Josh Sitton.

[texaspackerbacker]

Why would Sitton holdout? That would be stupid. Dude's in his 30's, has a family to feed and he was due $6.5 M, which is way more than I make in a year rocking on subway platforms for change.

To get his extension now - or as it turns out, a big contract elsewhere - before playing another season and seeing his value decrease.

I'm not saying that's what happened - just "maybe". It's as good an explanation as any other put forth.

[pbmax]

McGinn certainly did a bitch-slap of Pete Dougherty. Dougherty had portrayed the Packer brain trust as cold, calm and cunning, decisively trimming the fat with Vince Lombardi leadership and vision. Dougherty also promoted the "something must have happened" baseless rumor as bonus oral servicing of his bosses, Ted & Mike.

I have come to see that Dougherty was partially right. Probably TT saw Sitton as a declining vet who was near the end in GB. And both McGinn & Dougherty agree that MM might have feared future tension in the locker room.

I think TT miscalculated on all counts. He didn't need to unload Sitton now.

Without much evidence (not a criticism), when do you think T2 came to the conclusion that Sitton was declining?

Even McGinn could only find one scout in the last year that said it was obvious from tape.

Reading the commonalities between Dougherty and McGinn, the Packers seem to have decided this very late. Why did they think unloading him would be easy? Did they really think it would be easy?

Can I somehow blame this on Eliot Wolf, who McGinn nods to in the article, but has nothing specific on him?

[pbmax]

Source?

Jennings apparently overestimated his worth, as Teddy reportedly offered Jennings $10 M/yr prior to the season of his contract year. But no fucking way Jennings went "insane." Jennings was extremely professional throughout the whole ordeal.

Ditto, J-Mike, who was resigned.

Ted offered $9mil/year I thought, and Jennings was looking for near Vincent Jackson money. Seeing as how he got $8 mil/year with his FA deal, I agree he did overestimate the market.

But the prior to that deal, Jennings was very demonstrably upset during games even while the offense was humming. His attitude toward reporters also changed, he was no longer the gregarious guy good for a quote. And his sister didn't decide this was all a bad thing on her own.

Patler has a long list of details on the way Jennings made it known he was unhappy.

Finley was even more obvious, during the contract drive he developed the yips trying to catch the ball. He no longer fearlessly tread over the middle and when he contested for the ball, it was with an eye toward finding a safe landing spot rather than securing the ball. The longer the season went on and the longer his results didn't improve, he got worse.

His year was so bad an his market so soft that he did a two year deal in his athletic prime to try to get more money later.

[George Cumby]

I like Wolf for the fall guy. Young kid, got the world by the balls, full of vim and vigor, the confidence of youth, the self assurance of the millennial, he's a wheeler and dealer. "I got this Mr. Thompson, I got this. We can get a fourth, guaranteed, I got this." Many of us would ask ourselves "Who does he sound like? That sounds familiar." Familiar because he sounds just like Eddie Haskell.

Yup, I'm on board the Eliot Wolf blame train with Ted as the final decision maker ,sitting coach.

That being said, he's a guard, it's survivable.

I also think Sittons back will prevent him from playing out that contract with the Bears.

[Bossman641]

Great read from McGinn on it. Sounds like the Packers just straight up blew it and there hand was forced. This jives with TT's comments earlier this week about Josh being a heck of a football player.

http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...mbit/90149052/

Left unsaid from the article is why the Packers decided to attempt to trade Sitton in the first place.

[Joemailman]

Without much evidence (not a criticism), when do you think T2 came to the conclusion that Sitton was declining?

Even McGinn could only find one scout in the last year that said it was obvious from tape.

Reading the commonalities between Dougherty and McGinn, the Packers seem to have decided this very late. Why did they think unloading him would be easy? Did they really think it would be easy?

Can I somehow blame this on Eliot Wolf, who McGinn nods to in the article, but has nothing specific on him?

If they decided Sitton had declined, I suspect it was based on what they saw in practice. Maybe the back is still a problem. Maybe the lighter Sitton was less stout in the running game. I don't think the decision was made from last year's tape or they would have made the trade earlier.

[Guiness]

McGinn article was garbage, read like a letter to the editor by the old guy down the road who's pissed off about kids cutting across his lawn. Nothing new/relevant in it, other than expressing the surprise (that many of us have) that there was no trade partner.

