The Green Bay Packers have placed linebacker Za'Darius Smith on injured reserve because of a back injury that will keep him out a minimum of the next three games, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN.
"Why not try to get him as healthy as possible so we can have him more readily available, hopefully?" head coach Matt LaFleur said Friday.
Smith played just 18 snaps in the season-opening loss to the New Orleans Saints, per Demovsky.
The 29-year-old was placed on the non-football injury list at the start of training camp after reporting with a back injury.