2021 predict the offseason thread

[Upnorth]

Any other pass rushers in fa we should target?

I would love to see us try to get dalvin Thomlinson from NY. Help the run and imagine having to deal with him after Clark is doubled? Plus hevis worth a 4 year contract so we can string it out so not to expensive this year.

Or Shelby Harris? Different player, doesnt help.with the run near as much but way better pass rush. Probably cheaper as well.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Gute sounded open to putting the franchise tag on Aaron Jones. Personally, I think it would be a good idea. Some don't like the idea of the $8M cap hit this year, but with RBs it's probably best to tread lightly (year-to-year deals are good). I think we can free up resources elsewhere.

Aaron Jones - franchise tag
Dean Lowry - cut
Preston Smith - redo or cut
Aaron Rodgers - partial restructure
Za'Darius Smith - restructure
Adrian Amos - restructure
Billy Turner - restructure
Davante Adams - extend
Corey Linsley - let walk
Robert Tonyan - 2nd round tender

Should have enough to sign a FA or two. If we did the above, CB and OT have to be the top priority. DL, ILB, and EDGE depth next. WR after that (I'd like a Deebo Samuel type). I think we are solid at QB, RB, TE, interior OL, and S. Sign a guy or two in FA to fill a couple of holes and then hit the rest with the draft.

[RashanGary]

Gute sounded open to putting the franchise tag on Aaron Jones. Personally, I think it would be a good idea. Some don't like the idea of the $8M cap hit this year, but with RBs it's probably best to tread lightly (year-to-year deals are good). I think we can free up resources elsewhere.

Aaron Jones - franchise tag
Dean Lowry - cut
Preston Smith - redo or cut
Aaron Rodgers - partial restructure
Za'Darius Smith - restructure
Adrian Amos - restructure
Billy Turner - restructure
Davante Adams - extend
Corey Linsley - let walk
Robert Tonyan - 2nd round tender

Should have enough to sign a FA or two. If we did the above, CB and OT have to be the top priority. DL, ILB, and EDGE depth next. WR after that (I'd like a Deebo Samuel type). I think we are solid at QB, RB, TE, interior OL, and S. Sign a guy or two in FA to fill a couple of holes and then hit the rest with the draft.

Nice realistic summary

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Preston Smith played for Barry in Washington, plus he’s one of the German Shepherd’s boies. P-Smith ain’t going anywhere.

[texaspackerbacker]

Very likely true, but they still should restructure him.

[wist43]

We have all the same needs from last year plus a couple of others b/c Gute used his first 4 picks last year on positions we already had filled.

We still need
ILB, WR, DL, OT from last year.

Add to that same list
RB (if Jones and Williams walk), and Center/Guard.

Last years draft was probably enough to ensure that the rest of Rodgers career will go wasted.

I expect no different this year.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Wist is back.

Hard to blame Gute for the Bakh injury. He rightly assessed the OT situation. Bakh, Turner, and Wagner made for a good group. We don't know who he will bring in during FA yet.

He rightly assessed the WR position. Did you know the Packers led the league in scoring and Rodgers was MVP?

RB? He drafted a guy last year to cover that hole. I think Dillon will be very good.

We have plenty of good young players on the interior OL (Jenkins, Patrick, Runyan, Stepaniak).

He brought in Martin, Barnes, and Kirksey at ILB. Kirksey didn't work out, but people liked the move. I think Barnes and Martin have a chance. I don't see it being a huge need--unless they can get a true difference maker. Hard to get one drafting late.

He needs to do a better job at DL. That, along with OT (because of the Bakh injury) and CB are our biggest needs.

[Upnorth]

Wist is back.

Hard to blame Gute for the Bakh injury. He rightly assessed the OT situation. Bakh, Turner, and Wagner made for a good group. We don't know who he will bring in during FA yet.

He rightly assessed the WR position. Did you know the Packers led the league in scoring and Rodgers was MVP?

RB? He drafted a guy last year to cover that hole. I think Dillon will be very good.

We have plenty of good young players on the interior OL (Jenkins, Patrick, Runyan, Stepaniak).

