2017 Dumb Things I Read

[pbmax]

http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...lors/99120766/

At first I thought it was just the Twitter summary or headline. But no the article claims the following:

Either the Green Bay Packers are extremely cocky or they know the free-agent market as well or better than anybody in the NFL.

Evidence for this?

1. Not signing Micah Hyde for $6 mil per year.
2. Low balling Lang and Lacy
3. Signing Nick Perry
4. Not agreeing to Cook's terms
5. Signing Bennett and Kendricks

Do you see a pattern in this? I do, but it isn't what Spoon is seeing. I see a team that still values talent and youth more than age and experience.

Spoon gives up some of the counter criticism
1. Perry has been as productive as Chandler Jones, who was supposed to get a franchise tag over the last year
2. Hyde doesn't play man defense well with a lack of speed
3. Bennett, more talented than Cook while a bit older, signed for just over what Doyle got from the Colts
4. Cook's agent pulled out of talks

He judges Tretter and Peppers as wanting to leave, meaning a premium would need to be paid to keep either. OK, I can work with that.

I do think Lang harbors so ill will toward the negotiating stance this time around. This was clear last August when it was announced they were at the end of the list for getting new deals done after younger players Bach and Perry and a TE. Forgoing hip surgery in a contract year though, while brave and risky, was not just for the Packers benefit, playing well under that condition would drive Lang's value. If he sat out 2016, he risked not getting the same offers.

If I were a vet looking for a 3rd deal, I would expect a tough row to hoe in Green Bay. But Lang was not complaining about loyalty in his 2nd contract and the Packers knew he could get more elsewhere if they were playing the "look at our coach, QB and facilities" card.

[Fritz]

http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...lors/99120766/

At first I thought it was just the Twitter summary or headline. But no the article claims the following:



Evidence for this?

1. Not signing Micah Hyde for $6 mil per year.
2. Low balling Lang and Lacy
3. Signing Nick Perry
4. Not agreeing to Cook's terms
5. Signing Bennett and Kendricks

Do you see a pattern in this? I do, but it isn't what Spoon is seeing. I see a team that still values talent and youth more than age and experience.

Spoon gives up some of the counter criticism
1. Perry has been as productive as Chandler Jones, who was supposed to get a franchise tag over the last year
2. Hyde doesn't play man defense well with a lack of speed
3. Bennett, more talented than Cook while a bit older, signed for just over what Doyle got from the Colts
4. Cook's agent pulled out of talks

He judges Tretter and Peppers as wanting to leave, meaning a premium would need to be paid to keep either. OK, I can work with that.

I do think Lang harbors so ill will toward the negotiating stance this time around. This was clear last August when it was announced they were at the end of the list for getting new deals done after younger players Bach and Perry and a TE. Forgoing hip surgery in a contract year though, while brave and risky, was not just for the Packers benefit, playing well under that condition would drive Lang's value. If he sat out 2016, he risked not getting the same offers.

If I were a vet looking for a 3rd deal, I would expect a tough row to hoe in Green Bay. But Lang was not complaining about loyalty in his 2nd contract and the Packers knew he could get more elsewhere if they were playing the "look at our coach, QB and facilities" card.

For me, it was the fascinating shift in how TT's portrayed regarding free agency that was the dumbest part of it all. In the past, as we are all well aware, Ted was portrayed as this uninterested, draft-only guy - he just wasn't interested in free agency until it got to cheap, late pickings. The only guys he really cared about signing were ones he picked. Ted was afraid or unwilling to look at free agency outside of re-signing his own free agents.So Ted was often portrayed as kind of sleeping through the "big name" period of free agency, dundering along while other teams picked up the really talented guys.

Now, suddenly, Ted is a cagey, cocky, manipulative bastard who isn't loyal to his own guys. He didn't even make an offer to Micah Hyde! He ditched TJ Lang! He jerked around Jared Cook and signed Martellus Bennett instead! What a manipulative jerk!

It's enough to make my head spin. If Ted shitted out gold-standard players, the writers would find a way to make that seem bad.