Packers take care of their own

[MichiganPackerFan]

James Jones will be back. With Driver wrapping up his fine career within the next couple of seasons, you'd hate to go from 4 very good receivers to 2 when your offense relies so heavily on the passing game.

[vince]

when has tt worried about being the cap recently?

TT has re-signed a bunch of guys in the last couple years and the Packers' player salary costs have risen significantly. Whatever the cap is going to be if there is one will be something TT will need to deal with in the years to come.

[MichiganPackerFan]

TT has re-signed a bunch of guys in the last couple years and the Packers' player salary costs have risen significantly. Whatever the cap is going to be if there is one will be something TT will need to deal with in the years to come.

The problem with the cap is signing bonuses are amortized over the entire length of the bonus contract. That means teams sign players for a long contract (say 8 years) and cut him after four. While they are no longer liable for the salary, the bonus money is counted against the cap for 8 years. Mike Sherman was TERRIBLE at this and TT fixed his mess. As I have read the contracts, a lot of the money that TT has paid out has been in salary form with higher initial years which applies against the 2010 (lack of) salary cap. There have been very few bonus dollars that will effect the cap in the future. If he can, it's time to get a few more contracts done NOW with guaranteed salary rather than bonuses. To the player their effectively the same (money now) but it's much cap friendlier in the future when the bulk counts towards 2010 only. This is SHREWD cap management.

[RashanGary]

Players I think we should keep

Cullen Jenkins - Keep him. DL is incredibly important. If we have too many DL, play more 3-3-5 nickle with Jenkins, Raji and Neal as your pass rushing lineman.
James Jones - Keep him. He might be the 2nd best WR on our team right now. Driver is near the end.
John Kuhn - Keep him. Catch, run, block, ST's. He's good.
Mason Crosby - Keep him. He's having a really steady year and has a big leg. There is no reason to change
Charlie Peprah - Keep him at borderline starter wage
Daryn Colledge - Keep him. We don't have anyone better. He's a stop gap until something better comes along


Players I don't think would matter if they left

Atari Bigby - Only if he's cheap for camp competition
Korey Hall - Only if he's cheap for camp competition
Jason Spitz - Only if he's really cheap as camp competition
Anthony Smith - Only if he's really cheap as camp competition
Brandon Jackson - Only for league minimum and really only for camp competition.

[Freak Out]

The Jolly Dranker will be back next year correct?

[swede]

Players I think we should keep

Cullen Jenkins - Keep him. DL is incredibly important. If we have too many DL, play more 3-3-5 nickle with Jenkins, Raji and Neal as your pass rushing lineman.
James Jones - Keep him. He might be the 2nd best WR on our team right now. Driver is near the end.
John Kuhn - Keep him. Catch, run, block, ST's. He's good.
Mason Crosby - Keep him. He's having a really steady year and has a big leg. There is no reason to change
Charlie Peprah - Keep him at borderline starter wage
Daryn Colledge - Keep him. We don't have anyone better. He's a stop gap until something better comes along


Players I don't think would matter if they left

Atari Bigby - Only if he's cheap for camp competition
Korey Hall - Only if he's cheap for camp competition
Jason Spitz - Only if he's really cheap as camp competition
Anthony Smith - Only if he's really cheap as camp competition
Brandon Jackson - Only for league minimum and really only for camp competition.

I think I agree with all that.


My guess is that the Pack likes BJack better than you do, though. He's like one of those doughnut tires you keep in the trunk. It's not much for performance but it will allow you to keep going until you get the real tire fixed.

[Patler]

The Jolly Dranker will be back next year correct?

It will be up to the Commish. Jolly can request reinstatement after the Super Bowl. It's not for certain that he will get it. Depends if he has been a good boy or not, and what the Commish thought about the original circumstances surrounding his legal troubles and the basis for his suspension (which has never been explained clearly). He could chose to deny the request and set a later date for a further request.

Personally, I think he will be reinstated, unless he has failed to follow through on any of the court requirements that were handed down, or any requirements or suggestions that might have come from the NFL.

[swede]

Personally, I think he will be reinstated, unless he has failed to follow through on any of the court requirements that were handed down, or any requirements or suggestions that might have come from the NFL.

I have a suggestion for JJolly: Make new friends and dump the old, one is silver and the other aint paroled.

[Fritz]

Here's another suggestion: Make new friends but don't diss the old, cuz if you do, you might get rolled.

[pbmax]

Is the CBA deadline the same day as the start of free agency? So much of this is difficult to speculate on without knowing whether there will be a salary cap, what the cap will be, when it goes into effect, what roster sizes will be, where the restricted/unrestricted line will fall, etc.

The Packers are in the top 5 in spending in this uncapped year I believe. A lot of it was front-loaded money, but many of the new contracts are still more pay-as-you-go, so it's not as if the team will likely be sitting on a ton of cap space if there is a cap. Some tough decisions may need to take place - or maybe not if whatever agreement that comes into effect doesn't include a cap until 2012 perhaps.

Yep. CBA expires at the end of this League Year. Which would, usually kick of the new League Year and Free Agency. One thing that could hurt players financially would be bonuses that were scheduled to be paid out at the beginning of the 2011 League Year. Absent a new CBA, there payment will be delayed.

[Joemailman]

Packers have extended the contract of their long-snapper. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/112963749.html

Goode move.

[vince]

Based on the current state of negotiations, it seems as if the "deadline" won't be reached. The sides are digging in their heals at this point and not talking. I think there may ultimately be football next year, but without a CBA in place through free agency period and maybe even the draft and beyond. That would seem to require some sort of transition plan toward whatever cap would be agreed to. Bottom line: next year (if/when it's played) could well be played without a cap. If that's the case, it may increase the odds of re-signing Jenkins.

[denverYooper]

Packers have extended the contract of their long-snapper. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/112963749.html

Goode move.

Indeed. Since Masthay looks to be a keeper as well, Crosby's LS + holder unit should be stable for a few seasons. Maybe now we'll be able to find out if revolving LS/holder combos hurt Crosby's accuracy .

[woodbuck27]

Nice analysis Patler.

The Packers have invested alot in Spitz and Colledge. I'll be surprized if either or both go.

Mason Crosby stays.

"The situation with the backs is interesting. If Johnson is an ascending player at FB, do they need both Kuhn and Hall? Kuhn adds versatility that Hall does not, but Hall is more valued for ST. Hall also misses a bunch of games every year due to injury. Even minimum salaries at some point will make at least one of them expendable in favor of a younger, cheaper player." Patler

Yup. Choose 'only' one of those three and draft or bring in a reasonably priced FA. Too bad Hall can't stay healthy. He has talent and always reliable on ST's.

"Jones? Depends on his expectations. I think they will try to keep him, but at a reasonable cost." Patler

DD is getting older no matter what his conditioning is and Jones knows the system and if his price is righ he'll be re-signed.

GO PACK GO !!

[swede]

Based on the current state of negotiations, it seems as if the "deadline" won't be reached. The sides are digging in their heals at this point and not talking. I think there may ultimately be football next year, but without a CBA in place through free agency period and maybe even the draft and beyond. That would seem to require some sort of transition plan toward whatever cap would be agreed to. Bottom line: next year (if/when it's played) could well be played without a cap. If that's the case, it may increase the odds of re-signing Jenkins.

Do other guidelines, such as minimum wage and roster limits apply?