[texaspackerbacker]

Left unsaid from the article is why the Packers decided to attempt to trade Sitton in the first place.

Excellent Point.

[Maxie the Taxi]

McGinn article was garbage, read like a letter to the editor by the old guy down the road who's pissed off about kids cutting across his lawn. Nothing new/relevant in it, other than expressing the surprise (that many of us have) that there was no trade partner.

Below, from the McGinn article, was a red flag for me:

According to sources, the Packers notified Sitton in mid-August that talks regarding a possible contract extension would be put on the back burner. Sitton, 30, would have to wait while deals were enacted for tackle David Bakhtiari, 25, and center JC Tretter, 25, and possibly guard T.J. Lang, who is to turn 29 on Sept. 20.

Why would Packer management do this? Why would any responsible business owner or manager do this...unless you're trying to send a message to the employee in question that he's no longer valued by the organization? If you want to keep the employee and want to keep him performing pending a new contract, you string him along, frankly. Keep talking, but stall. You certainly don't bring other employees into the picture. Very bizarre.

[Joemailman]

Below, from the McGinn article, was a red flag for me:


Why would Packer management do this? Why would any responsible business owner or manager do this...unless you're trying to send a message to the employee in question that he's no longer valued by the organization? If you want to keep the employee and want to keep him performing pending a new contract, you string him along, frankly. Keep talking, but stall. You certainly don't bring other employees into the picture. Very bizarre.

Maybe they had already decided they would not be offering Sitton an extension. Maybe they felt it would be somewhat dishonest to "string him along" by making him think they were interested in an extension when they really weren't. As for bringing other players into the picture, those players were already in the picture. Everybody knows Bakhtiari and Tretter will be free agents as well. I think most people understand that the Packers weren't going to be able to keep all of them. Is it really any surprise that Ted Thompson would place a priority on keeping the younger players?

[Pugger]

Left unsaid from the article is why the Packers decided to attempt to trade Sitton in the first place.

And why NOBODY wanted Sitton enough to trade for him. Even if word got out isn't it damn curious Ted couldn't find a single GM willing to take Josh for a 7th round pick???? You just don't cut a player like Josh for no good reason. IMO this is the real story here.

[Maxie the Taxi]

Maybe they had already decided they would not be offering Sitton an extension. Maybe they felt it would be somewhat dishonest to "string him along" by making him think they were interested in an extension when they really weren't. As for bringing other players into the picture, those players were already in the picture. Everybody knows Bakhtiari and Tretter will be free agents as well. I think most people understand that the Packers weren't going to be able to keep all of them. Is it really any surprise that Ted Thompson would place a priority on keeping the younger players?

You miss my point. Yes, we all know the free agent situation and maybe TT had already made the decision not to offer Sitton an extension. But if you want to keep Sitton playing throughout the year, you don't tell him or his agent that you're not going to extend. Honesty is not a factor. Playing your cards close to the vest is. This is a business negotiation not a morality play. And you certainly don't play one employee against another publicly.

It sounds to me like the left hand of management didn't know what the right hand was doing...and/or didn't think this thing through properly.

[Pugger]

Below, from the McGinn article, was a red flag for me:


Why would Packer management do this? Why would any responsible business owner or manager do this...unless you're trying to send a message to the employee in question that he's no longer valued by the organization? If you want to keep the employee and want to keep him performing pending a new contract, you string him along, frankly. Keep talking, but stall. You certainly don't bring other employees into the picture. Very bizarre.

Didn't they also tell Lang he had to wait? They didn't tell him they weren't gonna do anything - I thought they just informed him the other guys are gonna get extended first.

[Maxie the Taxi]

Didn't they also tell Lang he had to wait? They didn't tell him they weren't gonna do anything - they just informed him the other guys are gonna get extended first.

And why would they do this? It makes no sense. Especially when you're dealing with athletes who have huge egos.

Part of the problem is we don't know exactly what was said to whom. But the version relayed to us by McGinn just strikes me as unusual. As if management's plan was to go in one direction and then emotions took over and an abrupt change of direction led to disaster.

[esoxx]

All true, but carry that one step further: Sitton was overrated and pretty mediocre himself - the whole damn O Line was/is

So you think replacing Josh Sitton with Lane Taylor should improve things?