Cullen or the Donald

[Harlan Huckleby]

I heard on ESPN that Cullen Jenkins was dominant in first preseason game.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/802081-ravens-vs-eagles-thursday-preseason-live-reaction-to-games-biggest-stories/entry/114945-ravens-vs-eagles-early-signs-are-positive-from-the-eagles-defensive-line

[Harlan Huckleby]

Whether Thompson could have gotten Jenkins to sign to a team-friendly deal similar to what the Eagles pulled-off is tricky and unknowable.
What is known is that both Jenkins and Drivers had injury problems last year. And the team has a ton of wide receivers and questions on defensive line.

[vince]

I think it's a bit apples and oranges because Jenkins contract was up and Driver still has two years on his deal. Letting a guy walk - or having him walk, and cutting a legendary Packer like Donald Driver are two different things, regardless of the pure football considerations.

If it were Driver's free agent year, I bet he'd be gone too. Cobb is a stud in waiting.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Hell, Driver already got his deal generously renegotiated mid-contract, the Packers don't owe him more than the guaranteed part. I don't know why it would be an insult to cut him, legend or no legend, it happens all the time.

[Brandon494]

I've learn by now to never question TT or the coaching staff. They must really like what they see in Mike Neal to let Jenkins walk without even offering him a deal.

[Brandon494]

And whats with everyone wanting to cut Driver lately?

[Harlan Huckleby]

I've learn by now to never question TT or the coaching staff. Oh heck, let yourself go. Be a little naughty.

[red]

i'm under the impression that neal is gonna turn into a special player based on what i saw last year in limited time. along the lines of jenkins. we already know raji is a special player, and pickett will make a perfect NT

so in my mind, we should be just as good at the front three as we were with raji, pickett and jenkins

to me, neal is the key, and the dude has talent, he's a starter, not a backup

its not just about drivers cap number vs. jenkins cap number. you have to look at future cap numbers. maybe you could have resigned jenkins, but maybe that prevents you in the future from resigning mathews, sitton or finley. driver is gonna be coming off the cap sooner then jenkins and his number would

[Brohm]

Without all the complexities of cap, etc. I would say Jenkins and not as a knock on Driver, but we just have a boatload of good receivers/targets.

[RashanGary]

I woulda kept Jenkins in a heartbeat for the contract he got and if it meant cutting DD, so be it. It's a tough business. Driver is old and plays a posititon we don't need.

[bobblehead]

Pure football decision would be to cut driver and have resigned Jenkins. Not sure we had the option of resigning jenkins to the same deal he signed. He likely thought he was giving the home team discount last year, but I would bet it was a bigger contract than he ended up signing.

Cutting driver would also be unpopular, and as pointed out, he was under contract and showed up in shape and healthy. Unless you fall in love with one of the cheap guys as your #5, and the big 3 show they are ready to live without Driver, you want to keep driver if you can afford it.

[Lurker64]

I privately suspect that the coaching staff was pretty unhappy about how Jenkins played during his contract year (notice how he wasn't given the honor of starting a single playoff game, even though he was healthy at that point?), so the ship had sailed on Jenkins by late December regardless of how cheap he would be or how well he would play. It would not surprise me at all if Jenkins had started deviating from his schematic responsibilities in pursuit of the sacks that would get him big free agent dollars.

It is at least telling that Ted didn't even return Jenkins's calls when he offered the Packers a hometown discount.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I heard on ESPN that Cullen Jenkins was dominant in first preseason game.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/802081-ravens-vs-eagles-thursday-preseason-live-reaction-to-games-biggest-stories/entry/114945-ravens-vs-eagles-early-signs-are-positive-from-the-eagles-defensive-line

I don't know how long he played, but I watched the first two series (specifically for him) and he did little. On the first play he did get late pressure, but it wasn't anything special. After that, I didn't see him make a tackle or get close to the QB. I call BS on whomever said that.

[wist43]

We have 3 DL on the roster... a 4th would be nice.

[HarveyWallbangers]

C.J. Wilson and Howard Green played good ball for us last year. That's 5 by my count.

[wist43]

C.J. Wilson and Howard Green played good ball for us last year. That's 5 by my count.

How many snaps did Green play last year??? I read recently where Raji played, forgive my memory, something like 1,300 snaps???

No way can we do that again... as I've pointed out, we got away with it last year b/c Raji played like Superman, but no way should he be playing that many snaps. He played that many snaps b/c we simply didn't have anyone else of sufficient enough quality to come in a spell him. In short, we didn't have a "rotation" at all.

Rather than use a rotation, Capers got gimmicky; and, amazingly, it worked, lol... but I don't expect we can get away with that 2 years in a row. Teams have had an offseason to look at all the 2 man fronts he used, Raji can't be expected to play that number of snaps year in and year out, Pickett isn't any younger, Green is 32...

We definitely need an upgrade in depth on the DL.

[3irty1]

How many snaps did Green play last year??? I read recently where Raji played, forgive my memory, something like 1,300 snaps???

No way can we do that again... as I've pointed out, we got away with it last year b/c Raji played like Superman, but no way should he be playing that many snaps. He played that many snaps b/c we simply didn't have anyone else of sufficient enough quality to come in a spell him. In short, we didn't have a "rotation" at all.

Rather than use a rotation, Capers got gimmicky; and, amazingly, it worked, lol... but I don't expect we can get away with that 2 years in a row. Teams have had an offseason to look at all the 2 man fronts he used, Raji can't be expected to play that number of snaps year in and year out, Pickett isn't any younger, Green is 32...

We definitely need an upgrade in depth on the DL.

We're never going to find another Raji. As far as I know there has never been a NT with his size and pass rush ability in the league before. Most teams have a situational run-stuffer like Pickett at NT.

[wist43]

I know finding another Raji isn't going to happen... what I'm saying, is that I want more quality depth, to spell Raji and Pickett. I think Neal has a chance to be one hell of a player... but we've lost 2 players in the past 3 years whom I considered to be damn good players - Jolly and now Jenkins.

We haven't replaced them. Wilson and Wynn??? As I said, "we got away with it last year"... be a neat trick to pull it off again - sans Jenkins.

For my money, we need more rotation capable bodies up front. I like what I saw of Guy on film, but he's out... and even if he was on the field, he is an untested rookie 7th rd draft pick... TT has to be scanning the waiver wire at cut down.

[smuggler]

Neal is back, and throwing dudes around again. He'll take some pressure of the Garaji

[Harlan Huckleby]

I don't know how long he played, but I watched the first two series (specifically for him) and he did little. I exaggerated, the ESPN guy said the Eagles defensive line looked great, and he singled-out the addition of Cullen Jenkins. So I googled old Cullen and the beat writer's blog entry seemed to confirm Jenkin's big night. So now we have a third contradicting report from you, probably blasted out of your mind on PBR 12-pack watching preseason football. People will just have to weigh the sources.

I get a little frustrated when people keep mentioning Mike Neal, as if Neal is simply a direct replacement and that's that. The question is depth. What we're really talking about is replacing Wynn's roster spot with Jenkins in the rotation.

It is true that this is fantasy football talk. The issue of Neal's salary and Jenkins salary does matter, and we don't really know if Thompson had a path to securing Jenkins for a nice deal like Philly got.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Neal is back, and throwing dudes around again.

ya, ya, ya.

[Brandon494]

Our depth on the D-line is no worse then last season and we only ran out of the 3-4 base defense 25% of the time.