Official Free Agency/Offseason Thread

[Joemailman]

an actual bright spot last year

not sure if he's full time starter material, but the kid plays with heart

Might have to change the More Banjo thread to More Ford thread.

[Fritz]

Well, it looks like they're paying attention to the special teams unit, anyway. And that is important. Between these signings (Nixon, Ford, the long snapper, the backup safety) and having four seventh round picks, I'd think Bisaccia will have plenty of tools to use next season.

And if Joe Barely can actually get the defense to play together, and if he can learn what a blitz is, maybe they'll keep their heads above water next season while Love takes his lumps and the young receivers grow.

[King Friday]

I don’t see how Love has to take lumps. At this point, he should be able to step in and win. He’s not a rookie. Rodgers was ready when he stepped in, it was merely our defense that was not. I think our defense has the talent to succeed. I may not be sold on the DC, but the talent is there. IF the defense can be a top 12 unit, there is NO reason to believe that the Packers have little chance to fight for a playoff spot. I’m not saying Love makes us a title contender. However, he certainly should be a guy who can get this roster to the postseason. If a guy like TL can do it in Jax his second year, Love should be able to do it in 2023 as a guy who has been in the league and seen a few bullets already.

[Joemailman]

Pretty amazing how Packers are approaching free agency. Packers have 5 WR's on their roster. 4 were rookies last year. The other has bounced around on practice squads. But their free agency signings have been to bolster DB/ST. I'm not worried they don't have a plan. Just curious as to what the plan is going to look like. Packers will have less than 10 million in cap space once the Rodgers trade goes through.

[texaspackerbacker]

I don’t see how Love has to take lumps. At this point, he should be able to step in and win. He’s not a rookie. Rodgers was ready when he stepped in, it was merely our defense that was not. I think our defense has the talent to succeed. I may not be sold on the DC, but the talent is there. IF the defense can be a top 12 unit, there is NO reason to believe that the Packers have little chance to fight for a playoff spot. I’m not saying Love makes us a title contender. However, he certainly should be a guy who can get this roster to the postseason. If a guy like TL can do it in Jax his second year, Love should be able to do it in 2023 as a guy who has been in the league and seen a few bullets already.

There's an acorn of truth here. Yes, Love should be able to be at least decent - up to the standard of average QBs around the league BUT he won't be Aaron Rodger level quality - not what Rodgers was early on, not what Rodgers was in his prime, and not what Rodgers likely still would/will be. And I doubt Love will ever come close to that level. He's probably not gonna be far from his ceiling his first year as a starter. That 10-7 type record some have talked about is probably within reach and will continue to be. If that's what ya'all are willing to settle for just so you don't have Rodgers' drama to whine about, then yeah you'll get your wish - what I'd call mediocrity for the foreseeable future. If we were Bears or Lions fans, that would actually be an upgrade, but we Packer fans have been spoiled to expect more than that - except for ya'all Rodgers haters in here anyway.

[texaspackerbacker]

Pretty amazing how Packers are approaching free agency. Packers have 5 WR's on their roster. 4 were rookies last year. The other has bounced around on practice squads. But their free agency signings have been to bolster DB/ST. I'm not worried they don't have a plan. Just curious as to what the plan is going to look like. Packers will have less than 10 million in cap space once the Rodgers trade goes through.

This says a couple of things, maybe. It says we maybe draft a TE and probably a WR too fairly early - many have thought that about TE anyway, and it says that just maybe, they are expecting the Rodgers trade NOT to go through, which would leave that $10 million plus what they wouldn't have to absorb from the trade. I said "maybe" - I honestly don't believe that myself at this point, but it is a glimmer of hope.

[Fritz]

Pretty amazing how Packers are approaching free agency. Packers have 5 WR's on their roster. 4 were rookies last year. The other has bounced around on practice squads. But their free agency signings have been to bolster DB/ST. I'm not worried they don't have a plan. Just curious as to what the plan is going to look like. Packers will have less than 10 million in cap space once the Rodgers trade goes through.

It is a strange plan, whatever it is. Sort or a rebuild by trading Rodgers - they're not 'running it back' again with the same crew, as they were not interested in Cobb or Lewis and were not able to affort Lazard, and apparently didn't want Tonyan back, either.

Yet their cap situation is so messed up they've maxed out every contract they can, with void years on void years. So they're really in a position to have to pay the piper, starting this year, and into the next couple. So it's not the kind of rebuild where a team sucks and cuts people and puts out a semi-pro team so they can A. get the cap situation under control and B. get a high draft pick.

I think any young QB who has never been a starter in the NFL probably needs a year as a starter to really be able to see the whole field and understand in an instant what he sees. I think the seasoning helped Love, but I do think he'll be learning a lot now. Now, next year, he ought to be good, if he is going to be good.

There is also a weird dearth of defensive linemen at this point. So they either have to pick over the scraps or draft two defensive linemen to fill out the roster. Or both.

[run pMc]

It is a strange plan, whatever it is. Sort or a rebuild by trading Rodgers - they're not 'running it back' again with the same crew, as they were not interested in Cobb or Lewis and were not able to affort Lazard, and apparently didn't want Tonyan back, either.

Yet their cap situation is so messed up they've maxed out every contract they can, with void years on void years. So they're really in a position to have to pay the piper, starting this year, and into the next couple. So it's not the kind of rebuild where a team sucks and cuts people and puts out a semi-pro team so they can A. get the cap situation under control and B. get a high draft pick.

I think any young QB who has never been a starter in the NFL probably needs a year as a starter to really be able to see the whole field and understand in an instant what he sees. I think the seasoning helped Love, but I do think he'll be learning a lot now. Now, next year, he ought to be good, if he is going to be good.

