Diggs To Carolina

[HarveyWallbangers]

Panthers sign Na'il Diggs from Packers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The Carolina Panthers added another outside linebacker Thursday, signing free agent Na'il Diggs from the Green Bay Packers to a one-year contract.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Re: Diggs To Carolina

Panthers sign Na'il Diggs from Packers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- The Carolina Panthers added another outside linebacker Thursday, signing free agent Na'il Diggs from the Green Bay Packers to a one-year contract.

Typical of Thompson: letting a good player go only to do nothing to replace him. See Wahle, Mike; Rivera, Marco; Sharper, Darren; Diggs, Na'il; Flanagan, Mike; Sherman, Mike; Bates, Jim.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I think Diggs is a pretty good player. I don't put much stock into "injury prone" label. Even if injuries were 100% random, you'd still get players with many more injuries than others.

Well, have to see how he does.

[GrnBay007]

Will the last player left in Green Bay please turn out the lights!!

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Will Favre, Brett be next? Stay turn.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I'd be happy if Brett game back to G.B. enthusiastically.

But listen to him! "I don't want to go through another losing season." "Who did we get to replace Wahle & Rivera?"

This talk is definitely hurting the team!! I know he is just being honest. Everybody talks about the great mutual loyalty between Favre & the Packers. Well, in a way, Favre is already gone, or at least he's drifting away. He's putting his own preferences (to play on a winner) ahead of the team (to rebuild a winner.) That's OK! It's just a mutual conflict of interest.

I think Favre is sincere in saying he won't play elsewhere. But if he is confronted with a concrete offer to play at Tampa, say, he will consider it. And I suspect he might change his mind.

[KYPack]

I think Diggs is a pretty good player. I don't put much stock into "injury prone" label. Even if injuries were 100% random, you'd still get players with many more injuries than others.

Well, have to see how he does.

Diggs was a good, smart player. His skills had eroded so he couldn't play at the level he was being paid at. We HAD to cut him, based on salary. Carolina is a good spot. He can be a back-up and play the run on 1st down.

He did surprise me that he was as fast after all the knee trouble last year, but that was the end of the guy.

[mraynrand]

"But listen to him! "I don't want to go through another losing season." "Who did we get to replace Wahle & Rivera?"

This talk is definitely hurting the team!!"

---

On what do you base your claim that Favre's comments are hurting the team? Are the players lifting less weights? Are they suffering more from depression?

Different people (personalities) react in different ways to criticism. Some get worse/go into a shell. Others use it as motivation. According to Aaron Rodgers, when he was interviewed on the NFL network, the attitude of the 50 or so guys working out in GB is the latter - he said they are aware that many are predicting the Packers to be a bad team this year but that they are going to "shock some people" Who knows if he's right, but at least, based on this actual factual evidence, at least SOME Packers are using the dire predictions for the Packer as positive motivation. I'm still waiting for the evidence that Favre's musing about his retirement and the state of the Packers is actually having a negative effect on the team.

[Scott Campbell]

I'd be happy if Brett game back to G.B. enthusiastically.

But listen to him! "I don't want to go through another losing season." "Who did we get to replace Wahle & Rivera?"

This talk is definitely hurting the team!!

Bingo Harlan.

No player should be critical of the GM to the press, not even the once great Brett Favre. But that is exactly what he's doing here. He's cleverly disguising it with fear, uncertainty and doubt, but all these comments add up to not so subtle jabs at Ted Thompson.

I can't imagine anyone writing this script to end his career. Even his most loyal followers couldn't have imagined him doing this.

[mraynrand]

The former GB GM placed a premium on protecting Favre and the new GM did not. I don't see any reason why Favre can't be critical of this. I wish he had come out and stated it more directly. Something like this: " I appreciated that Sherman kept intact the offensive line the entire time he was GM. I liked that he stressed the run game. It took pressure off me and protected me from getting killed in the pocket. Furthermore, Sherman designed roll-outs, etc. that included a lineman moving out to protect me. All this makes sense. When you have an aging QB like me, who is in his 14th year, you would think that making sure I wasn't getting slaughtered behing a makeshift line would be a priority."

