Dougherty: "Packers need free agent help"

[retailguy]

Wasn't Tausch a free agent?

NO; the master drafted him

So? If he'd have been signed by someone else, you'd have been all over TT's ass.

Just another example of TT letting Wolf's players go then

Will you just come over to the dark side and be done with it? Sidious is losing patience.

[woodbuck27]

Every team has holes and problems.

There is no perfect team. We need X to win is not the answer.

Good teams find a way to win. The hide their weaknesses and accent their strengths, and get it done. GB '07 to GB '08, Tn '08 to Tn '09. Largely the same team in both cases. Both had a spark in their 13-3 year that just isn't there the next year.

You can go around digging under rocks, looking for people to fire, coaches that can make that spark consistently are very rare (Vince L. for example), the FO can throw all the talent in the world together, that doesn't mean that spark is created. Some players help to create it, but really it is created by a collection of the locker room and team.

The 13-3 year there were many key players remaining from the '03-04 seasons, when we get red hot for long stretches. Those guys are fading fast, but now we have a young team that was around for the 13-3 year. They have to find it for themselves. They have to figure out, as a team, how to win. Once they do, this will be one very good team, for a long time.

The ghost of Lombardi and to a factor yes.

[gex]

You built through draft, free agency & trades even.

Screw free agency & screw Reggie White, Sean Jones, Don Beebe, Keith Jackson, Frank Winters, Santana Dotson, Desmond Howard, Andre Rison and even Mike Prior; all HUGE for Packers in SB seasons. (Did I miss some?)



Chuck :P

Ryan Pickett Ok, but really...

Chillar (see Pickett)

Al Harris came in trade as did Purple Heart Bert - back in the day.

The rest of Packers current roster are mostly drafted by TT & Wolf and even some street guys.

So screw free agency

[ThunderDan]

Just so we get the facts straight:

Kapinos - FA
Brett Swain - FA (resign)
Bigby - FA
Woodson - FA
Bush - Waivers
Grant - Trade
Martin -Trade
Kuhn - Waivers
Harris - Trade
T Williams - FA
Havner - FA
Giordano - FA
Chillar - FA
Goode - FA
Dietrich-Smith - FA
Jenkins - FA
Pickett - FA
Lee - FA

18 of 53 players came via Trade, Waivers or Free Agency. This doesn't count any Packers that we have reupped. (Jennings, Rodgers, Tauscher, etc)

Over 1/3 of our roster has not come thru the draft.

[retailguy]

Well, what I've said about free agency has been so twisted around the axle, I should probably just keep quiet, but let me try again to explain my views.

You are equating undrafted free agents with free agency that begins in March of each year. That isn't what folks are talking about, and it certainly isn't what I'm talking about.

Undrafted free agents can lead to finding a diamond in the rough occasionally. That's a good thing.

What I'm talking about is failing to bring in an experienced free agent to "plug a hole" because it is either unlikely we'll find a draft pick capable of doing that in the short term, or, we have current talent that is subpar to the rest of the league and need a temporary boost at a certain position.

I recognize that sounds easier to do than it actually is, however, I don't see a recognition that it is even a priority. That's what frustrates me.

As I type this post, specifically what is going through my head are 3 positions, LT this past season, DL last season after the Williams trade and the various injury and legal concerns, and FB prior to the 13-3 2007 season.

Each year, it was apparent that there were stability concerns, and most of these issues were early enough that things could have been done if it had been a priority.

So, in the end, please don't cloud the issue further by posting a list of largely undrafted rookie free agents under the guise of "just so we get the facts straight".... It does no such thing.

I personally believe that Ted does a wonderful job of bringing in rookies with "potential". I also personally believe that Ted does an awful job of plugging holes until that potential can be realized.

[ThunderDan]

If I count right that's 8/22 starters or 35% and 10/25 if you count special teamers or 40%.

[sharpe1027]

Same shit every year. Hindsight after the season starts: "Hey we have a weakness in area X, free agency would have fixed it." Yeah, so would have better drafting, better play development or just better luck.

Of course, as soon as big money is spent on a FA, everyone complains that the guy wasn't worth it.

I'm not saying that free agency is bad, I'm just saying that it isn't the problem. The problem is the current players, however they were acquired.

[retailguy]

Same shit every year. Hindsight after the season starts: "Hey we have a weakness in area X, free agency would have fixed it." Yeah, so would have better drafting, better play development or just better luck.

Of course, as soon as big money is spent on a FA, everyone complains that the guy wasn't worth it.

I'm not saying that free agency is bad, I'm just saying that it isn't the problem. The problem is the current players, however they were acquired.

This is a cop out and you know it.

There was no emphasis on acquiring anyone WHEN it happened. I was talking about it then. Go back and read it. Pull up threads from then.

