ESPN is running a poll about who has had the best free agency and the worst. They preselected about 7 teams each for the poll, and the Packers are one of the 7 worst in their opinion. What do you think?
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ESPN is running a poll about who has had the best free agency and the worst. They preselected about 7 teams each for the poll, and the Packers are one of the 7 worst in their opinion. What do you think?
Personally, I think it's been a success:
* The offense will be better with two talented TEs
* Lang will be missed, but not at $9 MM per
* The Packers only lost two notable FAs (1 count for Lang, 1 combined count for Lacy, Jones, and Tretter)
* The defense will be better as I firmly believe last year was significantly below average performance for Rollins and Randall and they'll improve simply by regression to the mean.
Downsides are that the Packers need a RB. And could use another talented CB and pass rusher. But they aren't far, and I think it's absolutely ridiculous to call them one of the worst performers during the first week of FA. I think with two TEs, the Packers O will be even more difficult to stop than the end of last year (barring injuries).
I'm not a koolaid drinker (most of the time), but I'm more optimistic than it seems many others are.
Draft is very deep at cb and Rb
There is nothing better for a regular season than to lose the offense according to pundits.
I said so-so. I like the signing of the two TE's and keeping Perry. Those are the big moves. Bringing back Davon House is a good move, but we'll see how much he can really help.
I realize you have to leave some room for new guys that you draft, and guys that are still developing. That said, we are not deep at RB, so I'd be in favor of getting one in FA. I think we could kick the tires on AP and see what he has left in the tank.
The elephant in the room is the defense. How are they going to generate more pass rush to help the cover guys on the back end? How are the cover guys going to improve to help the DL? I distinctly recall the second game of the year when the D was getting after it with pressure on Bradford, and several sacks and a very stingy run defense. However, the achilles heel (broken record alert) was Randall getting torched by Stefon Diggs. If Randall doesn't have the quicks to be a cover corner, then perhaps he could fulfill the same type of role that Hyde was filling, and the Packers could go after a cover corner. The best guy available who would cost them is Malcolm Butler, but you could go Alteraun Verner or Nickell Robey-Coleman as veteran depth. CB may be a draft target.
I would switch my vote from so-so to success if they landed Connor Barwin.
Good post. I'd like Barwin and a veteran RB.
I said so-so. Barwin would make it a success.
OFFENSE LOSSES JUMPING SHIP
Cook
Lang
Tretter
Lacey
OFFENSE GAINS COMING ABOARD
Kendricks
DEFENSIVE LOSSES JUMPING SHIP
Peppers
Hyde
D Jones
DEFENSIVE GAINS COMING ABOARD
House
Kept Perry
About the best you can ever hope for with Ted is lateral movement - picking up somebody to cancel out somebody lost. This year, they haven't even done that. Another thing Ted has done in the past is to use high draft picks to replace players lost in free agency. I wouldn't be surprised if he does that again this year - thus, wasting the draft pick in terms of improving the team.
Despite all of that, I voted "so-so" because Ted correctly did not overpay for Lang or Hyde and because losing Lacy IMO is addition by subtraction. Also, they retained my favorite underrated/underplayed Packer (well, second after Janis), Jayrone Elliot. Keeping Nick Perry at that price is an OK move, not a great bargain but at least not losing a good player.
If would take signing a top level Corner (of which there probably aren't any left) AND signing Barwin for me to upgrade it to Good or Excellent.
Thus far we've failed in free agency. Of course the jury is still out but I don't see us using the money that we saved by not keeping Lang or Hyde on many, if any quality free agents.
Did anybody really think Perry was leaving ? We were going to pay for Nick Perry.
Green Bay was far stronger before free agency than they are now; it's an annual thing. Of course our players will improve.....nobody else's will......and we'll use the draft to try to get back to near the level we were when we lost our last playoff game :)
it's an annual thing
The Packers are stronger at TE
The Packers are much weaker at OG
CB, maybe is about the same at best but I'd probably take Hyde over House for the same money
The Packers are a much weaker at OLB after losing both Peppers and Jones without any replacements
Not sure how I feel about Losing Lacy.
Is this comparison with last year at this time (offseason) or just FA season this year?
Because cornerback is probably better, even if its not good enough, by just adding House to the existing trio. Whatever is lost with Hyde at slot is overshadowed by House outside.
