Also - didn't see it on the list above, but I'd make an offer to Corey Ballentine as well. He's better in zone than man and ideally you want him on the PS or ST only, but he filled in admirably with Jaire/Stokes out.
Also - didn't see it on the list above, but I'd make an offer to Corey Ballentine as well. He's better in zone than man and ideally you want him on the PS or ST only, but he filled in admirably with Jaire/Stokes out.
As I said, despite the whining about Rodgers, etc., the Packers were and are going forward a loaded team. We have at least 6 very high quality WRs and 2 possible star quality TEs plus a 3rd (hell no, not Deguara as somebody said, but Sims who is at least serviceable). I expect ALL of them to be retained going forward.
Yes, we should retain Aaron Jones. Dillon probably not unless nobody else wants him and he is dirt cheap - highly unlikely. I'd like to see a quality backup RB drafted about 3rd or 4th round - Braelin Allen would be ideal IMO.
I do NOT want an O Lineman early in the draft. Put the sacred cow out to pasture and don't mess with this year's O Line.
Our D Line evolved to be way above average, but we need to retain Kenny Clark. Our Edge Rusher group is excellent and getting better. I would retain Preston Smith but not for starter money on a restructure.
My tentative choice for a first round pick would be ILB. Let Campbell go even if not much is saved on the cap. Quay would be great as the second best ILB, but he isn't good enough to be #1.
I'm conflicted on Jaire. I'd like them to keep him, but he just doesn't seem worth the money he costs. I'd like to see them draft a hybrid Corner/Safety about 2nd or 3rd round, as all our young DBs are serviceable especially if Barry has the good sense to play zone D but none really stand out. Maybe we get lucky with a draft pick.
And lose the damn kicker - unless he somehow makes a miraculous improvement, If Jerry Jones can find Aubrey, we ought to be able to find somebody on the street (or soccer field) almost as good. At least 30 guys good enough to be college kickers graduate every year. I'd bet at least half of them are better than Carlson.
What could be more GOOD and NORMAL and AMERICAN than Packer Football?
I hope the Packers don't go sinking big money into an free agents. This is not yet the time. They still need to get out from under this year's coming cap mess. They've got to sort out Bakh's contract, Kenny Clark's, Aaron Jones's.
"The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."
KYPack
They don't have the cap room to spend big money on free agents this year. I would expect some minor signings at S and ILB.Originally Posted by Fritz
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
I was playing around at OverTheCap.com, the Packers could have around $23 Million if you get rid of Bakh and Campbell. You need probably 10-15 of that for rookies and resigning Packers' free agents. That only leaves 8 - 13 for free agents and signing someone mid-season if a player gets hurt.
But Rodgers leads the league in frumpy expressions and negative body language on the sideline, which makes him, like Josh Allen, a unique double threat.
-Tim Harmston
Yeah for sure, I don't think they should go all in on a bunch of free agents. Realistically, I think the org probably thinks they overachieved this year and were a year ahead of schedule. I think they need another year to resolve the pushing-the-money-out situation. I would resign the guys they have and want, but _not_ continue pushing money out. Just get the cap healthy so they'll have some room _next_ year.
IMO, the window should look like this:
2024-2025 is about getting back to divisional round and doing it again
2025-2028 is about being a super bowl candidate
They are going to extend Love when May hits, pretty sure they will set aside some cap space for that.
They will NOT be a major player in FA, but they aren't in as bad shape as last offseason where they basically had to dumpster dive. Honestly 2025 is the year for FA. The '22 and '23 draft classes will be starting to peak (in theory) and they will have cleared a lot of their bad contracts and cap hits.
Based on his player and roster evaluations, I'm glad tex isn't the GM. I suppose you could say that for a lot of us.
The majority of the cap problems are resolved with Rodgers and Bakh off the books after this year.
But 20 from Clark and 12 from Jones are unusual dead caps to be paid after they leave or spread out over new deals.
32M spread out over 3 years is about 10M per year in dead weight assuming both get new deals.
Projected salary cap
2024 240
2025 260
2026 280
So it’s about 3.5% of the salary cap is wasted on dead space over that time. It’s not too bad.
Formerly known as JustinHarrell.
Really, for all intents and purposes, the cap is cleaned up after this year. If Jaire can’t get healthy, that’s a decent chunk wasted. But the Packers are in a healthy situation heading into Jordan Loves second contract.
