2014 Green Bay Packers

[HarveyWallbangers]

The Packers are projected to be around $24.5M under the cap. They are in pretty solid shape, but have a number of solid players that could be resigned (Shields) or extended (Nelson, Cobb). If they get two compensatory picks (Greg Jennings, Erik Walden), they'll have 9 draft picks and will need around $6.5M to sign those picks. However, they'll be able to carryover $9.8M into next year's cap. That puts them at around $28M under the cap.

QB Aaron Rodgers, Matt Flynn (UFA), Scott Tolzien

What I'd do: Resign Flynn

RB Eddie Lacy, James Starks (UFA), Jonathan Franklin, DeJuan Harris

What I'd do: Resign James Starks, if the market for him is lukewarm. Otherwise, roll with Harris as the lightning to Lacy's thunder and use Franklin as the change of pace back.

WR Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, James Jones (UFA), Jarrett Boykin

What I'd do: Let James Jones walk (money is better spent at other positions and Boykin has made Jones expendable) and draft a WR relatively high in a deep draft class.

TE Andrew Quarless (UFA), Brandon Bostick, Ryan Taylor, Jake Stoneburner

What I'd do: Resign Quarless for the right money. Draft a TE relatively high (perhaps Jace Amaro if he drops to round 2).

OT Bryan Bulaga, David Bakhtiari, Don Barclay, Derek Sherrod, Marshall Newhouse (UFA)

What I'd do: Obviously, let Newhouse walk. Roll with the rest of this group and hope for better health.

OG Josh Sitton, T.J. Lang, Lane Taylor, Greg Van Roten

What I'd do: Stand pat.

OC Evan Dietrich-Smith, J.C. Tretter

What I'd do: Resign EDS. Go with continuity at OL. EDS was decent this year. Let Tretter develop.

DL B.J. Raji (UFA), Ryan Pickett (UFA), Datone Jones, Josh Boyd, Mike Daniels, Jerel Worthy

What I'd do: Aggressively overhaul this unit. Sign a FA (it's a pretty solid FA market with better players than Pickett on the market) and use draft picks here.

OLB Clay Matthews, Mike Neal (UFA), Nick Perry, Nate Palmer, Andy Mulumba

What I'd do: Unless I could get Jason Worilds from Pittsburgh, I'd try to resign Mike Neal and hope for better health.

ILB A.J. Hawk, Brad Jones, Jamari Lattimore (RFA), Sam Barrington

What I'd do: Cut either Jones (save $2M in cap room) or Hawk (save $1.9M in cap room). I'd rather have Hawk than Jones because of durability, so I'd lean towards cutting Jones. Lattimore and Barrington are intriguing, but I'd roll with a relatively high pick at this position.

CB Sam Shields (UFA), Tramon Williams, Casey Hayward, Micah Hyde, Davon House, Jarrett Bush

What I'd do: I think it's time to cut Bush. They'd save $1.7M in cap space. If it's a choice between Williams and Shields, I'm taking Shields. He's much younger and a better cover corner. They'd save $7.5M by cutting Williams. He had a great end to the season, but I think you'll see more of the 2011-2012 Williams over the 2010-late 2013 Williams over the next few seasons. The CB draft class is deep, so spend a relatively high pick at this position.

S Morgan Burnett, Sean Richardson, M.D. Jennings (RFA), Chris Banjo (RFA)

What I'd do: They need to find somebody opposite Burnett (and even Burnett had a lousy season). The draft class is weak, and the FA market is solid. They won't be able to afford Byrd, but there's an upgrade to be found on the FA market. Richardson has shown enough to keep around. Maybe Banjo also. Don't tender Jennings.

ST Mason Crosby, Tim Masthay, Brett Goode

What I'd do: Stand pat.

Coaches

What I'd do: Whether it's promoting from within, hiring another veterson coach like Wade Phillips, or finding some young hot shot, I think it's time to go in a different direction than Capers.

Draft

With their likely five picks in the first four round rounds I'd target TE (major need), WR (good draft class), DL (major need), ILB (need), and CB (good draft class). I'd target more DL in FA and a safety in FA (good FA market, bad draft class).

[Rodgers12]

Good post by HW.

I'd resign J-Mike if he's healthy.

Can't wait for the return of DuJuan Harris. Would make a nice KO returner if the coaches want to play scared with Cobb again.

I think somebody wrote in another thread that the Packers need speed. I agree. Get lots of speed, especially on defense. A fast safety. A fast ILB. A fast OLB. A fast safety. Definitely, a fast safety

Get a fast WR to make opposing defenses fear the bomb (where art thou, Charles Johnson?).

If the Packers will indeed have $28 M, there's no need to cut Tramon Williams. Can't have too many good CBs.

