Tweet
Thompson needs to upgrade Packers' offensive personnel
TOM OATES, WSJ
GREEN BAY - Watch two days of minicamp practices and one thing jumps out about the Green Bay Packers offense.
The most improved position since last season is backup quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers is bigger, stronger and more confident than he was as a rookie, which is encouraging news for the post-Brett Favre years. Since Favre is still around, however, it is not a good sign for this fall that the talent is no better than it was last year, when the Packers suffered an offensive meltdown and their first losing season since 1991.
General manager Ted Thompson has quietly fortified the defense during the offseason, adding five probable starters. He has not done the same on offense even though a case can be made that the offense needed it more.
Thompson has said he expects this year's offensive improvement to come from injured players returning to health. That argument was plausible until wide receiver Javon Walker, who played one game in 2005 due to injury, forced a trade to Denver. Now, help will have to come from elsewhere.
It's only May and Thompson's work isn't necessarily done, but with only one potential new starter - rookie guard Daryn Colledge - imported on offense, the prospects for major improvement are iffy. It appears any improvement this year will have come not from new players but from the new systems employed by first-year coach Mike McCarthy.
Six positions on offense - Favre, fullback William Henderson, wide receiver Donald Driver, tight end Bubba Franks and tackles Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton - haven't changed. It is the remaining five positions where the Packers must get better.
But have they?
At center, third-year man Scott Wells will replace Mike Flanagan, a borderline Pro Bowl talent who left in free agency. Although he lacks ideal height, Wells is a sound player who has a chance to be a solid starter.
But will he be better this season than even an ailing Flanagan, was last season? No.
Last year's guards, Adrian Klemm and Will Whiticker, failed so miserably they've been banished to tackle. That created openings at what remains the offense's weakest position.
Colledge was handed the left guard job and the second-round draft pick looks the part. He's tall, mature and very athletic. Keep in mind, however, he's a rookie making the transition from college tackle to NFL guard and he might lack the bulk to contend with the monsters who play defensive tackle in the NFC North Division.
The right guard is Junius Coston, a fifth-round pick in 2005 who played four snaps as a rookie. Coston is athletic, which fits McCarthy's zone-blocking scheme, but has done nothing to prove he has starter's talent.
Of the backups, only Kevin Barry offers any immediate hope. However, he can't - or won't - lose enough weight to play guard in McCarthy's scheme.
Can Colledge and Coston replace last year's guards? They can't be any worse, but it's doubtful they'll be any better, either. At least not right away.
At wide receiver, two career underachievers, Robert Ferguson and Rod Gardner, are the top candidates to replace Walker. Ferguson has been a disappointment for five years, which means he'll probably be a disappointment for six. Gardner is a big, physical receiver who can't stretch the field like Walker.
The Packers drafted Greg Jennings in the second round and he's been quick and sure-handed in minicamps. However, as Walker, Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman have shown, it usually takes wide receivers a year to get up to speed in the West Coast offense. Another possibility is free agent Marc Boerigter, who looks a lot like Gardner, only slower.
So what are the chances that whoever lines up with Driver will elevate the play of the wide receivers from last year? Not good.
The Packers brought back almost all of their running backs - starter Ahman Green, backup Najeh Davenport and overnight sensation Samkon Gado - for at least one more year.
However, Green is recovering from leg surgery and there are serious doubts about whether he can ever be the premier back he once was. Meanwhile, Davenport is too injury-prone to be a No. 1 guy and Gado is too raw to be counted on in that capacity.
Unless Green regains his form or Gado is the real deal, neither of which is a given, the running game will continue to struggle.
As you can see, the Packers haven't guaranteed they'll be better than last year at any position on offense. Maybe there's only so much a general manager can do in one offseason, but NFL teams will be cutting veterans starting June 1 and two days of minicamp practices have shown Thompson still has work to do on his offensive roster.
TOM OATES, WSJ
GREEN BAY - Watch two days of minicamp practices and one thing jumps out about the Green Bay Packers offense.
The most improved position since last season is backup quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers is bigger, stronger and more confident than he was as a rookie, which is encouraging news for the post-Brett Favre years. Since Favre is still around, however, it is not a good sign for this fall that the talent is no better than it was last year, when the Packers suffered an offensive meltdown and their first losing season since 1991.
General manager Ted Thompson has quietly fortified the defense during the offseason, adding five probable starters. He has not done the same on offense even though a case can be made that the offense needed it more.
Thompson has said he expects this year's offensive improvement to come from injured players returning to health. That argument was plausible until wide receiver Javon Walker, who played one game in 2005 due to injury, forced a trade to Denver. Now, help will have to come from elsewhere.
It's only May and Thompson's work isn't necessarily done, but with only one potential new starter - rookie guard Daryn Colledge - imported on offense, the prospects for major improvement are iffy. It appears any improvement this year will have come not from new players but from the new systems employed by first-year coach Mike McCarthy.
Six positions on offense - Favre, fullback William Henderson, wide receiver Donald Driver, tight end Bubba Franks and tackles Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton - haven't changed. It is the remaining five positions where the Packers must get better.
But have they?
At center, third-year man Scott Wells will replace Mike Flanagan, a borderline Pro Bowl talent who left in free agency. Although he lacks ideal height, Wells is a sound player who has a chance to be a solid starter.
But will he be better this season than even an ailing Flanagan, was last season? No.
Last year's guards, Adrian Klemm and Will Whiticker, failed so miserably they've been banished to tackle. That created openings at what remains the offense's weakest position.
Colledge was handed the left guard job and the second-round draft pick looks the part. He's tall, mature and very athletic. Keep in mind, however, he's a rookie making the transition from college tackle to NFL guard and he might lack the bulk to contend with the monsters who play defensive tackle in the NFC North Division.
The right guard is Junius Coston, a fifth-round pick in 2005 who played four snaps as a rookie. Coston is athletic, which fits McCarthy's zone-blocking scheme, but has done nothing to prove he has starter's talent.
Of the backups, only Kevin Barry offers any immediate hope. However, he can't - or won't - lose enough weight to play guard in McCarthy's scheme.
Can Colledge and Coston replace last year's guards? They can't be any worse, but it's doubtful they'll be any better, either. At least not right away.
At wide receiver, two career underachievers, Robert Ferguson and Rod Gardner, are the top candidates to replace Walker. Ferguson has been a disappointment for five years, which means he'll probably be a disappointment for six. Gardner is a big, physical receiver who can't stretch the field like Walker.
The Packers drafted Greg Jennings in the second round and he's been quick and sure-handed in minicamps. However, as Walker, Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman have shown, it usually takes wide receivers a year to get up to speed in the West Coast offense. Another possibility is free agent Marc Boerigter, who looks a lot like Gardner, only slower.
So what are the chances that whoever lines up with Driver will elevate the play of the wide receivers from last year? Not good.
The Packers brought back almost all of their running backs - starter Ahman Green, backup Najeh Davenport and overnight sensation Samkon Gado - for at least one more year.
However, Green is recovering from leg surgery and there are serious doubts about whether he can ever be the premier back he once was. Meanwhile, Davenport is too injury-prone to be a No. 1 guy and Gado is too raw to be counted on in that capacity.
Unless Green regains his form or Gado is the real deal, neither of which is a given, the running game will continue to struggle.
As you can see, the Packers haven't guaranteed they'll be better than last year at any position on offense. Maybe there's only so much a general manager can do in one offseason, but NFL teams will be cutting veterans starting June 1 and two days of minicamp practices have shown Thompson still has work to do on his offensive roster.
Comment