Are we better or worse off compAred to a couple months ago
I say worse
House is a decent signing, and Bennett is a slight upgrade, Kendrick is might be a slight upgrade over dickrod
But we've lost a ton of talent, I know some of you guys like to shit all over ex packer players, but we lost some good players, and haven't replaced those guys (other then cook)
Gains from players healing alone usually make this untrue.
A "successful" free agency season is synonymous with failure in the draft. The fact that we need full price help at TE, OLB, CB, and RB is because players at those positions, players on rookie contracts well below market value, have disappointed. No amount of free agents can repay those opportunity costs. This idea that we're one or two overpaid guys away from a superbowl is stupid; we're 3 or 4 vastly underpaid guys away.
At one point the 2013 draft looked like a home run deep into the stands. It was squandered and now the whole thing (minus Bakhtiari) got away without any rings.
total fail. done NOTHING to improve the team so far.
So-so.
Love the TE upgrade.
Good to keep Arod happy.
It's an upgrade if he/they stay healthy and if they play smart and motivated. It might have been exciting to see a full season of Cook playing with Aaron Rodgers. On the other hand, he might have been prone to injuries, and it seems like he missed a few assignments or whatever when he did play. I don't know anything about Bennett or Kendricks in those ways, but hopefully one or the other or both can do the job.
Still, this is just a little bit better than a lateral move. And combined with everything else, Ted gets about a C- or D+.
I think the jury is still out on Rollins and Randall. Both suffered through terrible seasons and injuries are most likely a big part of that plus add in the learning curve of being second year players, and then losing Sam Shields. Shields was a top flight corner in the league and the Packers sure fire #1 corner. Nobody truly expect to lose him for good. Unfortunately there is no player on the roster that is ready to step into the cleats vacated by Shields and Thompson was not going to pull the trigger on the higher priced free agents out there. I am not sure any of them were truly worth their contracts, but that is free agency. Teams are going to over pay for what is out there. I am truly fine with losing Hyde and picking up the cheaper House. House is actually a better cover corner but does not offer the flexibility of Hyde. I am still kind of scratching my head over letting Casey Heyward go. I know that he suffered through injury his last two years in GB but when he was healthy he was great in the slot and had a very high instinct, not signing him was magnified when Shields went out. Depth is an issue and right now there is no one player that has demonstrated #1 corner capabilities and that need can't be met with a rookie acquired in the draft.
The Packers still need depth behind the often injured Matthews and Perry. Frackrell didn't show enough last year as a rookie, and Elliot is still a question mark. No new players were brought in so the expectation is going through the draft.
The defensive line is getting thinner with the suspension of Guion. Nothing addressed in free agency.
The offensive line took a hit with the loss of Lang and Tretter. So far nothing has been addressed in free agency.
The Packers lost Lacy to free agency, they currently have a legit depth chart of one player - Montgomery. At this point nothing has been done to address the need
The Packers did make a move to acquire two very solid tight ends. I am one of those people that think Bennett is a top 5 tight end in the league. So free agency seems to have filled a need
So the Packers have a lot of holes right now that are apparently going to be addressed in the draft. The Packers lost more than they have gained during free agency. Right now this off season isn't screaming "Super Bowl or Bust!!!!"
I can work my way through the Hayward piece. You have Shields. Randall had a decent rookie year. Rollins and Gunther would fight for the 3-4 spot. Hyde can play some slot. In August of 2016 that group actually looked like it could be a strength of the team. Shields goes down. Randall gets hurt. Rollins regressed. Now you have a shit show.
The OLB and OL losses are the ones that I thought might be replaced by free agents this year. You can have a rookie OLB/edge guy that plays well so maybe that's the hope.
I would say about as expected. Lang leaving is the one thing that is probably going to hurt, but I wouldn't have wanted Ball to match Detroit's offer either. Bottom line is that this loss is survivable but we should be prepared to see lots of discontinuity on offense, at least early in the season. Fortunately, Packer fans have lots of experience with early season offensive dysfunction.
