Pickett at DE / Pickett gone after a year

[Partial]

Injury history? Age? Dude is approaching his prime for an NT. Finally strong enough to be dominant! He is an absolute rock and has very little injury history.

He's going to get way more than the veteran minimum. WAY more, considering CC got 4 miln a year...

[mission]

s

I think the Packers would be smart to try to lock up Pickett to another deal. Why not? You can never have enough good Dlineman.

Age and injury history preclude locking up Pickett to a long term contract. Resign at around NFL veteran minimum next offseason.

Ya, isn't dude like 28? Has he really be injured a lot... Picket has this "old man" reputation that I think may be a bit unfounded. He kind of has an long old man face so maybe that's it.

[BobDobbs]

Pickett had a little bit of a down year last year as far as holding his anchor. But, our run defense with him and without him is noticeably different. He has been a great free agent signing and if he stays healthy his next contract is going to pay him 4 to five million a year over four years or so.

There's too many variables to know how this is going to play out. Number one, can Raji even play. Anyone ever heard of Tony Mandarich, Terrell Buckley, John Michaels, or Jamal Reynolds among others. How'd their rookie years go?

Number two how long does it take him to get used to the NFL. Mario Williams took a year. He may not be ready to start.

Number three. What is our defense actually going to look like? Are we going to play a lot of 4-3? Has Pickett ever played in the 3-4?

If Raji solidifies the starting spot at NT by the end of the year and Pickett can't spend some time at DE then he's gone. I hope they can keep him though because he's a valuable part of the defense.

[Packers4Ever]

I think we keep him... T.T. learned his lesson on having little depth at the D-Line (2008 season), if he doesn't break the bank, I believe Pickett still has a future in Green Bay...

Same here. Doesn't make a whole lot of common sense to send off a perfectly good (we hope) veteran, We've seen that done before and
sometimes regret making those changes.

Chances are Pickett will come out of his injury fine and rarin' to go !!

[pbmax]

Pickett will be 30 in October and outside of his rookie year he has appeared in 110 games, started 105 and missed a total of two games (both 2007).

He did have the arm injury last year and it did seem to affect him, possibly all year as he seemed easier to double and move last year. He has never seemed as immovable as Grady Jackson was.

But as T2 said, guys with these bodies don't grow on trees and so it might be lunacy not to take him. I had doubts about Pickett playing NT is he got moved like last year. Having two of these guys is not unthinkable if they carry 6 lineman, especially if one or the other can play DE. You need to have a backup NT.

But the most important factor is likely passing downs. Think of all the snaps Tramon got in the nickel last year. When you see the Packers in the nickel this year, you very likely will see Raji at DT as well. We will not always be in a 3-4 alignment esp. on passing downs.

[wist43]

No, Pickett is strictly a NT IMO...

Raji is much more versatile... as someone said further up the thread, Raji can spell Pickett at NT, play DE when needed, and provide a ton of push in the middle on passing downs.

Partial... don't know why ur so down on this pick. Raji is one hell of a player... TT's best pick since he's been here IMO.

[red]

if both pickett and raji show that they can play NT, then you should keep both. then use then as a rotation to keep each of them fresh. the NT in a 3-4 has to be a damn hard job that just wears a guy down, you're looking at a double team, at least, on every single snap

and you always need a solid backup. NT is THE most important position, if he goes down and you don't have a decent backup, then you're fucked

and my god do we have an awesome looking goal line d. teams should find it very difficult to run on short yardage situation against us

   harrell/jolly        picket     raji    jenkins


     kampman         barnet              hawk                mathews

you shouldn't be able to get a single yard against something that looks like that

[RashanGary]

if both pickett and raji show that they can play NT, then you should keep both. then use then as a rotation to keep each of them fresh. the NT in a 3-4 has to be a damn hard job that just wears a guy down, you're looking at a double team, at least, on every single snap

and you always need a solid backup. NT is THE most important position, if he goes down and you don't have a decent backup, then you're fucked

Agreed. If Pickett will sign for about 5 mil per year, he's a good lineman. He's worth. it. I don't think we're going to draft any projects that turn out to be as good as Pickett. It's possible, but I think he's valuable enough to want to keep around. You need two fat ass NT's and with Raji's versatility, it would be great to have another one to open Raji up for some of the other things he does well.

[pbmax]

   harrell/jolly        picket     raji    jenkins


     kampman         barnet              hawk                mathews

you shouldn't be able to get a single yard against something that looks like that

You probably can't. But you may be able to pass against the 3 DBs we'd have left in the game!

[Bretsky]

No, Pickett is strictly a NT IMO...

Raji is much more versatile... as someone said further up the thread, Raji can spell Pickett at NT, play DE when needed, and provide a ton of push in the middle on passing downs.

Partial... don't know why ur so down on this pick. Raji is one hell of a player... TT's best pick since he's been here IMO.

Per the interviews I thoght the Packer Brass thought Pickett could play some DE and Raji would stay at NG

[RashanGary]

McCarthy just said Pickett was going to play some end. I'm guessing it will happen in obvious run situations.

[Gunakor]

No, Pickett is strictly a NT IMO...

Raji is much more versatile... as someone said further up the thread, Raji can spell Pickett at NT, play DE when needed, and provide a ton of push in the middle on passing downs.

Partial... don't know why ur so down on this pick. Raji is one hell of a player... TT's best pick since he's been here IMO.

Per the interviews I thoght the Packer Brass thought Pickett could play some DE and Raji would stay at NG

That's exactly what they said. And it's ass backwards IMO, but whatever they say. I trust that Dom Capers knows what he's talking about when he tells McCarthy and Thompson that Pickett can play end, I just don't see it.

[The Leaper]

I agree completely with the thoughts of most. Pickett at DE? Crazy dumb if you ask me. The guy is 30 and never had much speed to start with. Raji makes far more sense filling in at DE on run downs.

[Guiness]

s

I think the Packers would be smart to try to lock up Pickett to another deal. Why not? You can never have enough good Dlineman.

Age and injury history preclude locking up Pickett to a long term contract. Resign at around NFL veteran minimum next offseason.

Pickett? Started 16 games at DT? Vet minimum?

Wow. You need to seriously have your perscription checked - if he were an FA right now, he's getting $10/3yrs. Conservative.

edit: JH is prolly right. $5mil/yr might be closer

[Gunakor]

s

I think the Packers would be smart to try to lock up Pickett to another deal. Why not? You can never have enough good Dlineman.

Age and injury history preclude locking up Pickett to a long term contract. Resign at around NFL veteran minimum next offseason.

Pickett? Started 16 games at DT? Vet minimum?

Wow. You need to seriously have your perscription checked - if he were an FA right now, he's getting $10/3yrs. Conservative.

edit: JH is prolly right. $5mil/yr might be closer

Started 16 games at DT last year. I doubt very highly he starts 16 games at NT for us this year. If he enters FA at the end of his current contract with us his value will be far less than it would be today. And if he gets that kind of an offer, and he's not still our starting NT, let him go. I'm not interested in paying a backup NT 5 million dollars per season.