I want Capers fired or fried, but if the defense stays healthy (that means, you, Claymaker!) and Thompson finds a mofo fast safety, the unit could be top 10.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Good post by HW.

I'd resign J-Mike if he's healthy.

Can't wait for the return of DuJuan Harris. Would make a nice KO returner if the coaches want to play scared with Cobb again.

I think somebody wrote in another thread that the Packers need speed. I agree. Get lots of speed, especially on defense. A fast safety. A fast ILB. A fast OLB. A fast safety. Definitely, a fast safety

Get a fast WR to make opposing defenses fear the bomb (where art thou, Charles Johnson?).

If the Packers will indeed have $28 M, there's no need to cut Tramon Williams. Can't have too many good CBs.

I want Capers fired or fried, but if the defense stays healthy (that means, you, Claymaker!) and Thompson finds a mofo fast safety, the unit could be top 10.

The $28M is more like $22-25M because they need to go into the season with cap room (every player, whether on IR or PS, counts against the cap in the regular season). If they resign Shields, they are looking at $7M or so. That brings them to $15-18M. Extending Cobb and Nelson will probably cost them upwards of $8-10M. Thus, if they want to take care of the need at DL and S via FA, I think they may have to look at cutting Jones or Hawk, Bush, and Tramon. Hate to say it, but I'd rather put the money saved ($7.5M) towards a younger player and bigger need at S. Would you rather have Tramon or somebody like Jarius Byrd on the team? Of course, somebody will probably overspend on guys like Byrd, the Pack will swing and miss at more FAs, and Tramon will probably be back because of it.

[wist43]

They need to resign Shields... he'd be my top priority to resign. I generally like the team as it is, except on defense we need some help. The biggest upgrade should come by way of firing Capers, but since that isn't going to happen, it changes how we should approach resigning players and FA (which doesn't exist in TT's world).

I'd get rid of both Hawk and Brad Jones, and look for a veteran to sign at safety (of course that won't happen).

Would like Raji and Pickett back as well, but since it is likely that Capers is going to stay, resigning Raji would be a waste. That being the case, we need a couple of fat guys in the middle.

I expect this offseason will be another typical TT offseason. No FA signings, 63 lower round draft picks. Rinse, repeat.

[Patler]

Just a few edits for the first post:

- someone already mentioned Finley (UFA) not listed with the TEs, probably because you aren't expecting him back? Same goes for C.J. Wilson, Johnny Jolly and Seneca Wallace as UFAs. I assume you are letting all three walk? (On a side note - With the possibility of losing some of Starks, Jones, Raji, Pickett and Shields too, I sure hope the 2015 draft is a deep one, because the Packers could have some decent compensatory picks in 2015. Could also give them the resources to bundle some of their regular picks and move up to get a player or two, still having the compensatory picks in the middle and late rounds to bring in a decent size draft class.)

- a question about details on the salary cap dollars. Does your source for the $ carryover consider that Crosby has earned back nearly $2 million in bonuses? Your $'s are close to what I saw on a list that did not include Crosby's bonuses.

[Bretsky]

I'm a bit baffled that on the coaches side you neglected to note the least qualified guy on our staff......aka.....FIRE SLOCUM ???

Other than that pretty much agree...although I place a higher value on T Williams than you do.

[woodbuck27]

The $28M is more like $22-25M because they need to go into the season with cap room (every player, whether on IR or PS, counts against the cap in the regular season). If they resign Shields, they are looking at $7M or so. That brings them to $15-18M. Extending Cobb and Nelson will probably cost them upwards of $8-10M. Thus, if they want to take care of the need at DL and S via FA, I think they may have to look at cutting Jones or Hawk, Bush, and Tramon. Hate to say it, but I'd rather put the money saved ($7.5M) towards a younger player and bigger need at S. Would you rather have Tramon or somebody like Jarius Byrd on the team? Of course, somebody will probably overspend on guys like Byrd, the Pack will swing and miss at more FAs, and Tramon will probably be back because of it.

THUDD !

[oldbutnotdeadyet]

Very nice, a sort of 'I wanna be GM of Packers' thread.

2014 Green Bay Packers

The Packers are projected to be around $24.5M under the cap. They are in pretty solid shape, but have a number of solid players that could be resigned (Shields) or extended (Nelson, Cobb). If they get two compensatory picks (Greg Jennings, Erik Walden), they'll have 9 draft picks and will need around $6.5M to sign those picks. However, they'll be able to carryover $9.8M into next year's cap. That puts them at around $28M under the cap.

QB Aaron Rodgers, Matt Flynn (UFA), Scott Tolzien

What I'd do: Assuming we keep only two QB's, I would go with the higher potential Tolzien.

