Corey Linsley released, retirement coming

[bobblehead]

That's one way of looking at it. What I would say, though, is that we had super QBs who made mediocre O Linemen get overrated all that time - outstanding O Linemen just not being all that necessary for winning football. You're right to not like paying Guards and Centers or really any O Linemen all that much because they just aren't that big of a factor in succcess.

Lindsley was an absolute stud for SD. Did Herbert make him look great?

[bobblehead]

bobblehead, if you want to call Linsley a cap casualty, fine, as he was a good player. The fact is, though, they were as well off without him as with him. I suppose part of cap manipulation is prioritizing positions, and O Line should be low on that list.

Yes, I understand that you don't think blocking defensive players is very important. You are in a huge minority on that opinion though. The game is won in the trenches. Overpaying WR is where teams really screw up. Tell me, how many times did Bellicheat pay WR? He made sure he had a good OL which in turn provided Brady with a solid run game and time to destroy defenses.

[Bretsky]

bobblehead, if you want to call Linsley a cap casualty, fine, as he was a good player. The fact is, though, they were as well off without him as with him. I suppose part of cap manipulation is prioritizing positions, and O Line should be low on that list.

Linsley was an ABSOLUTE CAP CASUALTY.


GB is going great financially. Linsley was one of the best centers in the NFL. If there was no salary cap, we 100% keep him in Green Bay.

There is a salary cap, and it is real.

That is why Love is not signed yet. We're trying to get the numbers right so we can keep our WR's and TE's down the road

[texaspackerbacker]

Lindsley was an absolute stud for SD. Did Herbert make him look great?

I didn't see many charger games, but Herbert also is a great mobile QB, so yes, he probably did make Linsley and his O Line in general seem better than they were.

Whining sarcastically that "blocking D players isn't very important" is about as stupid as sarcastically whining that maybe you don't need an O Line at all. What I said and stand by is that the difference between medi0crity in the O Line and greatness is not a helluva lot. "The game is won in the trenches"? Talk about wrongheaded, at best outdated and really probably never true. You mentioned Brady; Brady was an immobile QB, and that kind of QB probably did/does need more quality O Line blocking. Love, Rodgers, Favre, and increasingly most top quality QBs are mobile and are gonna excel with just barely adequate O Line blocking - like we saw for the Packers for the last 3 decades or so.

And Bretsky, overpaying for O Line, even a good one like Linsley was, would have been unwise regardless of the cap situation. Even though the cap is eminently defeatable, it's not nothing, and that same money can be spent other better ways. Bottom line is, the Packers were fine without Linsley, just as fine as they woulda been with him IMO.

[Bretsky]

I would say a cap casualty is when somebody is an awesome player, and the team would like to keep him, but they choose not to because his fair market value is quite a bit higher than they would want to dedicate to the salary cap. That was Linsley

[RashanGary]

Tex once again in conflict with the majority

[texaspackerbacker]

And usually on these same two topics: the perceived value of O Line versus real value, and how to handle the salary cap. I stand by everything I've said in both areas. If others are different, then they're wrong hahahaha.

[Fritz]

Corey Linsley was a very good center. Are centers as expendable as Tex thinks?

Let's ask the Lions how they'd feel about losing Frank Ragnow again to injury. Because you can't see the drop-off in play so easily as you can, say, the drop-off between a starting and back-up QB, it's easy to think they're all about the same. But wouldn't most all of us like to have Apollo Creed Humphrey over center than I'm not Joshing Myers?

[Joemailman]

Corey Linsley was a very good center. Are centers as expendable as Tex thinks?

Let's ask the Lions how they'd feel about losing Frank Ragnow again to injury. Because you can't see the drop-off in play so easily as you can, say, the drop-off between a starting and back-up QB, it's easy to think they're all about the same. But wouldn't most all of us like to have Apollo Creed Humphrey over center than I'm not Joshing Myers?

Actually, before spending a 2nd round pick on Myers, the Packers had had an almost uninterrupted string of outstanding Centers without spending that high of a draft pick on one:

Frank Winters - 10th round by Browns
Mike Flanagan - 3rd round
Scott Wells - 7th round
Corey Linsley - 5th round

Perhaps Monk will be the next one. But not this year.

[ThunderDan]

You missed EDS.

[Joemailman]

You missed EDS.

I didn't miss him. I just didn't feel he was in the same class as the other guys. Decent player.

[RashanGary]

You missed Lucas Patrick and JC Tretter

[texaspackerbacker]

That list - including Linsley - illustrates what I say about the importance or lack of it of Centers and O Line in general. I liked Meyers when they drafted him because he was big as Centers go. Ditto that for Linsley who as I recall was selected 2 rounds after Tretter who was smaller. And I think most of the negativity about Meyers is not justified. He's been good in the run game - evidenced by most of our successful runs going through the G/C hole, and he's been generally adequate in pass protection.

I always said, Rodgers' mobility and accuracy made our O Line look better than they were. Myers arrived when Rodgers was getting older and a little less mobile. I think if the guy was a 4th, 5th, or 6th rounder - lower expectations, he'd be getting a lot less criticism.

I doubt Monk or anybody else replaces Myers anytime soon.

[bobblehead]

Tretter was bigger than Linsley. Tretter could have been an average RT in the NFL. Tretter was also pretty comparable to Linsley as a C. Still one of my top 5 TT gripes was not keeping Tretter around to play guard.

[run pMc]

Agree Linsley was absolutely a cap casualty.
The team chose signing Aaron Jones over keeping Linsley.

Tex debated who was more worth keeping - Jones or Linsley - in this very forum. You can look it up.

Linsley was an undersized guy hitting free agency just before hitting age 29. You're not signing that guy to a mega contract if you have cap constraints. It's why they drafted Josh Myers.