There is also a weird dearth of defensive linemen at this point. So they either have to pick over the scraps or draft two defensive linemen to fill out the roster. Or both.

(Going on the assumption the Rodgers trade goes thru, which it 99% will.)
Jordan Love will certainly go thru his ups and downs next year. AR went 6-10 his first year, I think Jordan Love can do that if not better. 10-7 and a WC spot would be pretty good for first year starter. Once teams get more film on him they will try to make him uncomfortable and he'll have to adjust to that. They'll 5th year option him and unless he stinks on ice he'll be the QB next year. Even a mid-level starting QB making $20M is apparently a good deal these days. Next season I'll be looking for growth and improvement, and then consistency. If he can do all that, he'll be fine. Maybe not HOF good like Favre/Rodgers, but plenty of mediocre QBs have gotten pretty far into the playoffs and a few have won a SB (or in Eli Manning's case, two).

I'm curious at how they are filling out the roster and working thru FA; it's hard to tell how things will shake out until AR is dealt. Do they get any players back from the NYJ in the trade? They will want a veteran WR in the room for the young guys. I also think they will draft a WR, but I don't think it will be before R3.
I do think they'll pick a TE before the end of Day2 and that will be to improve the passing game. That they signed a couple safeties and brought back Tyler Davis probably means they are nibbling around the edges and building some depth, and also tells me they think the FA safeties might be better than most of the safeties in the draft. I still think they'll pick a safety in the draft, but maybe now just one instead of two.
DL might end up being their R1 pick if Breese is there.

As far as I can tell they need 2 more players each at TE, WR, and DL. To fill some of these spots they'll see if anyone gets cut or wait until wave 3 of FA to pick up someone halfway competent on the cheap.
They don't have much cap space after the AR trade, but next year they will be in better shape to absorb some of this cap mess. Next off season they should try to get out from any remaining bad contracts and void years to free up the cap space tied up by them.

[Teamcheez1]

Dean Lowry signed by Vikings.
Addition by subtraction.

[run pMc]

Lions signed Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Cameron Sutton, and Emmanuel Mosley. Their secondary gets a big makeover. Oh, and they have something like 5 picks inside the top 100 in the draft.
Lots of people have them favored to win the NFCN.

[run pMc]

Dean Lowry signed by Vikings.
Addition by subtraction.

Mostly agree. I didn't think he was very good against the run - got moved out of his gap too often. Didn't play as well as the year before either.
Lowry was probably a nice depth piece forced into a starting role. All in all, not a bad draft pick (he got a 2nd contract with GB) but not someone I'd go out of my way to sign to a THIRD contract. Good for him for getting paid and having a pretty long NFL career for a Day 3 pick. I'm not sad that GB didn't drop 4M a year on him though.

GB will need to find players who can take up all of Lowry/Reed's snaps. Wyatt and Slaton can certainly do that, but they need at least one more GOOD DL in case of injury, etc. I have no faith the highlight-less Johnathon Ford or journeyman Chris Slayton will make a jump. The departed Jack Heflin was probably better than either.

[Fritz]

What a weird year. The Loins will be favored to win the division for the first time since probably Wayne Fontes was the coach back in the 90's. Crazy world.

[run pMc]

Media pukes reporting that Aaron Jones, Christian Watson, and Romeo Doubs are traveling to California to train with Jordan Love.
Imagine: a QB who wants to build chemistry with other skill players before camp!

[run pMc]

What a weird year. The Loins will be favored to win the division for the first time since probably Wayne Fontes was the coach back in the 90's. Crazy world.

They have a really good OL, and some young cheap talent with Jameson Williams and Amon St. Brown. I think they'll miss Jamaal Williams, but DeAndre Swift isn't a bad player and David Montgomery is fine.
Their defense was abysmal to start but improved over the season to at least mediocre.

Weird thing is what is their long term plan at QB? Goff? The Tim Boyle Laser Show? They haven't been known for fine QB play or for developing a good one, but he has two years left on his deal.

I wonder if they will fall a bit back to Earth because of tougher schedule, high expectations, nobody overlooking them, etc. but the NFC more or less stinks -- Philly, SF, Dallas, and Detroit are probably the top 4 at this point, for what little that's worth.

I do think trading Stafford for picks and taking Goff's contract and getting good production from him was a smart and very gutsy move. Will be interesting to see what else Brad Holmes has up his sleeve.

[Fritz]

They have a really good OL, and some young cheap talent with Jameson Williams and Amon St. Brown. I think they'll miss Jamaal Williams, but DeAndre Swift isn't a bad player and David Montgomery is fine.
Their defense was abysmal to start but improved over the season to at least mediocre.

Weird thing is what is their long term plan at QB? Goff? The Tim Boyle Laser Show? They haven't been known for fine QB play or for developing a good one, but he has two years left on his deal.

I wonder if they will fall a bit back to Earth because of tougher schedule, high expectations, nobody overlooking them, etc. but the NFC more or less stinks -- Philly, SF, Dallas, and Detroit are probably the top 4 at this point, for what little that's worth.

I do think trading Stafford for picks and taking Goff's contract and getting good production from him was a smart and very gutsy move. Will be interesting to see what else Brad Holmes has up his sleeve.

This is what's concerning. You could always count on the Loins to have a GM who didn't know jack about GM-ing. That goes all the way back to Russ Thomas, who was the GM in the 60's into the 80's or so, and was purportedly Bill Ford Sr.'s bag man, keeping Ford under wraps as he drank and drank his way through his often-sad life. He was intensely personally loyal to Bill Ford and the Ford family, so Russ's GM-ing skills were not as important to the family as they might be to a different kind of owner.

So it went, except for the blip of the 90's when I think Chuck Schmidt was GM. But even that fell apart.

But now this Brad Holmes guy actually seems to know what he's doing. Damn.