Why is it wrong for Favre to criticise TT? Have you ever criticised your boss? Ever wished condidtions were better for you at work? I would imagine anyone who has been highly successful in their job, with leverage because of it, would be much more likely to criticise their boss when he makes a critical error in judgment.

[Harlan Huckleby]

"But listen to him! "I don't want to go through another losing season." "Who did we get to replace Wahle & Rivera?"

This talk is definitely hurting the team!!"

---

On what do you base your claim that Favre's comments are hurting the team?

Bad publicity for attracting free agents. Thompson has to convince free agents that he is building a winner that will be exciting to play on, when the franchise QB is publicly stating that playing on the team will be too miserable to justify him collecting a $10M check.

I can't provide any statistics to prove this, you'll just have to make your own judgement. BTW, how is Thompson doing in attracting free agents this offseason, compared to say, Minnesota?

[Scott Campbell]

Have you ever criticised your boss?

Never in the newspaper or on tv. I'd be fired if I did, and justifiably so. I choose a more constructive and appropriate venue to share my views.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Bad publicity for attracting free agents. Thompson has to convince free agents that he is building a winner that will be exciting to play on, when the franchise QB is publicly stating that playing on the team will be too miserable to justify him collecting a $10M check.

I can't provide any statistics to prove this, you'll just have to make your own judgement. BTW, how is Thompson doing in attracting free agents this offseason, compared to say, Minnesota?

I'm a Favre pimp, but I agree with this whole-heartedly. I don't mind him going back and forth on retirement, sticking up for his good friend Steve McNair, or speaking up against Walker's holdout or for Bubba's "holdout." However, I think he crossed the line with those comments. It totally puts a bad light on the team. It's a defeatist attitude. He has to realize that in today's NFL teams can make a quick turnaround, and not with just big name FAs. You get a handful of lower-tiered FAs that work out, a good draft, look with injuries, win a few games early in the season, and you can do some damage. It's kind of what you get with Brett though. He's one of the more honest people in sports, and he's never afraid to give an honest answer. I wish he would have kept his trapped shut.

[mraynrand]

"Bad publicity for attracting free agents. Thompson has to convince free agents that he is building a winner that will be exciting to play on, when the franchise QB is publicly stating that playing on the team will be too miserable to justify him collecting a $10M check.

I can't provide any statistics to prove this, you'll just have to make your own judgement. BTW, how is Thompson doing in attracting free agents this offseason, compared to say, Minnesota?"

-----

Were GB and Minnesota competeing for the same FAs? I'll buy your argument if I hear a FA say he didn't want to come to GB because of Favre's comments. Favre never stated that it would be "too miserable to justify 10 mil" - that's your extrapolation - setting it up as a money issue. I may be wrong, but It seems as though money isn't the overriding issue for Favre. Here's a fifteen year vet wondering whether he should return to play for a new coach, a new scheme, an obviously rebuilding team with virtually none of his buddies left, and for a GM that isn't placing the same priority on Favre's protection that the last guy did. Maybe the 10 mil isn't figuring into it at all.

Scott Campbell: Obviously the NFL works differently than an average business. I take it you must at some point have disagreed in the open about a policy or decision a boss has made. You don't have to be nasty or meanspirited about it, you just have to voice your own opinion. And I bet no reporters were there to ask you about it.

But I will agree that Favre saying what he did about the offensive line is a challenge to TT. Still, I just think it's Favre answering questions and saying exactly what's on his mind, which is what he always does, sometimes to his own detriment.

[mraynrand]

Harlan:

I think I effectively argued in favor of your point. Maybe Favre is thinking it will be too miserable for him to return for the 10 mil. But it's entirely possible that FAs considering GB ARE placing a greater priority on the money and other things than whether Favre decides to return for one more year or whether he's critical of TT.