Depth

[RashanGary]

I think the depth of this team is pretty impressive. There is a lot of youth, but this team did just go 13-3. They're pretty good young guys.

Rodgers/Brohm (Flynn/or whoever)

Grant/Jackson/ (Wynn or whoever)

K. Hall/Kuhn

D Lee/J. Finley/(Humphrey or whoever)

Clifton
Tauscher
Wells
Spitz

Someone in this group will be cut. I have no clue who.
Colledge
Barbre
Coston
Giacomini
Sitton
Moll

Driver
Jennings
Jones
Nelson
Swain/Martin/Robinson

Woodson
Harris
Lee
T. Williams/Blackmon/Bush

Barnett
Hawk
Poppinga
Chillar
T. White
D. Bishop/whoever

Kampman
Jenkins
Thompson
Montomery/Hunter/KGB

Pickett
Jolly
Harrell
Muir/Bolston/Whoever

Bigby
Collins
Rouse
Peprah/Whoever

[RashanGary]

Just for comparison sake, this is the 2004 roster that Ted inherited. It puts things in perspective a little.

2004 roster

60 total players on roster and IR

4 Brett Favre QB 35 Great
7 J.T. O'Sullivan QB 220 25 Junk
8 Ryan Longwell K 6-0 30 Good
9 Bryan Barker P 6-1 40 Junk
11 B.J. Sander P 6-4 217 24 Junk
16 Craig Nall QB 6-3 228 25 Junk
21 Bhawoh Jue CB 6-0 199 25 Junk
22 Nicolas Luchey FB 6-2 273 27 Junk
23 Mark Roman S 5-11 200 27 Bad
24 Joey Thomas CB 6-1 195 24 Junk
26 Jason Horton CB 6-0 193 24 Junk
27 Michael Hawthorne CB 6-3 204 27 Junk
28 Ahmad Carroll CB 5-10 185 21 Junk
30 Ahman Green RB 6-0 218 27 Great (His last great year in NFL only 1 healthy season since)
31 Al Harris CB 6-1 185 29 7 Very Good (turned 30 in 2005)
33 William Henderson FB 6-1 251 33 Good Nearing the end
37 Chris Johnson CB 5-11 197 25 Junk
40 Tony Fisher RB 6-1 222 25 Bad
42 Darren Sharper S 6-2 210 29 Good, aging with Poor cap situation
44 Najeh Davenport RB 6-1 250 25 Average
48 Vonta Leach FB 6-0 241 23 Average
50 Hannibal Navies LB 6-3 249 27 Bad
53 Paris Lenon LB 6-2 245 26 Average
54 Steve Josue LB 6-2 230 24 Junk
56 Nick Barnett LB 6-2 233 23 Very Good young player
59 Na'il Diggs LB 6-4 237 26 Average
60 Rob Davis LS 6-3 283 35 Good but aging
62 Marco Rivera RG 6-4 307 32 Good but aging (bad cap / last good year in league)
63 Scott Wells C 6-2 300 23 Good young player
65 Mark Tauscher RT 6-4 320 27 Very good
67 Grey Ruegamer C 6-4 305 28 Below Average
68 Mike Wahle LG 6-6 304 27 Good with bad cap situation
71 Kevin Barry T 6-4 335 25 Bad
72 Brad Bedell OL 6-4 306 27 Junk
74 Aaron Kampman DE 6-4 284 24 Great Young player
75 Grady Jackson NT 6-2 347 31 Good, aging player in horrible shape
76 Chad Clifton LT 6-5 330 28 Very good
77 Cullen Jenkins DL 6-3 292 23 Good young player
78 Steve Morley LG 6-7 332 23 Junk
80 Donald Driver WR 6-0 192 29 Very good player
81 Andrae Thurman WR 5-11 192 24 Junk
82 Ben Steele TE 6-5 250 26 Junk
83 Antonio Chatman WR 5-9 184 25 Bad
84 Javon Walker 6-3 215 26 Great young player (Injured ever since this year)
85 Sean McHugh TE 6-5 262 22 Junk
88 Bubba Franks TE 6-6 265 26 Good player
89 Robert Ferguson WR 6-1 210 24 Junk
90 Colin Cole DT 6-2 320 24 Average young player
91 R-Kal Truluck DE 6-4 260 30 Junk
94 Kab. Gbaja-Biamila DE 6-4 252 27 Very good player
97 Cletidus Hunt DT 6-4 310 28 Junk
98 Kenny Peterson DT 6-3 295 25 Junk
99 Corey Williams DE 6-4 310 24 Good young player

Injured Reserve
18 Doug Pederson QB 6-3 222 36 Junk
32 Walter Williams RB 6-1 206 27 Junk
51 Torrance Marshall LB 6-2 255 27 Junk
58 Mike Flanagan C 6-5 297 30 Lost it after this year
64 James Lee NT 6-5 325 24 Junk
69 Brennan Curtin T 6-9 334 24 Junk
87 David Martin TE 6-4 262 25 Bad
95 Donnell Washington DE 6-6 323 23 Junk

[RashanGary]

39 players you want to replace
27 players rated as junk
7 players rated as bad or below average
5 players rated as average and you want to replace like Diggs, Lenon and Navies

3 top players who dropped off and never played at their 2004 form again
Green (had his last great year in 04. Injured since)
Javon Walker (had his last great year in 04 (injured or head case since)
Marco Rivera was a top tier OG but played his last good year in 2004. Even if TT kept him he was done

2 good players who were pinched against the cap
Darren Sharper turned 30 in 05 and had awful cap situation
Mike Wahle was a very good player with an awful cap situation


4 Aging players nearing the end
Rob Davis was a good 35 yr old long snapper
Grady Jackson was a good, over 30, horribly conditioned player
Mike Flanagan was over 30 and lost it after 2004
William Henderson was nearing the end


12 core players to build around

Brett Favre
Ryan Longwell
Nick Barnett
Scott Wells
Mark Tauscher
Aaron Kampman
Chad Clifton
Cullen Jenkins
Donald Driver
Bubba Franks
KGB
Corey Williams


Looking back three years from now, do you think we'll be able to identify more than 12 core players on the 2008 team?


Jennings
Jones
Nelson
Brohm/Rodgers?
Grant
Jackson
Spitz
Wells
D Lee
Finley?
Jolly
Kampman
Jenkins (we have it to the 04 team)
Bigby
Crosby
Colledge/Italian guy/UCF guy/Barbre/Coston/Moll
K Hall
Harrell?
Thompson?
Patrick Lee?
Hawk
Barnett
Chillar/Poppinga?
Blackmon/T Williams?
Collins/Rouse?

[HarveyWallbangers]

Thomas Gafford. We hardly knew ya.
:D


Undrafted free agent J.J. Jansen agreed to a free-agent contract with the Packers, according to his agent Paul Sheehy.

"J.J. got a lot of interest from other teams but the Packers were our No. 1 team right out of the gate," Sheehy said. "A week hasn't gone by where we weren't talking with somebody from the Packers."

Took over at long snapper for the Irish midway through the 2005 season and has never had a botched snap on any of his 300-odd attempts between punts and field goals.

[texaspackerbacker]

I'm betting the "whoever" at RB turns out to be Corey White.

[RashanGary]

It's really suprising how bad that 2004 team was. They had some players that had their last good years in 2004 and then fell off. 2005 was just a brutal situation after the injuries, age and cap trouble all hit at the same time. What a disaster.

[RashanGary]

I really like this Roster. I think the Packers front office can be proud of the team they assembled. I know we have QB questions, but I really like this roster as a whole.

[packers11]

You forgot abdul Hodge at LB

[Bretsky]

With the newbie OL this might be Orange Juice Coston's curtain call

[BF4MVP]

Nice post..This is why Ted Thompson is the NFL's Executive of the Year and why Sherman was one of the crappiest GMs in the NFL..

[HarveyWallbangers]

We have an overall good team. Defense and special teams are solid. Our WR group is good. Donald Lee and the rookie should be a nice combination at TE. OTs are solid, as is the OC. I think Ryan Grant is the real deal. Boy, Aaron Rodgers has a lot of pressure to keep up his end of the bargain. I'm pretty sold on his talent, but just hoping he stays healthy.

