ONRE MORE.......JS.......FINLEY SEES IT as 50/50--OFFICIAL PREDICTION THREAD

[mraynrand]

Thanks for the contribution 'M'. We can count on you.

up to 20 or 21, depending on how cold the pool is

[MadScientist]

Perhaps the most viable thing to do would be to sign him to a 3 year extension converting much of the current cap charge into a signing bonus, so that Finley gets the same $$ this year, but the cap hit is lower and with a lower per year average. Add in some potential bonus money to keep Finely hungry and focused. The Packers can't afford to create another weak spot on the roster. There are only so many draft picks to go around.

[mraynrand]

Some might argue Quarless is coming back, but so what? There's no guarantee he'll be even as good as he was before the injury, let alone be able to replace Finley; and even if he could, you'd rather have the Finley/Quarless combination, than Quarless/Crabtree.

I like the idea of bonus money, except that when Finley doesn't get targeted, the temptation would be there to blame the lack of touches on frugality. Since TT is extremely frugal with FAs and pretty much overall , it wouldn't be much of a leap for Finley to become paranoid.

YOTTO!

[rbaloha1]

The problem is getting Finley to accept he's not the NFL's best Tight End, and to sign something reasonable. Not sure if his ego will allow for that.

It is going to be tough for the bro to give up $. Maybe some restructuring with incentives that could put his salary at the elite tight end level.

[Freak Out]

Big Fin stays in GB and DOMINATES!

[gbgary]

i've said all along he'll be back and i'm sticking to it. would be stupid to weaken the team by letting him go.

[hoosier]

Finley doesn't seem to be able to get out of his own way. By all accounts he is hard working, and he's clearly on a par talent wise with almost any big receiver in the league. But when he's not getting hurt he's doing something to undermine himself. He will be back this year, but he will never be anything more than a tease.

[Cheesehead Craig]

He will be back, but I don't think he'll get an extension.

[George Cumby]

As much as he irritates me, I curiously find myself wanting TT to extend him at a reasonable price. This is based on his improved play on the field and M3's continued vocal support for the guy.

[Bretsky]

As much as he irritates me, I curiously find myself wanting TT to extend him at a reasonable price. This is based on his improved play on the field and M3's continued vocal support for the guy.

Reading through all the posts I found myself ehoing Patler's comments. You go try to rewrie his deal now. I was thinking the price tag would be around 30MIL over 4Yrs.

[KYPack]

Reading through all the posts I found myself ehoing Patler's comments. You go try to rewrie his deal now. I was thinking the price tag would be around 30MIL over 4Yrs.

Thru the many eons of PR, one learns that agreeing with Patler always is a sound strategy.

MM loves TE's in his offense. Fin set the Pack record for TE receptions last season. His blocking and route running have improved 90% since his rookie year. Of course, that's because he ran sloppy routes and didn't know how to block when he was a rook. Now he runs much better routes, and can actually be a solid blocker. I saw him destroy a blitzing backer on a chip block last year. 3 years ago, he wouldn't have paid the LB any attention.

He lost some speed with the knee miseries, but he's still fast. The kid has progressed, I think they will do a "Hawk-like" re-write of his deal and keep the guy.

[Pugger]

While I'm going to get some views before offering my prediction...........here is my initial take

I assume Jennnings is gone
I have no faith in Quarless, DJ Williams is not consisistent , and Taylor's a #2/3 wtih special teams ability


TT would be a moron to let J Mike walk at this talent level and age

Agree with this. We don't know what will become of Quarless. Unless we draft a TE high - and I hope we don't becuz we have other issues to address - Finley is the best we have presently so I don't see him going anywhere in 2013. Unless he really comes around and plays up to his potential he's gone in 2014.

[pbmax]

1. Bring him back, even at current cap number

2. Try to extend but make it a pay as you go. Resist urge to front load it (which might not be possible anyway) even if that negotiating point drives the per year average up.

[Patler]

Thru the many eons of PR, one learns that agreeing with Patler always is a sound strategy.

MM loves TE's in his offense. Fin set the Pack record for TE receptions last season. His blocking and route running have improved 90% since his rookie year. Of course, that's because he ran sloppy routes and didn't know how to block when he was a rook. Now he runs much better routes, and can actually be a solid blocker. I saw him destroy a blitzing backer on a chip block last year. 3 years ago, he wouldn't have paid the LB any attention.

He lost some speed with the knee miseries, but he's still fast. The kid has progressed, I think they will do a "Hawk-like" re-write of his deal and keep the guy.

Thanks KYP, I think the same about agreeing with you and many others on here. One of the things that keeps me here is that we seem to have a lot of "thinkers", fans who analyze the pluses and minuses of situations before they opine. (Just keep in mind that I was also the one who saw good signs for Atlas Herron a few years back!)

JF also suffers from one of the maladies that Brett Favre had, he simply talks too much. Favre was a writers dream, ask a simple question and he could ramble on for 5 minutes, giving quotable comment after quotable comment. Many I don't think he even believed, but it seemed like the thing to say at the time. (e.g. - Almost every year he declared the present team to be the most talented team he had ever been on.)

It didn't come back to bite Favre because his play on the field gave him the freedom to say just about anything he wanted to, and not be criticized for it if it turned out wrong or had a peculiar overtone to it. JF has not yet earned that freedom, so many of his statements are overly analyzed. To attach a 50-50 probability on returning to GB was just not smart. It puts pressure on him, because the story is "Finley doubts the Packers will keep him", etc. and simply encourages more questions All he really needed to say was "I am under contract for next year, so I assume I will be there next year and I hope many more to come." or something similar. What he said isn't wrong, it just complicates things for him.

[Patler]

1. Bring him back, even at current cap number

2. Try to extend but make it a pay as you go. Resist urge to front load it (which might not be possible anyway) even if that negotiating point drives the per year average up.

Somehow they will have to get him the cash up front that he would have gotten this year without the extension, otherwise there isn't a lot of incentive for JF to do it, so I expect there will be some front load on a cash basis. But they could clear a few million in cap space this year doing it. Otherwise, the Packers are pretty good with using roster bonuses, and game day active bonuses to lessen the cap hit if the player doesn't perform. They could probably use the same format as they did with Bubba Franks.