Emerging young talent

[retailguy]

According to Packer1234, TT has yet to prove he's building to win now. It's always about the future with him, apparently.

I bet this 11-5 season, this one right now, is pissing Ted off.

I wonder if Ted expected to be 11-5?

I wonder if we get new OL coaches regardless of what happens? I wonder what happens at LG in 2010? I wonder if Lang can handle RT? (It looks good so far). I wonder if Sitton becomes a RG fixture for years? I wonder if Spitz reclaims the center position, or if he just looks ugly on the sideline?

I wonder if we draft and LT, or if we're too far down in the draft order to find a good one? I wonder what we'll do at cornerback next year? I wonder if Al Harris rebounds at 35? I wonder how much slower he'll be after the ACL surgery? I wonder if we'll draft a punter in the 3rd round? I wonder what we'll do with Kampman? I wonder if Brad Jones hits the wall in 2010? I wonder if Kevin Greene is really Brad Jones, or if he's that good of a coach? I wonder if Dom Capers will stay another year, or if he'll go Jim Bates nutso on us?

I wonder a lot of things.

[retailguy]

Fire Ted Thompson now. Hire Holmy.

According to some, Atari Bigby is solely responsible for the fortunes of this team. Lock him up as a player/GM ASAP!!!

Maybe he's the black Brett Favre?

[packerbacker1234]

Not sure you can call Raji emerging. Didn't he miss most the year with some minor injuries and made pretty much little to no impact?

[Fritz]

Not sure you can call Raji emerging. Didn't he miss most the year with some minor injuries and made pretty much little to no impact?

Well, he's not submerging.

I think he's doing fine, just fine. I'd rather have him and Pickett at the nose than Jones and Crabtree at the #3 receiver spot this Sunday.

[mission]

Not sure you can call Raji emerging. Didn't he miss most the year with some minor injuries and made pretty much little to no impact?

Have you even watched Packers games this year?

Miss most of the year? Um... no...

Not sure what we would have done with Pickett out and Raji making no impact.

[Gunakor]

Not sure you can call Raji emerging. Didn't he miss most the year with some minor injuries and made pretty much little to no impact?

Nose Tackles don't make many plays, but that doesn't mean they don't have a huge impact. Raji's job is to fill gaps and eat up blocks so that the LB's behind him can make plays. While Pickett was out with an injury, Raji has played at the nose and our run defense hasn't fallen off one bit. And the linebackers have still been making an awful lot of plays. That's the impact Raji has had this season. He's been pretty solid since coming back from his own early season injury.

[Bretsky]

guy that's emerged and had a ton to do with our turnaround is Jermichael Finley.

I'm thinking if I had to take a TE for the next five years he might be in the top 5-8 now

[RashanGary]

guy that's emerged and had a ton to do with our turnaround is Jermichael Finley.

I'm thinking if I had to take a TE for the next five years he might be in the top 5-8 now

That was something I wondered about too. I looked up Finley's total yards and they're 10th overall for TE's.

I think we all know that at 22, he's got some room to grow and with the injury slowed him a little, not to mention he wasn't really used until the first Viking game.


Finley could be special, but 5-8 seems relatively safe for him considering he's top 10 right now.

[RashanGary]

Matthews and Finley have to be #1 and #2 on the new list of promising young players.

[Bretsky]

Since Finley has returned he's led the Packers in both receptions and Targets. Pretty amazing for a TE. Too big for a CB, too fast for a LB, and not many safeties can stick to the guy.

I may be overly homeristic, but who'd you take over this guy for the next ten years ?

Dallas Clark and Antonio Gates....sure

Vernon Davis.....maybe if his head doesn't fall off
Whitten is there now but not much more upside
Gonzo old
I'd take him over Celek


Finley might be one of the top emerging receivers in the game

He's might be cracking top five next year if not now

[mission]

Since Finley has returned he's led the Packers in both receptions and Targets. Pretty amazing for a TE. Too big for a CB, too fast for a LB, and not many safeties can stick to the guy.

I may be overly homeristic, but who'd you take over this guy for the next ten years ?

Dallas Clark and Antonio Gates....sure

Vernon Davis.....maybe if his head doesn't fall off
Whitten is there now but not much more upside
Gonzo old
I'd take him over Celek


Finley might be one of the top emerging receivers in the game

He's might be cracking top five next year if not now

Ya, as long as you're talking about the future, 5-8 sounds pretty low for the guy.

He's *really* special IMO... I'd say top 3 "future" guys. The sky is the limit and I'm proud to say I drafted him on both my FF teams at the start of the season. :P

People were like "who?!"

[RashanGary]

Yeah. He's going to have to work hard, but he has talent and skill.


I think there is a little misconception about Finley that he's more talented than skilled, but the things that have impressed me most about Finley has been his skills.

How many times have you seen him miss a block? By all early accounts, he seems like a skilled blocker.

How many times have you seen him drop a ball? He seems like he's a very skilled pass catcher

How many times have you seen him time a jump and make a grab over the defenders head. He seems to be very skilled at adjusting to the ball.



I like his game a lot. Trying not to be too homeristic too, but I think he has that type of potential too. Gates and Gonzo were elite ELITE talents. I don't know if he has that type of ceiling of them in their prime, but I agree that it's not far fetched to think of him as the next tier down (probowler not HOFer). And hey, who knows. He could be the best too. Nothing he's done has ruled that out, it's just awfully high praise for a guy who hasn't done it yet. Gotta wait for that praise.

[Bretsky]

It was pretty dam funny and the PR's would have found humor if we had it on tape

I play in a high end auction with college buddies and fly into NY to attend in New York. Entry is about $500 and pot for winner is about $2500. We have partners of 3....all former UW Madison Students

I gave them the scouting report on Finley and let them know he was going to be the last guy in the draft we'd take with the money we have left over.
$1000 pot for everybody in the auction.

Most of those guys are nuts; at about midnight in September the Tuesday before the Season started, we had one roster spot left and I called out for the Gritty (named after Nitty Gritty in Madison)

Jermichael Finley.......$13

It's what we had left. Going once, going twice, gone.

Every team in the room but one looked at us like we were insane. I was asked who he was. One team said.....emerging young TE for the Packers.

My comment was, "You'll know by the end of the Season"

We had to start two TE's and Finley was our 3rd behing Dallas Clark and Owen Daniels.

After Daniels tore his ACL, Finley emerged and help us win another Grudge Bowl Title.

[Joemailman]

Only 8 TE's this year had more receiving yards than Finley, and that was with Finley missing 3 games. His numbers projected over 16 games put him in Tony Gonzalez territory.

[RashanGary]

Nice. How much money you win?