TT acknowledges dysfunction of front seven

[wist43]

1) Nick Perry (OLB)
2) Jerel Worthy (DT)
2) Casey Hayward (CB)
4) Mike Daniels (nickel pass rush, base DE rotation)
4) Jerron McMillian (S)
5) Terrell Manning (OLB)
7) Andrew Datko (OT)
7) BJ Coleman (QB)

First 6 picks all on defense, and 4 of the 6 front seven players. The 2012 GBP draft is the closest any of us will ever come to seeing TT admit that he has a completely dead area of his roster. To his credit, TT went all-in on fixing the problem; he manuevered around for value, and came out of this draft with one of the most critical portions of any teams roster addressed, if not fixed.

Our front seven has been dysfunctional for many years, going back to before the switch to the 3-4; at which time TT said we'd transition body type over the next few drafts; but that didn't happen.

For my money, TT took one half way decent swing at the problem in '09 when he took Raji and Matthews, but he has paid scant attention to body type and sub package specialties since changing fronts; and the results have been obviously dismal.

Perry will be counted on to bring heat off the edge; Worthy will be counted on as a rotational guy with the flexibility to stop-gap inside; Daniels can also rotate outside, but his biggest contribution should be felt on pass rush; and Manning is the type of projection/transitional guy with upside that you're looking to develop behind the starters.

Even if these guys don't turn out to be world-beaters, I still like the approach.

Kuddo's to Ted for acknowledging that his front seven, as it existed, was completely ineffective and dysfunctional. TT saw it, and set about fixing it. Capers at least has some material to work with now.

Love the Daniels pick... explosive 280-290 lb pass rusher?? Welcome to the wonderful world of 3-4 sub-packages - and more importantly, welcome to Green Bay.

Nice draft!!

[Joemailman]

Jarius Wynn and C.J. Wilson are but a memory.

[HarveyWallbangers]

As usual, wist goes overboard with the hyperbole, but I think anybody can acknowledge that they needed help in the front 7. I still think we have 5 of the 7 pieces in Pickett, Raji, Matthews, Hawk, and Bishop necessary to have a championship caliber defense, and hopefully the other two spots have been solved. Now, we really need something to happen at safety to rebound to a 2010 level.

[Lurker64]

Jarius Wynn and C.J. Wilson are but a memory.

I think one of our 6th or 7th round DL (Wynn, Wilson, or Guy) makes the roster somehow. Possibly to be cut after Neal gets unsuspended though.

[Patler]

First 6 picks all on defense, and 4 of the 6 front seven players. The 2012 GBP draft is the closest any of us will ever come to seeing TT admit that he has a completely dead area of his roster. To his credit, TT went all-in on fixing the problem; he manuevered around for value, and came out of this draft with one of the most critical portions of any teams roster addressed, if not fixed.

Our front seven has been dysfunctional for many years, going back to before the switch to the 3-4; at which time TT said we'd transition body type over the next few drafts; but that didn't happen.

For my money, TT took one half way decent swing at the problem in '09 when he took Raji and Matthews, but he has paid scant attention to body type and sub package specialties since changing fronts; and the results have been obviously dismal.

Perry will be counted on to bring heat off the edge; Worthy will be counted on as a rotational guy with the flexibility to stop-gap inside; Daniels can also rotate outside, but his biggest contribution should be felt on pass rush; and Manning is the type of projection/transitional guy with upside that you're looking to develop behind the starters.

Even if these guys don't turn out to be world-beaters, I still like the approach.

Kuddo's to Ted for acknowledging that his front seven, as it existed, was completely ineffective and dysfunctional. TT saw it, and set about fixing it. Capers at least has some material to work with now.

The front 7 represents about 2/3 of the positions on defense. The fact that 2/3 of the defensive draft picks were front 7 players is meaningless. It is what it should be, on average.

[Lurker64]

The front 7 represents about 2/3 of the positions on defense. The fact that 2/3 of the defensive draft picks were front 7 players is meaningless. It is what it should be, on average.

TT did basically spend one draft pick on each position in this defense (OLB, DE, CB, Nickel DT, S, ILB). He just needed a NT and he would have had the whole set.

[smuggler]

The secondary needed attention, also, with Collins being shown the door and Woodson aging.

[wist43]

The front 7 represents about 2/3 of the positions on defense. The fact that 2/3 of the defensive draft picks were front 7 players is meaningless. It is what it should be, on average.

Patler, the Packers 2012 draft feels more like Wolfe's 1999 draft when he realized he some serious holes to fill at DB and he went DB, DB, DB right out the gate. 2 of the guys couldn't play (Edwards and Vinson), but it all worked out in the end, and the problem was, for the most part, fixed.

If you want to try to make the argument that the 2011 Packers front seven was any better than an average HS team, then by all means, sing that tune my friend.

Unfortunately for you PollyAnna's, TT saw the writing on the wall and seems intent on running the previous set of pretenders out of town on a rail... It seems next to impossible for you guys to admit that our defense absolutely sucked last year; so impossible in fact, that you can't even acknowledge that Ted did exactly what I thought he should do, and is running the old guard out of town, and bringing in fresh troops.

Really, it's not hard to do when you focus... look in the mirror and say it s-l-o-w-l-y, "o-u-r/d-e-f-e-n-s-e/s-u-p-e-r/s-u-c-k-e-d"...

Say it slowly so you can learn to pronounce the words correctly... once you say it a few times, it becomes much easier. Just takes some practice.

