Assuming we actually have a semi-normal offseason, the Packers are quite a fortunate team in that they have few key free agents, are in healthy shape cap-wise, and are going to get a ton of injured players back. However, there’s still work to do. Here’s my wish list broken down by activities.
Team Free Agents
There are people to sign, and we certainly cannot or will not sign all of them. Here’s my list of guys to sign, ordered by priority. Of course, we have no idea what the restricted free agency, franchise, transition tender situation will be. They’ve already taken care of a few free agents (notably Tramon Williams, AJ Hawk, Desmond Bishop). Here’s thoughts on the remaining.
Must Sign
- Cullen Jenkins (DE) – Dominant end, won’t get Peppers money, essential for our line.
Would be great to have back.
- Darryn Colledge (OG) – He’s been a shaky player in the past, but we don’t have an immediate replacement.
- Jason Spitz (OL) – Versatile player, always looks like a starter in camp but in the end is a solid backup for a reasonable price.
- Mason Crosby (K) – I’ve been very critical of his accuracy, and his kickoffs seemed to suffer last year on top of it. I’d rather have someone new, but don’t want to cut him without a legit plan.
As long as they don’t want starter money…
- Atari Bigby (S) – Can’t stay on the field, but can make plays when he does.
- Allen Babre (OL) – I’d like to see him be a full-time backup at guard, he’s a pretty big & nasty guy and has potential to be the left side version of Sitton.
- John Kuhn (FB) – Proven he can do a lot. He has no future as a tailback, too many short yardage runs where he just ran into the back of people. But a solid guy to have in the backfield.
- Charlie Peprah (S) – Our safeties have proven they can and will get hurt, need depth.
Only if we don’t have any other plan
- James Jones (WR) – Too many drops of sure touchdowns, too many games where he can’t get open (against nickel backs or safeties no less). Jennings, Driver, Nelson are the top 3 wideouts and we need to find some fresh blood to take over for Jones.
- Korey Hall (FB) – three fullbacks? Good on special teams…
- Brandon Jackson (RB) – Was hopefully going to be the year where he just got it, put on extra weight, etc. I like him in pass protection, but not much else.
The Draft
The Packers consistently take 9-10 players in every draft and we can only assume they’ll do something similar this year. I really don’t want to get into predicting which players they’ll take, as they’ll end up taking the best available. However, here’s my list of priorities for positions.
- Offensive Tackle – We’ve got someone who is currently acceptable on the right side and might project to move left. We need another one.
- Defensive Line – End or tackle, we just need depth.
- Outside Linebacker – The carousel due to injury showed us that we don’t have anyone on the roster worth putting opposite Clay Matthews.
- Corner Back – Probably a distant 4th given the potential of Shields. If you can find a guy that projects to be a nickel back in 2-3 years, that’d be great.
- Middle Linebacker – I’m debating moving this higher. Seems Barnett is a starters as of today, but he’s missed 19 games in 3 years and he’s going to get $6m if he plays this year.
- Wide Receiver – I don’t know that Jones will be back and Driver had a big production drop off last year. We don’t really have a prototypical slot receiver on the roster.
- Running back – Grant should be back and starting, Starks shows promise, but assuming Jackson is gone we don’t have a 3rd down back. That’s not something you usually find in the draft, but it is a definite need.
I think of corners like closers in baseball. There are very few that can dominate for a long stretch of time. Very few. Darrelle Revis has been really good for two years, but is he a franchise player? Think about it… the players that typically make the biggest impact on a football team are quarterback, left tackle, pass rusher. A good corner is useless without a pass rush (look at Oakland) as they only cover one guy and even if they can keep up with their man for 3-4 seconds, someone else is bound to get open if the quarterback is given time. I can certainly see Reevis deserving higher pay, but he shouldn’t be the highest paid guy on defense. Bottom line is he’s not going to be winning a ton of games on defense for the Jets by himself. A top pass-rusher, on the other hand, can disrupt so much of the game and make average corners look like stars.
Cynical Packers fans likely went into Thursday night expecting to not see anyone added to the team. Many probably thought GM Ted Thompson would simply trade out of the first round and draft the best player available a few picks later. Maybe we’d end up with another try-hard wide receiver or linebacker. Instead, Thompson showed signs that he feels the team might be done simply turning over the roster and ready to build for something. While there are little arguments that Bryan Bulaga was the best player at pick 23, he also fit a glaring need for the team. It doesn’t matter if he isn’t ready to be an NFL left tackle this season. He can play on the right side or at left guard, and the Packers need help in both spots. We now have a legitimate offensive line prospect to develop for the future, but who can also help the team immediately. In the 2nd round, Thompson addressed a position of concern with the defensive line. Jolly and Jenkins are potentially gone after this season (and Jolly’s legal situation is an ongoing concern), so getting another big body who can play the 5-technique is a very smart move. Neal can find his way into the rotation immediately but is under no pressure to start this season. Finally, Thompson surprised people a bit by trading up in the 3rd round for Georgia Tech safety Morgan Burnett. Burnett is a prototypical Thompson player, with more athleticism than football acumen, but he definitely addresses a need. Hopefully he can start alongside Nick Collins and offer a bit more security in the deep secondary and against the run than the team got from Atari Bigby over the past few seasons.