Formerly known as JustinHarrell.
I won't say the cap is irrelevant, but supposedly we have huge problem with it this year, and our roster could be called top 2 or 3 in the league and almost certainly is top 5 or 6 in the league - just sayin' hahahahaha.
What could be more GOOD and NORMAL and AMERICAN than Packer Football?
Post June. 1 and it saves them 10mil.
250 mil over 5 years is 1.25B
If you spread out a 100M loss over 5 years, it’s like an 8% loss of the cap for that mistake, spread out over that span.
Drafting like Gute has over the last 2 years makes up for any type of 10% loss.
Ideally you’re trying to get to the very very top. To win a championship. You can draft well, but then maybe you don’t have the top tier player under contract to really stabilize the young team. Or you can have ideal vets under contract and no wasted money, but you don’t draft well for a few years and you can’t get over the top.
There are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but really, it’s nice to have every advantage because it’s pretty long odds to finish 1 of 32 and that’s the goal.
Formerly known as JustinHarrell.
What I’m trying to illustrate Tex, in my above post, is that yeah, the cap is yearly and the total spent over 5 years is a lot. So to your point, these (30M) losses that we talk about as being almost 15% of the cap is a great exaggeration because there are ways to spread the mistake over a span of time by restructuring other deals to spread it out.
I’m kind of with you that it’s relevant, but not as drastic as the common view paints it.
Formerly known as JustinHarrell.
I don’t think you want 5 100M dollar mistakes. Even spread out over 5 years, that’s still 40% of the cap and truly, there wouldn’t be too many ways to overcome that.
Formerly known as JustinHarrell.
At OverTheCap.com, we have 1 player under contract for 2027. That is Rashan Gary. We already have 3 players with cap hits who don't have contracts for 2027 costing us $4.68 million. Of course, if those players get cut earlier, the cap hit gets moved forward into earlier years.
I am a huge advocate of not kicking the can down the road. I guess that is why I liked TT as our GM so much until he lost it the last few years.
But Rodgers leads the league in frumpy expressions and negative body language on the sideline, which makes him, like Josh Allen, a unique double threat.
-Tim Harmston
Its largely fixed by cutting Bak this year. If we do that we are something like 12 million of cap space available. Then a couple tweaks here and there as needed. We will be in a space where we won't lose anyone we want to keep.
I don't hold Grudges. It's counterproductive.
IIRC Clark was young when drafted. If you sign him for 3 and make the last year a bigger number for his optics it can work where you eat 10 mil dead space.
I don't hold Grudges. It's counterproductive.
Yeah, getting rid of the sacred cow will supposedly go a long way to fixing things along with, famously, having Rodgers money come off the books. And we are extremely fortunate to have an outstanding roster now at generally bargain prices, BUT, over the next few years, there is a LOT of money that will need to be spent to retain our young star quality players, not to even mention free agents from elsewhere (I saw an article that the Packers should sign Antoine Wingfield, a very good idea IMO). When the time comes over the next few years, we need to again push the limits of the cap. One of the usual suspects posted above that he liked the Ted Thompson way of doing things. Hell no, that's NOT what we need. We absolutely need to spend as much as it takes to keep Love, the young WRs and TEs when the time comes, extend Aaron Jones and Kenny Clark and maybe Preston Smith, etc. etc. etc.
Use/manipulate/push the limits of the cap, DON'T go all Ted Thompson.
What could be more GOOD and NORMAL and AMERICAN than Packer Football?
In a perfect world, here’s the ultimate cap manipulation Super Bowl
Your team falls apart
You have the most cap space in the league and few long term deals
You front load with yearly guarantees vs signing bonus
You draft your star QB
You have epic drafts with tons of talent
You fill in the missing pieces with FA
You start to backload
Boom, 10 year run of dominance
Formerly known as JustinHarrell.
Well, if as run said, we go "dumpster diving," then let's pick up guys like Devondre Campbell a few years ago, and Rasul Douglas.
Who said dumpster diving can't be profitable?
You just have to have the scouts and the resources for them to do the work.
The Lions have not done as well in this area because all the scouts were fighting to see who got to do the background interview with Aiden Hutchinson's mom.
"The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."
KYPack
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