[wist43]

As usual, wist goes overboard with the hyperbole, but I think anybody can acknowledge that they needed help in the front 7. I still think we have 5 of the 7 pieces in Pickett, Raji, Matthews, Hawk, and Bishop necessary to have a championship caliber defense, and hopefully the other two spots have been solved. Now, we really need something to happen at safety to rebound to a 2010 level.

Good grief, lol...

You guys just never get it, do ya... "we have 5 of 7 pieces" in place?? Really??

Since when is any "front seven" made up of seven players?? You have sub packages and rotations to account for. If you can't rotate in competent players, then you don't have "5 of 7" filled, do you?? And of the front seven players that TT brought in, none play, or are projected to play ILB. ILB is the most static of all of those front seven positions - so 2 of your 5 examples are drawn from the least impactful position, ILB.

We need 3-4 DE base rotation guys; we need 2 NT's; we need 3-4 sub package interior pass rushers; we need a stud pass rush presence from the OLB position opposite Matthews; and we need depth/development behind the starting LB'ing corp. That's about 15 guys that need to be producing for you every Sunday - and we have how many?? 5??

Did you guys hear Chris Berman after the Daniels pick??

"... we kept watching the Packers, and kept thinking - they can't be that bad on defense, can they"?? Of course his question was rhetorical, and the answer was obvious to everyone except PackerRats homers, the answere was "yes, they are that bad".

And TT's 2012 draft is an acknowledgement that TT understands that his front seven is all but dead... he went quite a ways to fixing it in this draft though.

[smuggler]

The fact that TT only took Worthy at DE makes me suspect he still believes in Neal. I know we also took Mike Daniels, but he's a straight penetration DE for nickel and dime situations and not an every down DE in our 3-4. Make no mistake, the crippling issue with our D last year was mostly caused by the DL's inability to generate any pressure. We've got Daniels now as a jacknife for passing situations, Worthy as a DE with enough wiggle to get to the QB occasionally, and hopefully a healthy Neal on the other side to collapse the pocket so Matthews and Perry can hit home.

[wist43]

The fact that TT only took Worthy at DE makes me suspect he still believes in Neal. I know we also took Mike Daniels, but he's a straight penetration DE for nickel and dime situations and not an every down DE in our 3-4. Make no mistake, the crippling issue with our D last year was mostly caused by the DL's inability to generate any pressure. We've got Daniels now as a jacknife for passing situations, Worthy as a DE with enough wiggle to get to the QB occasionally, and hopefully a healthy Neal on the other side to collapse the pocket so Matthews and Perry can hit home.

Of course Neal is going to have to stay in the mix... he's not out of lives yet. Were he a street FA?? He'd have been long gone. As a 2nd round draft choice, he'll get at least few "one more chances". Same thing with Harrell... the only thing that kept him around as long as he was, was his draft status. On being a prospect?? I think everyone could see pretty early on he was a bust... time and multiple life lines didn't change that.

I'm hoping this 2012 draft can finally be the real beginning of building an attack 3-4 defense. Until this draft, the Packers really haven't made an all-out committment to the 3-4 they switched to 4 years ago. I had hoped that the '09 draft that brought us Raji and Matthews would be the beginning of actually executing that transition, but TT picked those 2 guys 3 years ago and then just seemed to forget he had a 3-4 defense to feed. We've been stuck with the likes of Wynn, Wilson, Green, Muir, Zombo, Jones, and Walden ever since - while TT couldn't wait to run our 2nd/3rd best front seven player (Jenkins) out of town.

The faith in Neal was misplaced, and as I've said, I'm guilty of that too... but the writing is on the wall. If a guy can't play, a guy can't play. If a guy doesn't fit the scheme, he doesn't fit the scheme. Hopefully TT will go into next years draft and go to work on the front seven again... then maybe we can get on, and stay on track defensively.

Taking Perry at OLB, along with Worthy and Daniels, goes a long way toward turning our defense around.

[sheepshead]

Patler, the Packers 2012 draft feels more like Wolfe's 1999 draft when he realized he some serious holes to fill at DB and he went DB, DB, DB right out the gate. 2 of the guys couldn't play (Edwards and Vinson), but it all worked out in the end, and the problem was, for the most part, fixed.

If you want to try to make the argument that the 2011 Packers front seven was any better than an average HS team, then by all means, sing that tune my friend.

Unfortunately for you PollyAnna's, TT saw the writing on the wall and seems intent on running the previous set of pretenders out of town on a rail... It seems next to impossible for you guys to admit that our defense absolutely sucked last year; so impossible in fact, that you can't even acknowledge that Ted did exactly what I thought he should do, and is running the old guard out of town, and bringing in fresh troops.

Really, it's not hard to do when you focus... look in the mirror and say it s-l-o-w-l-y, "o-u-r/d-e-f-e-n-s-e/s-u-p-e-r/s-u-c-k-e-d"...

Say it slowly so you can learn to pronounce the words correctly... once you say it a few times, it becomes much easier. Just takes some practice.

It sucked.

[mraynrand]

the answer was obvious to everyone except PackerRats homers

That's right, no one except you at Packerrats thought the defense sucked.

[Scott Campbell]

Every team has roster holes, and areas that need improvement. And there will be holes in the 2012 roster too. But it's all relative. Especially when your team goes 15-2.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Jarius Wynn and C.J. Wilson are but a memory.

Howard Green is not even remembered