RB Eddie Lacy, James Starks (UFA), Jonathan Franklin, DeJuan Harris

What I'd do: Keep Lacy (duh), Starks (if not too expensive), and Harris

WR Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, James Jones (UFA), Jarrett Boykin

What I'd do: Goodbye Mr. Jones, keep Cobb, Boykin, and draft The Flash.

TE Andrew Quarless (UFA), Brandon Bostick, Ryan Taylor, Jake Stoneburner

What I'd do: Resign Quarless, keep Finley if possible, and draft a Finley clone.

OT Bryan Bulaga, David Bakhtiari, Don Barclay, Derek Sherrod, Marshall Newhouse (UFA)

What I'd do: Goodbye Mr. Newhouse, keep Bulaga, Bak (still can't spell his name), Barclay, and draft new blood. Not sure what is up with Sherrod.

OG Josh Sitton, T.J. Lang, Lane Taylor, Greg Van Roten

What I'd do: Draft low round new blood.

OC Evan Dietrich-Smith, J.C. Tretter

What I'd do: Draft new blood

DL B.J. Raji (UFA), Ryan Pickett (UFA), Datone Jones, Josh Boyd, Mike Daniels, Jerel Worthy

What I'd do: Goodbye Mr. Raji, keep Pickett unless world comes to an end and TT plays in FA, draft new blood.

OLB Clay Matthews, Mike Neal (UFA), Nick Perry, Nate Palmer, Andy Mulumba

What I'd do: Keep Clay (duh), blow up the rest, we need smarts, speed, and a little speed.

ILB A.J. Hawk, Brad Jones, Jamari Lattimore (RFA), Sam Barrington

What I'd do: Goodbye Mr. Jones, draft, draft, and hopefully above average FA.

CB Sam Shields (UFA), Tramon Williams, Casey Hayward, Micah Hyde, Davon House, Jarrett Bush

What I'd do: Try to keep Shields, cut Bush, and draft new blood.

S Morgan Burnett, Sean Richardson, M.D. Jennings (RFA), Chris Banjo (RFA)

What I'd do: Goodbye Mr. Jennings, keep Burnett, Richardson, Banjo and sign anybody from FA as they have to be better than what we have.

ST Mason Crosby, Tim Masthay, Brett Goode

What I'd do: Who the hell is Mr. Goode? Anyway, stand pat.

Coaches

What I'd do: Goodbye Mr. Capers, Goodbye Mr. Slocum

Draft

With their likely five picks in the first four round rounds I'd target safety (major need), ILB , DL, OLB, OL and CB in that order.

[red]

my ideal offseason/fix, would be to sign at least a FA safety, i don't know if we still need d-line help, although i think we can get one of those for pretty cheap

in the first two rounds, draft 1 ILB and 1 TE

let raji go, keep pickett for cheap to rotate in the line. cut brad jones. keep one of sam shield / tramon williams let the other go

maybe try and draft another safety in the third to try and find a replacement for burnett because the guy just doesn't get it

i think that would be a good start to getting better. #1 priority to me is to get better at safety

[red]

as for coaches, get rid of slocum

and either get rid of capers and bring in someone who can work with the players we have. or TT needs to actually go get some players that can play in capers scheme for a change

because the combination of coach and players on that side of the ball just is not working

[woodbuck27]

Info. originally posted here in the form of a Tweet (s) removed as it's now covered in it's own thread.

Ooops ... Sorry. :-D

[red]

how many fucking threads are you gonna post this same god damn story in?

[Pugger]

my ideal offseason/fix, would be to sign at least a FA safety, i don't know if we still need d-line help, although i think we can get one of those for pretty cheap

in the first two rounds, draft 1 ILB and 1 TE

let raji go, keep pickett for cheap to rotate in the line. cut brad jones. keep one of sam shield / tramon williams let the other go

maybe try and draft another safety in the third to try and find a replacement for burnett because the guy just doesn't get it

i think that would be a good start to getting better. #1 priority to me is to get better at safety

Yes, get a safety in FA, draft a ILB, a TE if Finley is truly done, a D lineman and a WR if Jones leaves. It might not be a bad idea to draft a safety too for the future.

[HarveyWallbangers]

- a question about details on the salary cap dollars. Does your source for the $ carryover consider that Crosby has earned back nearly $2 million in bonuses? Your $'s are close to what I saw on a list that did not include Crosby's bonuses.

No idea. I went to the Over The Cap website. It's pretty good, and has a calculator where you can do some projections. The site had a glaring error in that it had Raji on the roster for next year and counting against the cap. Otherwise, the data looked good. Crosby had a big cap number for next year, so I'm assuming they have his contract correct. They have his cap number at $3.4M with $1.2M in dead money and $2.2M in cap savings if he were cut.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I'd get rid of both Hawk and Brad Jones, and look for a veteran to sign at safety (of course that won't happen).

