Ripple effect of a Bigby cut

[KYPack]

GB is such a village, lots of times when you hear rumblings of something happening up there, by God, it does.

The "Atari Bigby is gonna get cut" tom-toms are beating louder every day. Skin is getting ready to jump for joy, & I think it's gonna happen, too.

I watched the Bares the other night and came to a realization about them. They've still got a pretty good front 7, but their secondary is the shits. They just picked up Rod Hood, a slowish CB, just cut by Cleveland.

Whichever safety we cut is better than what Chicago is putting on the field. If we do make the move on Bigby, Chit-town would snap him up in a minute.

& He'd be better off playing there. In Capers D, both safeties have read and move & cover a ton of ground. In the Tampa 2? you roll over and help the corner. The Mike in the T2 is your middle support. A slower S like Bigby could squeeze another year out of those slow legs of his.

Wouldn't that suck?

[Scott Campbell]

Re: Ripple effect of a Bigby cut

GB is such a village, lots of times when you hear rumblings of something happening up there, by God, it does.

The "Atari Bigby is gonna get cut" tom-toms are beating louder every day. Skin is getting ready to jump for joy, & I think it's gonna happen, too.

I watched the Bares the other night and came to a realization about them. They've still got a pretty good front 7, but their secondary is the shits. They just picked up Rod Hood, a slowish CB, just cut by Cleveland.

Whichever safety we cut is better than what Chicago is putting on the field. If we do make the move on Bigby, Chit-town would snap him up in a minute.

& He'd be better off playing there. In Capers D, both safeties have read and move & cover a ton of ground. In the Tampa 2? you roll over and help the corner. The Mike in the T2 is your middle support. A slower S like Bigby could squeeze another year out of those slow legs of his.

Wouldn't that suck?

Hmmm. Thanks for the flashback on Hunter Hillmeyer. Maybe they could trade him outside of the division for a worthless conditional pick.

[KYPack]

Re: Ripple effect of a Bigby cut

Hmmm. Thanks for the flashback on Hunter Hillmeyer. Maybe they could trade him outside of the division for a worthless conditional pick.

The Jets with that "phantom 7th rounder" mebbe?

[pbmax]

Bill Parcells still owes Wolf a seventh rounder I believe.

[packrulz]

In Bigby's defense he was playing hurt, that is why he was slow. According to this article, he'll be the starter opposite Nick Collins. I do like the way Bigby tackles, I think he can force a fumble or two. Anthony Smith and Rouse will back up, and I assume they'll cut Peprah, he really hasn't done anything. I'd rather cut Bush and keep all 3 fullbacks, I think they'll keep Swain and put Heckendorf on the practice squad.

Rouse, Peprah likely vying for one safety spot

By Pete Dougherty • pdougher@greenbaypressgazette.com • September 1, 2009

Aaron Rouse is a big safety whose unusual size intrigued the Green Bay Packers enough to select him in the third round of the 2007 draft.

Charlie Peprah is a dependable safety who has held a backup job with the Packers for three seasons and made the roster last year even though he missed the final four weeks of training camp.

After final cuts this weekend, one of the two probably will be the Packers’ No. 4 safety; the other probably will be on the waiver wire. And the Packers’ scouts and coaches will have minimal evidence from training camp to make a choice that will become significant if the last line of defense suffers an injury or two over the 16-game schedule.

Rouse and Peprah have been sidelined the past two weeks because of injuries and won’t play in Thursday night’s preseason finale at Tennessee. Both are new to the 3-4 defense, but General Manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy will have only the first 2½ weeks of training camp to project how they’ll function in the scheme. In their one game, against Cleveland, Rouse played 37 snaps and Peprah played 12.

“We were hoping the injuries wouldn’t dictate that (call),” said Darren Perry, the Packers’ safeties coach. “It’s going to be very tough for us to figure out who we’re going to go with.”

The Packers probably will keep 10 defensive backs, and the best guess is they’ll go with at least five cornerbacks, maybe six, and only four safeties. The safety group might or might not include Jarrett Bush, a backup at cornerback and safety whose solid shot at making the final roster rests on his role as a core special-teams player.

The starting safeties are Nick Collins and Atari Bigby. Backup Anthony Smith is on Bigby’s heels if he falters. So, unless the Packers give the fourth safety spot to Bush, who is more of a cornerback than safety, it leaves one spot for either Rouse, who has a pulled hamstring, or Peprah, who has a knee injury.

Rouse is the bigger talent of the two, mostly because of his size — he’s almost as big as a linebacker at 6-feet-4 and 227 pounds — though he’s also made some plays on the ball (four interceptions) when he’s filled in the past two years. The Packers covet his size as a cover man down the middle of the field against some of the NFL’s premier tight ends, but his height also contributes to inconsistency in coverage because he doesn’t change direction as well as a smaller man.

“Mentally very comfortable with where he was from the (organized team activities) and first couple weeks of training camp,” Perry said. “We were really pleased with that part of it. You wanted to see him translate all that stuff onto the field that he learned in OTAs, and when you get injured, it’s tough, because he just hasn’t had the snaps to show you. You’re kind of hoping, but you’d like to see it on video.”

