers treated Smith poorly, saying the team “may have a different perspective of how things transpired.”
Smith won’t have to wait long to get revenge on his former team, as the Vikings host the Packers on Sunday.