Sounds good, but they don't save much money by cutting those guys (less than $4M in cap savings cutting both guys). I wouldn't count on both Lattimore and Barrington, the FA market is weak at ILB, and who knows what they'll get in the draft. I'd be shocked if they cut both guys.

[woodbuck27]

how many fucking threads are you gonna post this same god damn story in?

I believe I originally posted it here when the story wasn't out. When it was a mere Twitter post.

When Lori Nickel wrote her story I decided to offer that as it's own thread.

[red]

I believe I originally posted it here when the story wasn't out. When it was a mere Twitter post.

When Lori Nickel wrote her story I decided to offer that as it's own thread.

and what about the other thread you posted it in?

[pbmax]

and what about the other thread you posted it in?

You mean the other thread where it is mentioned that somewhere James Jones played with two broken ribs?

[red]

You mean the other thread where it is mentioned that somewhere James Jones played with two broken ribs?

well theres like 8 of those now

woody brought it up in two different threads then started its own thread

[woodbuck27]

well theres like 8 of those now

woody brought it up in two different threads then started its own thread

I'm trying to find that second tweet and I'll delete it.

No... I'll simply delete it above in this thread.

Done ! :!:

[Brandon494]

Oooo I want to play...

QB Aaron Rodgers, Matt Flynn (UFA), Scott Tolzien

What I'd do: Resign Flynn no brainer

RB Eddie Lacy, James Starks (UFA), Jonathan Franklin, DeJuan Harris

What I'd do: Let Starks walk, Harris and DeJuan have both shown enough to be counted on as #2 backs. Plus I'm sure Kuhn will be back for another season.

WR Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, James Jones (UFA), Jarrett Boykin

What I'd do: Letting Starks walk means we can keep James Jones keeping a solid WR core for Rodgers.

TE Andrew Quarless (UFA), Brandon Bostick, Ryan Taylor, Jake Stoneburner

What I'd do: Resign Quarless which won't be much. Let Finley walk even though I have a feeling TT will resign him. Draft a TE in 3/4 round. I want our two top picks on defense.

OT Bryan Bulaga, David Bakhtiari, Don Barclay, Derek Sherrod, Marshall Newhouse (UFA)


What I'd do: Easy, peace Newhouse

OG Josh Sitton, T.J. Lang, Lane Taylor, Greg Van Roten

What I'd do: Maybe a late round pick

OC Evan Dietrich-Smith, J.C. Tretter

What I'd do: Resign EDS and let him compete with Tretter for the starting job.

DL B.J. Raji (UFA), Ryan Pickett (UFA), Datone Jones, Josh Boyd, Mike Daniels, Jerel Worthy

What I'd do: Resign Picket, let Raji walk and sign cheaper FA more suited to play 3-4. Draft a guy in 3/4 round.

OLB Clay Matthews, Mike Neal (UFA), Nick Perry, Nate Palmer, Andy Mulumba

What I'd do: Let Neal walk, can't stay healthy. Try to move up in the draft and select select Khalil Mack from Buffalo but if not draft Vic Beasley from Clemson with our the 21st pick.

ILB A.J. Hawk, Brad Jones, Jamari Lattimore (RFA), Sam Barrington

What I'd do: Cut Jones, go after Karlos Dansby or Daryl Smith to pair with Hawk. Draft MLB in the later rounds.

CB Sam Shields (UFA), Tramon Williams, Casey Hayward, Micah Hyde, Davon House, Jarrett Bush

What I'd do: Resign Shields unless he wants crazy money. Rework Williams contracts to an extension that is cap friendly. If Shields is not resigned, instead of using the pick on OLB would use our 1st rounder to draft Justin Gilbert from OK St.

S Morgan Burnett, Sean Richardson, M.D. Jennings (RFA), Chris Banjo (RFA)

What I'd do: Let Jennings walk and sign FA to start opposite of Burnett.

ST Mason Crosby, Tim Masthay, Brett Goode

What I'd do: No changes

Coaches

I would get rid of Capers but not really sure who we could get to replace him....maybe a position coach from the 49ers?

Draft

First 4 picks should be all defense.

[mraynrand]

Coaches

I would get rid of Capers but not really sure who we could get to replace him....maybe a position coach from the 49ers?



Ed Donatell! Maybe he could teach the Packer defense to stop 3rd and Kapernick

Always Remember 4th and 26!

Last 4 Niners - Packers games = Sweet Revenge for Ed

[Brandon494]

haha oh god no...I was thinking more of Jim Leavitt, 49ers LB coach the past 3 seasons. He was the UCF head coach for over a decade before getting fired for hitting a player in the locker room during halftime. :razz: