And now all the 53 roster projections turned out to be wrong.
Printable View
And now all the 53 roster projections turned out to be wrong.
Solid signing at a position devoid of quality depth.
Good Job TT !
The only relevant question with Brooks is does he still have most of the skills he had just a few years ago? I trust the Packer staff to determine that he does or else they wouldn't have signed him.
I was wrong these last several years saying, "well Teds the most successful GM in the NFC. He's right again as always"
Now that this is happening I do see how posters who were clammering for a little more FA signings were right. Not a ton. Not huge money. But GB is a winner and winners want to come here. We could have been scooping up on aging winners who want a ring to supplement the couple areas of need each year.
Ted seems to have grown. And in hindsight, I was blinded by my view that he's so successful we can't critique him. He is so successful and I am glad we have him. But he's not perfect. I do think he's gotten better though this year.
And I'd love to win the SB this year and prove all you guys who have been saying this right! I'd love to win a couple more and then we're all right. The "Ted needed to grow" people were right. And the "ted is a top tier gm" people were right too. Let's all win :)
But for this moment, I lose and I was wrong. Good job guys. I tip my hat.
To be fair, Thompson had a 3rd round pick, 4th round pick, and solid vet as depth behind two 1st round picks at OLB. That's a lot of investment, so let's not act like there wasn't potential for the position. It just so happens that the 3rd round pick hasn't progressed and the 4th round pick got injured after the draft. The position also had depth last year with a 1st round pick and Julius Peppers as backup (along with the 3rd round pick).
CB was a weakness last year, but at this time last year the Packers had Shields, a 1st round pick coming off a good rookie year, a 2nd round pick coming off a solid rookie years and a solid slot guy in Micah Hyde. You can't have all-stars at every position, and you have to hope that some of the young guys progress.
Last year, by the time Shields, Randall, and Rollins got injured, there was little that Thompson could do. This year the depth never materialized, and the Packers got lucky that the 49ers are rebuilding and switched to a 4-3, and a good 3-4 LB became available.
I don't think Fackrell can play; Clay will surely miss time; Perry will probably miss time... we certainly need more bodies.
That said, I think we're better off on the outside than inside - Thomas is our best ILB. I fully expect teams will exploit and expose Martinez and Ryan this year, the same as last. They're okay against the run, but terrible liabilities in the passing game.
We were 31st against the pass last year... don't think we can improve on that number too much - unless Daniels and the rest of the defensive lineman have awesome years.
We'll see.
We were 31st against the pass--primarily because of CB play. We were 6th in sacks and 9th in sack percentage. Gunter was our #1 CB for much of the year. He may not make the team this year. There's little chance that House, a healthy Randall, a healthy Rollins, 1st round pick King, and improving Hawkins will be nearly as bad this year. Will be they be good enough to be part of a championship caliber team? Maybe not, but there's certainly reason for hope.
This year with House and an improved Randall, Rollins and Hawkins.... Plus the improvement of Clark and Lowry..... Plus the improvement of Brice (which means Burnett will be playing more ILB) could mean we're improved at 5 or 6 positions.
Now we have a decent backup OLB to cover some of those tracks.
I think we could be a top 10 defense this year. And a top 1 of 2 offense.
We have a legit chance at a SB victory this year.
I don't really see much change in TT strategy. Going into week one in a must win game at home, the Packers have injuries to both starting OLBs and a backup. The other backup appears ineffective. This signing is as close to desperation as TT can get. But in typical fashion, TT didn't really overspend. TT is flexible to circumstances; it's just notable this year that circumstances forced his hand to play the FA market more than usual.