He brought in Martin, Barnes, and Kirksey at ILB. Kirksey didn't work out, but people liked the move. I think Barnes and Martin have a chance. I don't see it being a huge need--unless they can get a true difference maker. Hard to get one drafting late.

He needs to do a better job at DL. That, along with OT (because of the Bakh injury) and CB are our biggest needs.

Harv you are on fire today. Great post and an accurate analysis of the 2020 roster.

[Fritz]

Wist is back.

Hard to blame Gute for the Bakh injury. He rightly assessed the OT situation. Bakh, Turner, and Wagner made for a good group. We don't know who he will bring in during FA yet.

He rightly assessed the WR position. Did you know the Packers led the league in scoring and Rodgers was MVP?

RB? He drafted a guy last year to cover that hole. I think Dillon will be very good.

We have plenty of good young players on the interior OL (Jenkins, Patrick, Runyan, Stepaniak).

He brought in Martin, Barnes, and Kirksey at ILB. Kirksey didn't work out, but people liked the move. I think Barnes and Martin have a chance. I don't see it being a huge need--unless they can get a true difference maker. Hard to get one drafting late.

He needs to do a better job at DL. That, along with OT (because of the Bakh injury) and CB are our biggest needs.

I absolutely agree with this assessment.

[texaspackerbacker]

Now is not the time to judge Gutekunst. He did make the colossally stupid choice to move up and take Love, and he did make the probable mistake also of taking a too short TE that we really didn't need last year. He has, however, brought in some stars in his fairly brief time here.

He has two or three absolutely earth-shaking things to accomplish, though, that are gonna determine whether he maintains greatness for most of another decade or whether he ruins the team and drags it into the shitter. Both are, of course, named Aaron. He absolutely NEEDS to keep Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay for the rest of his career, and in the short term, he NEEDS to find a way to retain Aaron Jones. Extending Davante Adams sooner rather than later is a no-brainer also.

[KYPack]

Now is not the time to judge Gutekunst. He did make the colossally stupid choice to move up and take Love, and he did make the probable mistake also of taking a too short TE that we really didn't need last year. He has, however, brought in some stars in his fairly brief time here.

He has two or three absolutely earth-shaking things to accomplish, though, that are gonna determine whether he maintains greatness for most of another decade or whether he ruins the team and drags it into the shitter. Both are, of course, named Aaron. He absolutely NEEDS to keep Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay for the rest of his career, and in the short term, he NEEDS to find a way to retain Aaron Jones. Extending Davante Adams sooner rather than later is a no-brainer also.

Tex, I know you've been on this all year, but...

Jones and Linsley are gone.

We'll have to redo a few deals just to get our cap in order.

Jones was offered a deal and rejected it. He's going FA.

Linsley is 99% gone, also.

There's just no room.

This off season will show you once and for all that you can't cook the cap.

[HarveyWallbangers]

They can easily cook the cap. They could resign both guys if they wanted to. I've laid out how it could happen numerous times. However, they don't value those positions for the price it would cost to retain those players.

[texaspackerbacker]

Yes, Harvey's post is the accurate one. However, can do and will do are not necessarily the same thing. It will piss me off extremely if Gutekunst bombs out on this and lets the team get worse 0 as it surely will in the short term if he fails to retain Aaron Jones.

[sharpe1027]

They can easily cook the cap. They could resign both guys if they wanted to. I've laid out how it could happen numerous times. However, they don't value those positions for the price it would cost to retain those players.

Let's be clear, the phrase cooking the cap is being used the same as kick the can down the road. You get some room to do so if the cap keeps going up, but that only goes so far. There's no magic wand you can wave, just ways to shift the money to later years.

[texaspackerbacker]

For once, you got something right, sharpe. "Kicking the can down the road" is a fairly good idea anytime, as in normal years, you can count on the salary cap going up moderately. This year, though, is of course, exceptional. Teams need to scrimp and be creative to avoid having their personnel get worse. Conversely, though, it is very reasonable to expect the cap not only to have its normal moderate increase next season, but to bounce back big time, making up for the decrease this season. Thus, keeping cap numbers unrealistically low and then letting the contracts balloon upward in future years i.e doing that kicking is clearly the way to go.

And yes, there is a magic wand. It is called prorating the bonus to future years' caps.