One saving grace about losing Lang is Ted is adept at finding gems in later rounds so perhaps he'll find another one next month?
nope...not really. cook was hungry for success and wanted to be here. Rodgers wanted him back. Bennett, although good, has lots of business distractions in his life, has a ring. i wonder how hungry he is now. to me the small talent difference is off-set by a question of "want to." so it's pretty much a wash. that was just tt covering his ass. but you know...offense wasn't what needed bolstering. it was the D and NOTHING has been done there to improve the team except bring in a back-up cb. the needs of the D are well known and back-up cb isn't one of them.
Maybe, but how often are those middle round guys able to step in and play well right away? Bakh was the exception, and his first year was not free of bumps. Lang, Sitton, EDS, they were all backups for at least a year before becoming dependable contributors.
Cook may have "wanted" to be in GB but he reportedly declined an offer that was more generous than the one signed by Bennett. I agree that the difference between Cook and Bennett seems relatively small, but I don't think it's fair to say that TT dropped the ball on this one. It sounds like Cook was trying to break the bank.
that report was discredited days ago. tt didn't drop the ball...he had to sign bennett after cook's agent fucked up. as i said tt covered his ass with the bennett signing. he had no choice. he offered less than market for cook and ended up signing bennett for market...and we know how he hates to do that.
Contributions on the field are more applicable to actual success than fans' projections on "hunger for success".
2016Kendricks is basically the replacement for Cook, and he had Goff & company throwing to him. Bennett is the over and above.Code:Name Rec Targ Rec% Yds Yd/Rec Long TDs Car TD Car Yr TD/Yr
Cook 30 51 58.8% 377 12.6 47 1 17 8 2.1
Kendricks 50 87 57.5% 499 10.0 44 2 17 6 2.8
Bennett 55 73 75.3% 701 12.7 58 7 30 9 3.3
I'm not disagreeing regarding your comments as it relates to the defense. But to completely ignore the TE signing as "TT doing NOTHING" indicates a certain level of blindness as it relates to what the Packers have brought in so far. Just because the signings weren't where we were hoping doesn't mean they did "nothing". They vastly updated their receiving core, and gave M3 something to work with he has never had in his entire tenure: 2 starting quality TEs.
And honestly, considering Lacy was injured most of last year and fat most of the previous year, I don't really see it as a downgrade that he was signed elsewhere. He wasn't exactly reliable these last two years. The G is a downgrade, but I'll wait to see if it's a tire fire before calling the fire department.
i imagine if cook hadn't missed so many games his stats would be better but there was no doubt about his impact when he was healthy. bennett will be bennett. like i said...a wash basically. kendricks will get dickrod's 20 catches. lost lang (starter) and tretter (good depth) on the oline, lacy (good when healthy), hyde (serviceable guy who made plays). all minuses. the team has not improved at all through FA...to this point.
packers-didnt-offer-jared-cook-more-than-martellus-bennett/
Quote:
Bennett received three-year, $21 million package, a “clean” $7 million per year arrangement with no incentives or fluff. (The contract eventually will be filed and reported on, so the truth on that specific claim eventually will come out.) The source also says that the most the Packers offered Cook was $6 million per year, and that included incentives.
The Packers, we’re told, made it clear to Bennett that they are loyal to the players who played for them, and they were candid about the intense effort invested in trying to get a deal done with Cook. That loyalty actually had a positive impact on Bennett, even though it delayed the team’s effort to pursue him — and potentially would have made an arrangement between Bennett and the Packers moot.
Ultimately, the Packers decided to pay more for the man they deemed to be better player, and to let Cook look for a better offer elsewhere.
Quote:
Well so far La Canfora has been much more accurate than Demovsky or Wilde. At this point would not be surprised if the Cook offered more turned out to fizzle too.
Code:
CONTRACT:3 yr(s) / $21,000,000 SIGNING BONUS$6,300,000 AVERAGE SALARY $7,000,000
GUARANTEED:$7,200,000 FREE AGENT:2020 / UFA
YEAR BASE SALARY SIGNING BONUS ROSTER BONUS WORKOUT BONUS CAP HIT DEAD CAP
2017 $900,000 $2,100,000 $600,000 $250,000 $3,850,000 $7,200,000
2018 $3,600,000 $2,100,000 $2,600,000 $250,000 $8,550,000 $4,200,000
2019 $5,650,000 $2,100,000 $600,000 $250,000 $8,600,000 $2,100,000