WATCH: Packers coach makes bold proclamation on Rashan Gary

Rashan Gary has turned into a valuable part of the Green Bay Packers defense. Packers outside linebackers coach Mike Smith has always been high on Gary, and he just made another bold proclamation on the Green Bay star.

“The thing with Rashan and why I was so confident, and I think that a lot of coaches are scared to put themselves out there. I’ve never been like that. I love Rashan from the first time I watched him on film, and then when I met him as a person, I knew it,” Smith said of Gary. “I think a lot of things sometimes in football is just common sense. How is the guy gonna fail? We all know how athletic he is. We knew he was going to be raw. The guy loves football. He would do anything. Study, all of that stuff. It would be impossible for him to fail.

“I knew that, and I knew Rashan was never going to give up. He just needed to be taught. I knew he was going to spend the time. There’s been a few people I’ve met that didn’t think this guy was going to make it. The thing about Rashan is he takes out that noise, he don’t care. He knows there’s people that have doubted him. He’s going to feel that and use it for the rest of his career. So he should be out here (at the Pro Bowl).”

Gary played his college football at Michigan, spending three years with the Wolverines. In his collegiate career, he totaled 119 tackles with 23 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. The Packers selected Gary 12th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.

Smith: Gary ‘is going to be one of the best in this league’

Since joining the Packers, Gary has made great impacts. As a rookie in 2019, he had 21 tackles with three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and two sacks. In 2020, he improved to 25 tackles with five tackles for loss, five sacks and 11 quarterback hits.

This past season, though, Gary broke out and turned into a star on the Packers defense. On the year, he totaled 47 tackles with eight tackles for loss, 9.5 sacks, and 28 quarterback hits.

Smith doesn’t think Gary is anywhere close to reaching his true potential yet, though.

“But this is just scratching the surface for him, he’s going to get better,” Smith added. “And I’m not scared to say it, he’s going to be one of the best in this league if not the best in the league when this is all said and done.”