While there aren’t a lot of quality corners left, I would expect that to be one of the next positions Thompson targets. Dominique Franks could be a good pickup for that position. Another concern might be running back, where there is no quality depth behind Ryan Grant. Joe McKnight and Jonathan Dwyer are still on the board and either one would make a quality back. McKnight would likely be the better fit as he’s a speedy guy who can catch passes.
With the Saints going to their first Super Bowl after 43 years in the league (only 2 teams have existed longer without one), what better time to review some of the milestones in Saints history.
1965: The city of New Orleans votes on the name of their upcoming football team. The final ballot included “New Orleans Frenchies,” “The Confederate Football Team of New Orleans” and “Noluns Bouyatoufees” (that’s the best written translation of whatever those people were trying to say). Not seeing a suitable option, the NFL picked “Saints” out of a hat.
1967: The Saints set the tone for the next 40 years by losing their first game.
1972: QB Archie Manning becomes the best player in Saints history by leading the league in pass completions and games lost.
1979: Local professional basketball team, the Jazz, moves to Utah. Left with no other option, New Orleans sports fans immediately turn their support to LSU.
1979: After drafting punter Russell Erxleben with the 11th pick in the draft, coach Dick Nolan was quoted as saying “it’s getting harder and harder to have a white guy as the best player on your team.”
1980: Unsure about their direction, the Saints hold a public raffle to become the next head coach.
1982: The famous “Who Dat” cheer is adopted in reference to the Saints. The phrase was popularized by New Orleans residents expressing shock/confusion when they were told they had a professional football team.
1983: Zara’s Super Market in New Orleans launches a successful promotion: Buy $50 worth of groceries, get 4 Saints tickets free (And we’ll throw in a paper bag!).
1985: Local man Tom Benson purchases the Saints for $681,200 and a Chevy Caprice with a full tank of gas.
1985-1996: As part of the NFL’s new campaign to boost fan morale, the Saints are granted their first winning season, first division title and first playoff appearance during the Jim Mora coaching era.
1999: Mike Ditka trades 8 draft picks, 300 lbs of crawfish and $500,000 for Ricky Williams and a 10lb bag of pot.
2002: After achieving success and winning the NFL Executive of the Year award, GM Randy Mueller is promptly fired.
2006: Having had previous success with one-armed quarterback Bobby Herbert, the Saints take a chance signing the injured Drew Brees.
According to the Daily Herald, Jay Cutler is somehow involved in the interview process of the Bears’ next offensive coordinator. I shouldn’t need to say one more word beyond that to prove how inept the Chicago staff is, but let’s look closer. Some of you might think it a good idea to involve your franchise quarterback in the hiring process of the guy who will design the offense. If your franchise quarterback went by the name of Brady, Manning, maybe even Brees or Favre, sure, it’s a great idea. Those guys have (most of them, anyway) won titles and MVP awards. They’ve played the game for a long time with a great amount of success and witnessed every offensive scheme imaginable. Three of those guys are first ballot Hall of Fame players. If your franchise quarterback is Jay Cutler, the story is different. Cutler is entering his 5th year (4th as a starter) and has amassed a 24-29 record, never had a winning season (in college either), throws an interception for every 1.29 TD’s and has yet to play an entire game without crying on the sidelines or insulting a teammate’s mother (I might have exaggerated on the last part, but admit, you believe it). Essentially, Cutler doesn’t have a successful track record. He’s new to Chicago and has done nothing to prove he’ll be a starting quarterback 3 years from now. By involving Cutler in this process, Angelo and Smith are saying that A) They are afraid of upsetting Cutler, B) They are not in complete control of the team and C) They are not capable of hiring a quality offensive coordinator.
Of course, all of this equates to more great news for myself and any fan of another NFC North team. Coupled with Angelo’s regular failings in the early rounds of drafts, the disaster the Bears created on the offensive line, Lovie’s inability to get defensive players to meet their potential, the Bears are almost assuring another sub-500 season in 2010.
How bad is life for Chicago fans though? Neither baseball team looks like a division winner in 2010, the Bulls are playing better but their best player doesn’t want the ball in the clutch and it’s extremely unlikely they’ll come away with anyone in free agency this year, now the Bears are further punishing their season ticket holders with their inability to make a quality decision. At least the Blackhawks are good. Too bad the NHL still isn’t relevant.
It’s playoff time, but who can afford to go? There are 4 games this weekend, and two of them were almost blacked out in the home TV markets. Arizona and Minnesota had to get extensions to sell all their tickets. Arizona eventually sold out, Minnesota is still trying. Hmm, how could these games not sell out? The Cardinals haven’t hosted a playoff game since way before I was born. The Vikings aren’t exactly seeing the post season on a regular basis either. Could it be that tickets are selling for $600 a seat and up?
The Lions, Jets and Browns all fired their head coaches. The Raiders are looking to interview Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. The Rams have not made an announcement about their coach, but I’m guessing they’ll start popping up in interview news in the next few days.
Wade Phillips is safe, not sure why…
So far Crennel/Savage are out. Dallas might have a shakeup, same with the Jets. Things don’t look for Herm in KC with a new boss coming in. Rod Marinelli is bound to be gone after going 0-16 and having a new GM coming. Haslett in St Louis may be a goner after not really doing much to improve the team. I’m guessing the Cable guy will be out in Oakland. Jack Del Rio may be out after his team quit on him.
That would put us at 3 coaches fired during the season and possibly 8 after the season. 11 head coaches on the streets in one year? Looks really bad for Oakland and St Louis who may fire two coaches each in one year.