Peprah (5-11, 203) has been mostly a special-teams player in the three seasons since the Packers claimed him after the New York Giants released him at the end of his rookie training camp in 2006. He doesn’t have the speed or quickness of a playmaker (zero interceptions), but coaches trust him.

“Charlie’s big asset is he’s steady, you know what you’re going to get,” Perry said. “He’s smart, he knows his limitations and he’s not going to go outside the scheme to do something he’s not capable of doing. You get a comfort level that he’s going to be where he’s supposed to be, he’s going to do it exactly like you tell him to do it.”

Both players should return from their injuries relatively soon, though it’s unclear if either would be available for the regular-season opener against Chicago on Sept. 13. The Packers will be looking at their potential and a more immediate role in determining which gets cut when they reduce their roster from 75 to 53 by 3 p.m. Saturday.

“A lot of times, you don’t take the 53 most talented players,” McCarthy said. “There’s some projection involved, but there’s also some projection of who you’re playing and how you want to play teams. That’s the chess match of this whole deal is the final evaluation and cutting from 75 to 53.”

[Fritz]

Good thread, KY. It sounds plausible.

However, if it does happen, some of the suckiness of that scenario would be mitigated by Bigby picking off Favre on one of his patented "I've-been-in-the-pocket-for-five-minutes-but-I'm-going-to-throw-into-the-middle-anyway" throws.

Don't Parcells and Thompson have that old Ron Wolf/Al Davis relationship? Maybe Teddy could call up his old buddy and trade Bigby down to Miami for a player equally mediocre whom Parcells does not want to see in his division.

Or maybe he could trade Bigby to Texas A & M for a sophomore cheerleader.

[KYPack]

Could be.

When I did my own 53 man squad, I kept Peprah and put Rouse on IR. That is also a possibility.

[Waldo]

I don't think it looks good for either.

Both Bush and Underwood are CB/S players. Good enough in coverage to play some CB, physical enough to play S, fast enough to be a centerfielder.

Those type of guys make good FS's. We have 2 SS's in Smith and Bigby.

I think that both Rouse and Peprah are gone, and both Underwood and Bush kept.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Rouse has more upside than Bush or Peprah.

Bush has not been steadier than Rouse. Anything is possible, but I don't see Rouse getting cut.

[MichiganPackerFan]

Bill Parcells still owes Wolf a seventh rounder I believe.

Maybe I haven't had enought coffee yet this morning. What am I missing here?

[sharpe1027]

Bill Parcells still owes Wolf a seventh rounder I believe.

Maybe I haven't had enought coffee yet this morning. What am I missing here?

Pretty sure he is talking about the series of 7th round swaps between Parcells and Wolf that never amounted to anything except a bypass of the waiver wire.

I do not believe they cut Bigby because even if he doesn't start, he is still the #1 backup at his position. It doesn't make a lot of sense, unless they think Peprah or Rouse is better than Bigby.

[Fritz]

I don't think it looks good for either.

Both Bush and Underwood are CB/S players. Good enough in coverage to play some CB, physical enough to play S, fast enough to be a centerfielder.

Those type of guys make good FS's. We have 2 SS's in Smith and Bigby.

I think that both Rouse and Peprah are gone, and both Underwood and Bush kept.

We've been talking off and on about trying to sneak guys onto the PS. To me, Underwood has been undeer the radar in camp and might be a guy you could sneak onto the PS. Not saying I want that, but that it's possible.

That would allow the Pack to keep Peprah, who is apparently assignment sure. Then again, it'd suck to lose Underwood if they think he's future starting material.

[Waldo]

Rouse has more upside than Bush or Peprah.

Bush has not been steadier than Rouse. Anything is possible, but I don't see Rouse getting cut.

How does Rouse have more upside?

Because he is taller?

Bush is a lot faster, and a lot more agile, and it isn't like he is short.

Bush is one of those guys that was pure upside. He wasn't a very good DB when he came into the league, having been a WR for most of his college career. But his height, weight, size:speed ratio, agility, explosion are all what you look for out of an elite CB. And he has that trait that the good ones have, that they move on to the next play immediately and don't dwell on a given up pass (DRC isn't good at that, and AR made him pay for it).

There comes a point with upside, especially tall upside, where you concede he's not going to hit it. A tall safety that isn't very good is no better than a short safety that isn't very good. It only makes a difference when comparing one elite player to another, and it is time to concede that Rouse is never going to be an elite player. Bush isn't either, but what matters more is who is more likely to get closest to their upside.

[KYPack]

Bigby getting cut is a stretch.

I think they cut Peprah (who gets picked up by somebody) & IR Rouse. I'm a huge Darren Perry fan. DP could make Rouse into something. the guy plays too high and peeks a lot.

They go with Bigby, Collins, Bush, and Smith at S. That's a pretty good group.

[Tony Oday]

I am sure this is a dumb idea because I really know very little about OLBs in the 3-4 but could we put Rouse on IR and tell him to bulk up? If he can cover as a saftey...has the size to go against the premier TEs in the NFL why not put 20 lbs on him this offseason and have him as an OLB in passing downs?