Dard dog strikes again with his patented idiocy

[RashanGary]

In an uncapped year and with plenty of cash reserves, don't think you can really put a price tag on the Packers buying some peace of mind with the contracts they've given out to those players, along with Chad Clifton and Nick Collins.

It is interesting, though, that the Packers have paid a bunch of upfront money to those players, which is what they had to do with the uncapped year. But the Packers, under Ted Thompson, have always been smart to go with the 'pay as you go' strategy, meaning they didn't dole out huge signing bonuses. So, among other things, they didn't feel like they had to hang onto a player if he didn't perform.

That changed this year, again, out of necessity -- I'm certainly not banging them for it. It's just Ryan Pickett could earn $10 million this year. I don't care how good a guy and player he is -- and he's right up there -- that's a whole lot of up-front enchiladas.

This financial peace of mind the Packers have given themselves leads into something I discussed last night in my two-hour chat with Insider subscribers:

I'd say this is a big season for everybody involved. This is almost a "No Excuses" type of season now with Pickett, Clifton and Tauscher back. I don't want to hear any whining from anybody about youth, talent, injuries or anything. They brought everybody back. It's time to put up or shut up.

It's one thing to bring the band back for another run. It's another to spend $38 million for just this season on only five players: Collins ($14 mill), Pickett ($10 mill), Clifton ($7.5 mill), Tauscher ($3.5 mill) and Tramon Williams (because his tender was so high - $3 mill - I'm including him).

Thompson has gone all in for himself, Mike McCarthy and the Packers. We'll have to wait for the flop to see whether it pays off.

Where to begin. . . Pickett was an unrestricted free agent with a franchise tag. They were going to pay him 7 million guaranteed for one season anyway. Now they pay him 12 for the first two, which is less than the average for the transition tag. Ryan Pickett is a proven NFL player with almost no injury history. Sure, he could flop, but so could every single player in the NFL. Rodgers got a lot up front. Jennings did. Barnett, Woodson did. They all do. That's part of it. Nothing over the top has happened here with Pickett

Next, WTF is he talking about the Packers acting out of the ordinary this offseason. They almost always resign their good players and it's almost always worked out for them.

Third, the Packers are not all in. They've spent a lot of money, but what dard-dog doesn't realize is they have a whole shit load more money they can spend even if the cap comes back. They're no where near spent, not even close. The Vikings are, but the Packers are exactly the opposite. Tehy've had 5 years of writing front loaded deals. They have a ton of equity BACKED UP. This doesn't even dent it with how it got front loaded on the uncapped year. They have enough money that if they wanted to, they could go on the single biggest spending binge in NFL history. All they'd have to do is do signing bonuses. Darddog has no clue what he's talking about.

The Packers have locked up some good core players. They have more young ones coming up. They have a ton more money coming up. If TT and MM make the playoffs, they're almost assured to keep their jobs. There's nothing all in about this move, not even a little. It was just good, smart decision making.

[Bretsky]

that's just a poor though process by Bedard

Simply put the Packers are in sound financial condition
There is no cap next year

Why did they frontload a bunch of money ?
Because they Can

Because it will help them in future years when they is no cap
This was just as much a move for the future as it was a move for now

[RashanGary]

If Darddog had half a brain, he'd write a completely different story.

He'd write about how lucky the Packers are that so many of their players are coming into points in their contracts that resigning them is logical. He'd write about how the Packers can front load deals onto the uncapped year, opening up loads of cash in future capped years. He'd write about how if the cap comes back, the talent and contracts of these players is going to have almost no impact on the salary caps. He's write about how it wouldn't be shocking if they reached out to other plays half way through the season to push even more on the uncapped year.

The guy is a moron. Everything has played out ideally for the Packers and teh future looks even brighter than the blindingly bright present.

[RashanGary]

There was one tiny thread of reasonable logic. The pressure grew. The Packers are coming into a point of building that they should not be expected to take steps back. I think everyone agrees this is time for the Packers to peak. Right now, and for up to the next decade, we expect these Packers to be legit contenders. Thompson isn't all in for one year. He went all in 4 years ago when he risked his job for the vision he had of this great situation. I'd say he's about 95% chacne to win his hand, all he has to do is not get bad beat on the river.

[get louder at lambeau]

Gotta love how he makes it sound like a negative that the Packers are poised to be very competitive this year, like he's ready to pounce as soon as anything goes wrong. Fuck you Greg A. Retard.

[red]

thats one of the more asinine things i've seen in some time

he acknowledges things are different cap wise this year, but then completely fails to grasp the whole concept

[ThunderDan]

Re: Dard dog strikes again with his patented idiocy

Thompson has gone all in for himself, Mike McCarthy and the Packers. We'll have to wait for the flop to see whether it pays off.

I would hope the goal of every GM except maybe 4 or 5 is to win the Superbowl. So now resigning your core players is "Going All In." To me that is commiting to continuity in your organization.

This is not a make or break year for the Packers. The only way TT and MM are in trouble is if we go 5-11. And with what I saw at the end of last season I think it is highly unlikely.

What I would like is a long deep playoff run and better special teams!!

[Fritz]

That article is Bedarded.

