-- Slowly but surely, Matt LaFleur's vision is coming together in Green Bay.

On Friday, the Packers announced the addition of Mike Smith to their defensive coaching staff. He's the team's new outside linebackers coach, assuming the same role held in 2018 for the Kansas City Chiefs.

For two seasons, Smith was the assistant defensive line coach for the Chiefs. His work in 2018 helped linebacker Dee Ford register a career year just before he's set to hit the market and become a free agent this spring. 

Smith was an easy choice, simply because of his longtime connection to defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. The decision was presumably almost entirely made by Pettine.

As early as Smith's playing days in Baltimore which spanned from 2005 through 2008, he played in a Ravens defense -- as a seventh-round pick -- that featured Pettine as the team's outside linebackers coach; Pettine held the position for the entirety of Smith's playing career, which technically lasted just 14 games in four seasons.

The two reconvened again in 2010 when Smith was brought on as an intern for the New York Jets. Pettine, who was hired on as the team's defensive coordinator the year prior, would share the same defensive staff with Smith through 2012. Smith was promoted to linebackers coach in 2011 for two seasons.

"He probably spends more time than a whole lot of the other coaches on all the small parts of everyday practice that people don't even recognize," said former Jets linebacker Aaron Maybin of Smith in 2011, according to New York Daily News. "On top of that, he's spending hours upon hours working with me. Obviously, I'm grateful for a reason.

"He's gone above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to me. He's definitely done a lot as far as helped to bring me along that he didn't have to do. He knows how good I want to be and I think he wants to help me get there."

Maybin has long since retired after a brief stint in the CFL. His six-sack impact in 2011 has been forgotten and essentially lost in the archives simply as a first-round flop.

That doesn't mean Smith can't find a way to maximize and incite the talents from within fresh blood.

With Clay Matthews set to become a free agent and Nick Perry a likely candidate to receive a post-June 1 cut, the cupboard is currently empty at the position for Smith. The Packers are certainly on the market for edge help in both free agency and the draft, with many analysts expecting them to land one of the top edge rusher prospects at No. 12 overall.

Smith will turn 38 before the start of the 2019 regular season, adding to the growing list of coaching assistants on LaFleur's staff under the age of 40.

The Packers announced Kirk Olivadotti as their inside linebackers coach this week, as well as the additions of tight ends coach Justin Outten and offensive line coach Adam Stenavich.