The four biggest keys to the season:

1) ARod.
2) We need the OGs to get better.
3) We need Ryan Grant to stay healthy.
4) We need Justin Harrell and Johnny Jolly to play well at DT.

I like the rest of our team.

[vince]

It appears to be a very good roster from top to bottom. The team is in position to ensure consistent play and/or overcome injury in a number of isolated areas.

I think there are just a few key members that are likely to dictate ultimate success or failure.

Defensively, it's Jolly and Harrell. Offensively, it's Colledge/Barbre and Rodgers.

Edit: Funny, I didn't see your post Harv... but we seem to agree. I have little doubt about Grant, although I agree that there are questions if he goes down...

[the_idle_threat]

The depth is outstanding. At a position like Wide Receiver---where there are pretty much always injuries---the team is extra deep.

Another injury-bedeviled position, typically, is running back. There are some good guys there, but we can use another contender or two. I expect to see some rookie FAs or something brought in for competition.

[Scott Campbell]

I have little doubt about Grant, although I agree that there are questions if he goes down...


I don't think there are any questions if he goes down - were screwed.

[vince]

Yeah Jackson's not the guy. As I mentioned in the draft day 2 thread, that's the one position I was really looking toward the whole draft, but a RB just didn't come to us.

This year, I'd have preferred a promising RB over Brohm. We could have signed a Tampa Bay castoff and gone after a QB prospect next year or a coachable athletic project with a bigger arm like Kevin O'Connell later in the draft.

[Tarlam!]

Yeah Jackson's not the guy. As I mentioned in the draft day 2 thread, that's the one position I was really looking toward the whole draft, but a RB just didn't come to us.

This year, I'd have preferred a promising RB over Brohm. We could have signed a Tampa Bay castoff and gone after a QB prospect next year or a project with a bigger arm like Kevin O'Connell later in the draft.

I haven't forgotten about the Wynn hype from last year's draft. The kid is a player, but lazy.

We also saw flashes when he started AHEAD of Ryan, I might add.

Dehydration and injury, prolly due to him not being NFL conditioned cut his season short. But I recall thinking this 7th rounder being better than the 2nd rounder.

I am still on Wynn's bandwagon hoping he gets clever and starts to work a little.

[RashanGary]

I really like Wynn's talent too. If he works hard and shows up in great shape, I think he's going to prove a lot of poeple wrong. If he is just a lazy bum then he'll be gone and someone else will be kept - how do you project a human beings personality. Some guys grow up.

[The Leaper]

I think Jackson will be much improved this year. He's still not...nor will ever be IMO...a starting caliber RB. However, he can help out tremendously as a 3rd down back on passing downs.

I'm still not liking how we did nothing much to address our putrid play on 3rd and short last season. Without Favre, that is an area we are going to have to be much better at in 2008.

[oregonpackfan]

I haven't forgotten about the Wynn hype from last year's draft. The kid is a player, but lazy.

We also saw flashes when he started AHEAD of Ryan, I might add.

Dehydration and injury, prolly due to him not being NFL conditioned cut his season short. But I recall thinking this 7th rounder being better than the 2nd rounder.

I am still on Wynn's bandwagon hoping he gets clever and starts to work a little.

I agree with Tarlam's points about Wynn. The kid really has talent.

Some college players just breeze by on talent not realizing the commitment to year long fitness is needed to succeed at the higher level.

If Wynn can be focused and committed on his conditioning program, I think he can be successful with the Packers.

[HarveyWallbangers]

We also saw flashes when he started AHEAD of Ryan, I might add.

The reason he was starting ahead of Ryan was because the Packers traded for Ryan at the end of the preseason. They weren't going to just hand the starting job to a young player that they had just acquired. Grant started working his way into the rotation early, but had the fumble in the Minnesota game. I think that worried the coaches, and set him back a couple of weeks. He didn't see a carry in the next two games. Once they gave him the ball against Denver, they immediately put Wynn on the IR, and the rest was history.

[Bossman641]

Top to bottom you have to feel pretty good about this roster. As the others have said, there are 2 positions where we absolutely need immediate improvement, DT and OG. The other areas where the most help is needed would be safety and nickelback.

TT has done an excellent job of stocking the roster full of young talent, the next step is for some of these guys to make big jumps and become stars.