[sharpe1027]

Re: Dard dog strikes again with his patented idiocy

It is interesting, though, that the Packers have paid a bunch of upfront money to those players, which is what they had to do with the uncapped year.

They "had" to do it, but yet it is "interesting?"

But the Packers, under Ted Thompson, have always been smart to go with the 'pay as you go' strategy, meaning they didn't dole out huge signing bonuses. So, among other things, they didn't feel like they had to hang onto a player if he didn't perform.

Do any of Collins, Pickett or Tauscher's contracts even contain big signing bonuses?

That changed this year, again, out of necessity

So front-loading contracts is a new thing that changed this year? Hardly.

-- I'm certainly not banging them for it.

Don't kid yourself.

I'd say this is a big season for everybody involved. This is almost a "No Excuses" type of season now with Pickett, Clifton and Tauscher back. I don't want to hear any whining from anybody about youth, talent, injuries or anything. They brought everybody back. It's time to put up or shut up.

It's one thing to bring the band back for another run. It's another to spend $38 million for just this season on only five players: Collins ($14 mill), Pickett ($10 mill), Clifton ($7.5 mill), Tauscher ($3.5 mill) and Tramon Williams (because his tender was so high - $3 mill - I'm including him).

Thompson has gone all in for himself, Mike McCarthy and the Packers. We'll have to wait for the flop to see whether it pays off.

And as others have said, he misses the entire point of front loading (as opposed to signing bonuses)...you don't go all in because in the following years you can cut them, sign other players or both, with little consequence.

[RashanGary]

Do you guys think dardog is kidding? I have to believe he's JS's hired goon. He comes in with the name Bedard and a big forehead. He consistently writes moronic pieces that nobody, not even himself, can believe.

They stir the pot. I'll admit, I go back every day to see what that dumb ass wrote. But this guy is proof, there is no more integrity in journalism. For a large part, that industry is a disgusting joke. You kind of hope they're out there gathering information for you, so you can take that news and make good, sound judgement. What you find out, over time, is they don't bring news at all. They don't inform. They strictly sell papers. That's it. They're not news. They're no better than tabloids, literally.

And tabloids might be better. They give you shit and everyone knows it's shit. JS puts perfume on their shit, so you can't smell what they're giving you. Worse than crooked salesmen, honestly.

[Bretsky]

Kind of funny that Nick Barnett is giving Bedard a litle shit on Twitter. I follow several sportswriters and players on twitter. Entertaining stuff.

[vince]

In his zeal to criticize Ted Thompson, Bedard trips all over himself once again with contradictions and stupidity. The height of his ignorance and arrogance apparently has no ceiling.

I don't want to hear any whining from anybody about youth, talent, injuries, or anything. They brought everybody back. It's time to put up or shut up.

Is that right Greg? Your over-inflated sense of self-importance further undermines your own credibility and makes an even bigger mockery of your profession than your last hackjob, which trumped the one immediately before that, and before that. Obviously, you don't need to wait for any of that to actually happen before criticising anyway, so what's the point?

Youngest team in the league in sound financial condition coming off a playoff run with rising playmakers throughout the offense and defense? None of that even matters. It seems as if Bedard can't get over Thompson taking offense to his interview questions or something. He's clearly lost any objective perspective.

Bedard obviously has become nothing more than a biased, blog-happy, garbage-spewing, ignorant, arrogant, tabloid journalism hack without a clue. I guess it makes for entertaining reading - not unlike forum posting fans who cling to their disdain for Thompson or specific players so much that they can't or won't see the forest through the trees. Common sense and logic goes out the window. And it seems that he's building himself up towards staying that way. He's proving to be far worse than I even imagined he was before he got himself comfortable here.

I think his sense of authority and reality of Packer fans may be severely skewed by the commenters and posters regarding his work over at JSO.

[HarveyWallbangers]

That article is Bedarded.

Nice!

[PlantPage55]

I think his sense of authority and reality of Packer fans may be severely skewed by the commenters and posters regarding his work over at JSO.

You mean the ones that continually pat him on the back for being "fair" and "unbiased" in the comments sections? Those people make me sick. They confuse "fair" with "negative" and "flip-floppy."

But then again, these are the people that probably still irrationally dislike Ted. This off-season, Ted has done EXACTLY what everyone wanted him to do, whether they were a fan of him or not. I cannot think of a person who really saw anyone out there on the market that they really would have wanted the Packers to sign.

Instead, we signed the best LT, RT, S and one of the best NTs in the whole FA market. I'd say that's pretty good.

[pbmax]

thats one of the more asinine things i've seen in some time

he acknowledges things are different cap wise this year, but then completely fails to grasp the whole concept

Precisely. And even better, he cites that the Packers have used a pay as you go strategy, which among other things, has lead them to include a lot of upfront money to multiple players; Hawk, Chillar, Jennings, Rodgers, Woodson, etc. By loading what would traditionally be signing bonus money into the front end of the contract, they can release the player anytime they want to, usually anytime after that first year. Pay as you go doesn't mean spending a even amount of money on the play each year, it means you do not pay money and then have to hold onto the player after you no longer want them. A better term would be "If you stay, you get paid".

Bedard treats this like something is different. The only thing different is that it makes more sense with an uncapped year to dump the accounting hit into.