There is nothing wrong with our current players (well most of them anyhow). Some JUST AREN'T READY.

[sharpe1027]

This is a cop out and you know it.

There was no emphasis on acquiring anyone WHEN it happened. I was talking about it then. Go back and read it. Pull up threads from then.

There is nothing wrong with our current players (well most of them anyhow). Some JUST AREN'T READY.

Yeah, you and half the people out there have been whining about lack of free agents since the media began pushing that storyline several years a ago. I simply don't see it. The Packers have been successful in free agency and trades. They've found a number of starters and have avoided any huge busts. Hell, the best guy on the team was a free agent pickup.

IMHO, free agency is not the problem/solution. It is just a convenient cop out for people to bitch about.

[Cheesehead Craig]

Teams don't sign Chuck Norris, Chuck Norris signs them.

Chuck Norris will not sign until the uncapped year when he can get properly compensated, somewhere in the neighborhood of a few billion dollars.

Chuck Norris doesn't need money. He just takes what he wants.

[mmmdk]

Just so we get the facts straight:

Kapinos - FA
Brett Swain - FA (resign)
Bigby - FA
Woodson - FA
Bush - Waivers
Grant - Trade
Martin -Trade
Kuhn - Waivers
Harris - Trade
T Williams - FA
Havner - FA
Giordano - FA
Chillar - FA
Goode - FA
Dietrich-Smith - FA
Jenkins - FA
Pickett - FA
Lee - FA

18 of 53 players came via Trade, Waivers or Free Agency. This doesn't count any Packers that we have reupped. (Jennings, Rodgers, Tauscher, etc)

Over 1/3 of our roster has not come thru the draft.

Listen, you're (hopefully) deliberately missing the point; the free agents Ron Wolf got us WERE PLAYERS, PRO BOWLERS & EVEN HOF'ERS.

Not nobodies or diamonds in the rough - at f@cking best.

Are you even trying not to be dumb?

Look around, free agency can make you champs or the Redskins. TT can't find sh!t in free agency or won't 'cus his head is up his own a@@.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

Are you deliberately pretending free agency when Wolf was the GM is the same as it is today?

[ThunderDan]

Just so we get the facts straight:

Kapinos - FA
Brett Swain - FA (resign)
Bigby - FA
Woodson - FA
Bush - Waivers
Grant - Trade
Martin -Trade
Kuhn - Waivers
Harris - Trade
T Williams - FA
Havner - FA
Giordano - FA
Chillar - FA
Goode - FA
Dietrich-Smith - FA
Jenkins - FA
Pickett - FA
Lee - FA

18 of 53 players came via Trade, Waivers or Free Agency. This doesn't count any Packers that we have reupped. (Jennings, Rodgers, Tauscher, etc)

Over 1/3 of our roster has not come thru the draft.

Listen, you're (hopefully) deliberately missing the point; the free agents Ron Wolf got us WERE PLAYERS, PRO BOWLERS & EVEN HOF'ERS.

Not nobodies or diamonds in the rough - at f@cking best.

Are you even trying not to be dumb?

Look around, free agency can make you champs or the Redskins. TT can't find sh!t in free agency or won't 'cus his head is up his own a@@.

Charles Woodson!!! Is there a better corner in the league over the last 3 years?

Jenkins and Pickett are anchoring our D-Line very nicely. Not HOF but damn good players.

Bigby looks like a player when healthy. Unfortunately he can't.

[sharpe1027]

Charles Woodson!!! Is there a better corner in the league over the last 3 years?

Jenkins and Pickett are anchoring our D-Line very nicely. Not HOF but damn good players.

Bigby looks like a player when healthy. Unfortunately he can't.

According to some, Chillar is our best LBer. Grant is our best RB.

The problem is not Free Agency, the problem is crappy O-line play. To me, the clincher is that the same argument could be made for any team anytime they have trouble at a position. "Hey position X sucks, we should have gotten a player in free agency." Sure, or just drafted better or developed better or avoided injuries or had a better scheme, ect.

[Bretsky]

Just so we get the facts straight:

Kapinos - FA
Brett Swain - FA (resign)
Bigby - FA
Woodson - FA
Bush - Waivers
Grant - Trade
Martin -Trade
Kuhn - Waivers
Harris - Trade
T Williams - FA
Havner - FA
Giordano - FA
Chillar - FA
Goode - FA
Dietrich-Smith - FA
Jenkins - FA
Pickett - FA
Lee - FA

18 of 53 players came via Trade, Waivers or Free Agency. This doesn't count any Packers that we have reupped. (Jennings, Rodgers, Tauscher, etc)

Over 1/3 of our roster has not come thru the draft.

This lends credibility to my reclycling of the scrap heap theory