GREEN BAY, Wis. -- They almost played together in college and were reunited -- albeit briefly -- at the NFL scouting combine four years ago before they went their separate ways.
But they don’t even have each other’s phone numbers.
Yet to Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, they’re the perfect pair to help turn around the Green Bay Packers’ defense.
"One thing he did tell me, he was like, ‘Z, we’re going to do great things in this league,’" Za’Darius Smith said. "I kid you not. Now, we’re playing together."
Just hours apart during this week’s free-agent negotiation period, they agreed to deals that would bring them to Green Bay, although neither one knew the other about to sign.