LEROY BUTLER....TOM SILVERSTEIN VIDEO ON FREE AGENCY PERIOD and WHO TO KEEP..etc

[run pMc]

Have not been overly impressed with Worthy, maybe with health the light goes on for him next year.
Boyd looked bad to start but has improved. He has a shot to make a jump.
Datone has flashed good and bad, and I think he'll be better next year.

Pickett is a good plugger when healthy and needs to be on a snap count. You know what you're getting with him: no pass rush, ok run D, leadership and gap responsibility
Raji is talented but miscast and should not be resigned IMO. His contract will be too much for his production and his role. I'd take the 2015 compensatory pick and keep building.
Wilson is probably JAG but plays ok run D (was better last year) and his pass rush has regressed. No idea if he will get more than minimal interest from other teams in FA, but I'd bring him back on something close to vet minimum.
Daniels is a keeper for pass rush, but he's small for base, and will struggle against big OL. If TT drafted him as the Plan B to Worthy (or to pair him with Worthy) he's shown to be the better pick thus far.
Jolly wore out, but I'm not surprised. He was out of football for a few years and not in football shape. There were a couple of games where he went way over his snap count and I think fatigure contributed to injuries and a dropoff in production. I've heard various things about his injury, if it's serious they won't bring him back.

So 2 out of Worthy, Jones and Boyd need to improve. Raji walks (hopefully not to Minny), Pickett and Wilson re-up, and TT drafts somebody in middle rounds for Trgovac to develop.

[bobblehead]

Raji and Pickett are ideal ONLY for a NT, but somehow Packer fans have become convinced the rest of the lineman are too small for the 3-4.

Jones is 6' 5" and 285, Wilson is 6' 3" and 308 and Boyd is 6' 3" and 30-something. They are ideally sized for 3-4 DEs.

Why Capers doesn't use them in base is a big question.

Having a run stuffing CJ Wilson on the bench while be bled rushing yards is my #1 reason for wanting Dom fired (and MM is partly to blame).

[pbmax]

Having a run stuffing CJ Wilson on the bench while be bled rushing yards is my #1 reason for wanting Dom fired (and MM is partly to blame).

I get it but CJ Wilson's track record is not all rose petals. He was part of a horrendous run D on the Packer right with Walden. Now Walden added his own unique blend of suck to the problem and wasn't much help to Wilson, but his track record is modest compared to Jolly.

CJ could not defeat single blocking and never held a TE or Guard off a LB. He's stout, but ineffective. Come to think of it, he looked a lot like Raji this year.

[run pMc]

I thought Butler's comments about drafting players who fit and who have played in a 3-4 -- not project/converted players -- in both part I & II was interesting. He thinks Capers is good and runs a good scheme, but doesn't have the pieces he needs.

[pbmax]

I thought Butler's comments about drafting players who fit and who have played in a 3-4 -- not project/converted players -- in both part I & II was interesting. He thinks Capers is good and runs a good scheme, but doesn't have the pieces he needs.

It used to be colleges running a 3-4 were few and far between. All 3-4 guys for the Steelers were projections. Its not as bad now, but you are limiting yourself to a subset of players that way. You also would not have Clay Matthews or Raji.

[Maxie the Taxi]

I thought Butler's comments about drafting players who fit and who have played in a 3-4 -- not project/converted players -- in both part I & II was interesting. He thinks Capers is good and runs a good scheme, but doesn't have the pieces he needs.

I've got a great idea for an invention that will make me a million bucks...just don't have the pieces I need to put it into production.

This kind of thinking drives me nuts. If he doesn't have the players suited for it, Capers' scheme is worthless. Doesn't it make more sense to design a scheme to fit the players we have, or modify it? The alternative is waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for another Charles Woodson to show up in Green Bay.

[pbmax]

I've got a great idea for an invention that will make me a million bucks...just don't have the pieces I need to put it into production.

This kind of thinking drives me nuts. If he doesn't have the players suited for it, Capers' scheme is worthless. Doesn't it make more sense to design a scheme to fit the players we have, or modify it? The alternative is waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting for another Charles Woodson to show up in Green Bay.

I am sure that is what Thompson is saying. But many other people are wondering why Thompson allows the hiring of a person who cannot execute his scheme without specific types of veteran players. That style of coach contradicts what he and McCarthy do with their team.

It might be incompatible.

However, Capers is not LeBeau. Capers has seen Belichick's hybrid 3-4 and run 4-3 for Coughlin in Jacksonville. So he is not completely unarmed here. The question is which of these factors dominates the explanation for the decline in the last three years. Here is a partial list:

1. Injuries
2. Talent at crucial spots (ILB, Safety, D Line)
3. Pass rush
4. Rotating corners and secondary confusion
5. Youth
6. Assistant Coaches
7. Scheme complexity
8. Skill fit in D Line, one OLB and one ILB

[Maxie the Taxi]

The question is which of these factors dominates the explanation for the decline in the last three years. Here is a partial list:

1. Injuries
2. Talent at crucial spots (ILB, Safety, D Line)
3. Pass rush
4. Rotating corners and secondary confusion
5. Youth
6. Assistant Coaches
7. Scheme complexity
8. Skill fit in D Line, one OLB and one ILB

All these play a factor. Injuries = Major obstacle, especially when they hit your major pass rusher and your best secondary guys. Now you have lesser skilled players trying to learn new positions in a very complex scheme. I'm tempted to say let's just go back to playground defense -- everybody take a man and stick with him.

[woodbuck27]

All these play a factor. Injuries = Major obstacle, especially when they hit your major pass rusher and your best secondary guys. Now you have lesser skilled players trying to learn new positions in a very complex scheme. I'm tempted to say let's just go back to playground defense -- everybody take a man and stick with him.

Then you'd have to have in a 3-4 base ...'8 really athletic players' (@ LB and in the secondary).

They would have the mental capacity to concentrate on their individual assignment. They all would have to be competent to defend the run and pass. They all would have to be in awesome condition and strong in combine drills. Two of the LBers would have to be able to drop back smoothly and support the secondary defending the pass.

Now all TT has to do after Sam Shields and CM III; maybe? Tramon Williams for another season (2 max) is:

Find five more legit players to fit that scheme. Hope like the blazes that the backups don't get thrown into the fire, due to starter injuries and, before they learn to get up to speed to fit the scheme.

That takes us to where... from today?

Realistically all that will take another two and maybe three seasons.

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

Didn't know this.........but........sounds like NICK COLLINS would like to return to playng in the NFL........

Man would I love to see him out there one more time. Would make the offseason for me if they gave him another shot.

[smuggler]

I would never feel comfortable watching the defense, knowing that Collins could literally die on any play.