Training Camp Battles

[Joemailman]

i don't know, i can't see how a guy who could be out of the league by this time next year as a lock to start anything

i would hope we can find some serious competition for him. it obvious his fat ass needs some kind of a push from somewhere

The best he could get was a 1 year contract. That may be exactly the kind of kick in the ass he needed.

[red]

I highly doubt Raji could be out of the league next year...maybe not with the Packers though.

no other team offered him a deal but us

no one but us wanted him this year

IF he has anotherf year this year like his last 2 or 3, then he might get some team to sign him to a small one year deal to take a look, but it wouldn't shock me if he isn't on a team by the start of the regular season next year

[pbmax]

no other team offered him a deal but us

no one but us wanted him this year

IF he has anotherf year this year like his last 2 or 3, then he might get some team to sign him to a small one year deal to take a look, but it wouldn't shock me if he isn't on a team by the start of the regular season next year

Raji has said he had other offers. Whether that is true we may never know.

But if he isn't the starter, then the offseason plans will get dumped overboard quickly. I don't think they intended Guion or Boyd to start at Nose.

[Joemailman]

Raji has said he had other offers. Whether that is true we may never know.

But if he isn't the starter, then the offseason plans will get dumped overboard quickly. I don't think they intended Guion or Boyd to start at Nose.

What would those plans be? Raji would seem to be the only true NT on the roster unless Pennel makes the team. That's why I think Raji is a lock to start at NT unless they go out and sign someone like Pickett.

[pbmax]

What would those plans be? Raji would seem to be the only true NT on the roster unless Pennel makes the team. That's why I think Raji is a lock to start at NT unless they go out and sign someone like Pickett.

I meant the plans to have Raji start at Nose, backed up by new players. If he doesn't make the roster, then he will have had a catastrophic camp.

I don't buy that they chased him with money for 2 years because they believe that some version of red's theory is likely.

If he does get dumped, then they will go after Pickett or someone similar.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Raji got $4M for this year. If he had no other offers (which I'm certain he did), Thompson vastly overpaid.

[texaspackerbacker]

I still say you don't NEED a huge space occupier in the D Line, not for the base D anyway - just maybe for short yardage/goal line D. I'm actually rooting for Raji to snap back even though I have about as low an opinion of him as anybody. If they use him more as a penetrator and mobile NT, it could happen. Does nobody else consider Jerel Worthy even worth a comment? I see him as possibly the 3rd best D Lineman after Daniels and D. Jones.

[Brandon494]

Raji got $4M for this year. If he had no other offers (which I'm certain he did), Thompson vastly overpaid.

Ding ding ding!

[smuggler]

I couldn't possibly disagree more about Quarless shining as the starter. The way I feel about him-- he'll never be more than marginal, and he might not even make the team if some of the other guys step up.

[hoosier]

I still say you don't NEED a huge space occupier in the D Line, not for the base D anyway - just maybe for short yardage/goal line D. I'm actually rooting for Raji to snap back even though I have about as low an opinion of him as anybody. If they use him more as a penetrator and mobile NT, it could happen. Does nobody else consider Jerel Worthy even worth a comment? I see him as possibly the 3rd best D Lineman after Daniels and D. Jones.

Worthy does not have the body type needed to play nose tackle in base defense: he's too light in the pants. You want a squatter body in the middle, one that won't easily get leveraged by the center. And when he has been able to stay healthy, his performance on the field has been underwhelming. He seems to be afflicted by that double curse: an underachiever who cannot stay healthy. I think there is a decent chance he doesn't make the final roster this year.

[MadScientist]

Raji got $4M for this year. If he had no other offers (which I'm certain he did), Thompson vastly overpaid.

He possibly overpaid some, but Raji probably could have picked up an offer for a good bit above vet minimum (2-3 M) at some point. By signing him when he did, TT could worry about other limits in the roster come draft day. Without Raji, the only NT is a Viking castoff. 4M vs 3 or 2.5 won't kill the Packers or prevent them from re-signing the critical other players.

Vastly overpaying Raji would be paying him what he was offered before last year.

[red]

Ding ding ding!

we've been over this a few times already this offseason. the only person saying there was other offers was raji. with every other single free agent we heard who was interested, where they were interviewing, how much money each team offered. accept for raji, there was absolutely nothing. no talks about teams interested, no teams wanting to bring him in, nothing.

and the fact that he had to come back with his tail between his legs to the team that he had already mentally left months before, and do it for half the money he was offered months before, shows me that either he didn't have other offers, or those other offers were for far less then what we were offering

either way, to me it shows that there was little to no interest in him, and i doubt interest will grow if he has another shit year

as for him getting better because he will be a NT instead of a DE this year. i believe if you look at the stats he played about half his snaps last year at NT, and sucked

[pbmax]

as for him getting better because he will be a NT instead of a DE this year. i believe if you look at the stats he played about half his snaps last year at NT, and sucked

I agree the out of position stuff is overrated. He was a 3 tech for his base snaps and he was put there specifically to get him chances to penetrate and let Pickett absorb double teams. In nickel, he was a 3 or 4 tech. Everyone describing his as a DE is as inaccurate as calling him the team NT last year.

Now, players have been wrong before about what they do best, so Raji may have liked the 3 tech Eagle Oakie originally, but he might have come around on it.

I have no idea whether the position switch was all that ailed Raji (I doubt it). But this season will put that explanation to the test.

[texaspackerbacker]

The key is whether there will be a usage switch for Raji this season. Whether he lacked physical strength in that huge body, or whether he just lacked the motivation, the fact is, he didn't do a very good job as a space-occupier. If he is used that same way at NT this season - as was pointed out, part of his snaps last season were NT/space-occupier, we can probably expect the same crappy result. If, however, he is used differently - as an attacking mobile NT, maybe he will return to the form of his first years. I WISH the Packers would either use Raji that way or use some smaller more mobile NT. For years, I watched Jay Ratliff play that position that way for the Cowboys. There have been other NTs going all the way back to Curly Culp who didn't have that huge immobile body type, and who attacked and actually penetrated and made tackles. THAT is what we need - IMO. As I said, I see Worthy as possibly that kind of player; Boyd showed signs last season; Whatshisname, the third round pick from Mississippi seems like he might fill the bill. I'm extremely thankful that the Packers have apparently gotten away from having two fat space-occupiers in their base D. Now let's reduce it from one to zero.

[Cheesehead Craig]

I'm hoping that seeing the clear upgrades on D around him inspires the old Raji to come back.