Packers want Adalius Thomas

[Packnut]

Things

Barnett is not a difference maker. I stand by that. I consider him and Poppinga very similar players as far as total talent. Barnett is stronger in teh pass, Poppinga is stronger in teh run and has shown alot of improvement in the pass. When it comes to paying for an impact player; I'd pay Thomas and let Barnett go becuase I think there is a big gap in the two as far as on field impact goes.

WOW......not a big impact player? You mean a negative impact player like Popinga? Barnett is a leader on the field, Popinga better against the run? When? After Barnett has the guy wrapped up and Popinga finally gets there?

WHAT TEAM WHERE YOU WATCHING??

Some things that people post just make ya scratch your head and say WTF. Dendy blew so many plays that I lost count. Poppinga was all hype and no play. Just because he came back from a serious injury and he has the heart of a lion, people think he played better than he did cause that is what they want to see. He made no earth shattering plays. He was learning on the job.

That said, I'm looking forward to some serious improvement in his play this season. I think he'll come through.


Actually after his first two games Poops was solid, Barnett gave up the second most plays of over 20 yds after Manual,that is not a stat you want a LB in the lead,some of it can of course be attributed to the fact the Packers pretty much never played dime last year Dendy did OK and the coaches thought it better to leave Hawk and Barnett out rather than another CB. If they address this and Barnett is still sucking in coverage my grade of above average will be way too kind. You guys look at tackles way too much even I could probably get 8-10 tackles a game if KGB was in front of me, he is nothing but a blanket the runners have too shove aside to get to the next level, put Barnett or Hawk behind Kampman and their tackles are less than half what they get now.

Poppinga was "solid" after the first two games? Dendy did "OK?" Barnett and Poppinga are the same talent-wise?

WTF people. If you're just going to start making shit up, at least try to include some semblance of reality in your nonsense. I mean, thanks for the laughs and everything, but either you fellas didn't actually watch the games last season or you have very very poor memories.

[pbmax]

Kampman somehow managed to play DE on the power side at 274. And there have been many who have weighted that and been effective (McGinest, Haley, Taylor). He is at least 20 lbs heavier than KGB. He played DE in college.

He might suffer at DE compared to his current OLB role as his skills may be better suited to playing and attacking in space. But wearing down won't be the hurdle to succeeding at DE.

... That said, and this goes back to the Thomas debate, where would the Packers play him in their scheme???

As a full time end??? A lot of us would argue that b/c Green Bay's scheme is very predicable and static, he'd be matched up with the OT virutally every snap, and he'd wear down over the course of the season ....

[wist43]

Kampman somehow managed to play DE on the power side at 274. And there have been many who have weighted that and been effective (McGinest, Haley, Taylor). He is at least 20 lbs heavier than KGB. He played DE in college.

He might suffer at DE compared to his current OLB role as his skills may be better suited to playing and attacking in space. But wearing down won't be the hurdle to succeeding at DE.

... That said, and this goes back to the Thomas debate, where would the Packers play him in their scheme???

As a full time end??? A lot of us would argue that b/c Green Bay's scheme is very predicable and static, he'd be matched up with the OT virutally every snap, and he'd wear down over the course of the season ....

Maybe he can do it, and maybe he can't... if the Packers signed him they would necessarily ask him to play a style of football, that heretofor, he has yet to play at the NFL level. Point in fact, is that Thomas has never played DE, down in and down out.

All of the presnap movement and subterfuge employed by the Ravens has worked to his advantage... in Green Bay, it's just straight up beat the tackle - down, after down, after down, after down... The Tackles always know who's coming, they know where they're going to lineup, and given all that predictability, breakdowns in opposing blocking schemes are rare... making it all the more difficult for the DE to be successful.

In order for this scheme to be successful, it needs two Pro Bowl calibur DE's... the Packers don't have that (Kampman played pretty well last year, but I don't consider him to be a pro bowl calibur player), and acquiring them is both difficult and expensive.

If they were to sign Thomas, I sure as hell hope he can play DE full time, otherwise he'd be wasted signing. Like I've said though, I don't know why he'd even consider coming to a team like the Packers - in a 3-4 he's a monster. In a 4-3 he's - who knows????

[SkinBasket]

In order for this scheme to be successful, it needs two Pro Bowl calibur DE's... the Packers don't have that (Kampman played pretty well last year, but I don't consider him to be a pro bowl calibur player), and acquiring them is both difficult and expensive.

I don't mean to bust your balls on a tangential point here, but could you maybe explain why you don't think Kampman is a ProBowl caliber player? He went to the Pro Bowl, didn't he? Doesn't that in and of itself make one a Pro Bowl caliber player? Especially given he isn't exactly one of those guys that gets in year in and year out simply because of the name on his jersey.

[MJZiggy]

Exactly how many sacks would Kampman have to accumulate in a season to be considered Pro Bowl caliber? He's a damn good DE and never stops trying to improve no matter how good he gets.

[SkinBasket]

Exactly how many sacks would Kampman have to accumulate in a season to be considered Pro Bowl caliber? He's a damn good DE and never stops trying to improve no matter how good he gets.

I think for some he just needs to get real, real tan. Until then he's obviously just an overachiever. Try-hard kind of guy, you know?

[Patler]

Exactly how many sacks would Kampman have to accumulate in a season to be considered Pro Bowl caliber? He's a damn good DE and never stops trying to improve no matter how good he gets.

There are 299 defensive linemen of all types, ends, tackles, whatever you want to call them who were tracked statistically by the NFL Of the 299 defensive linemen, Kampman was:

#1 in sacks
#1 in combined tackles and assisted tackles
#2 in tackles
#3 in assisted tackles
#4 in solo tackles

Since that is among ALL linemen, I think he deserves to be considered one of the 6 or so best ends.

[Oscar]

Very well done Patler. A point well made.

[wist43]

Wow... you guys need to get a room when it comes to Kampman!!!

I like Kampman, always have, but to say he's one of the 5 or 6 best DL in all of football is insane...

Hell, teams thought absolutely nothing of blocking him with a TE... it happened all the time - and not just on plays away from him... they'd assign a TE to him straight up in pass blocking. Granted, he would defeat that block a good amount of the time, and I think offensive coordinators stopped doing it as much as the season wore on, but still... that's a pretty disrespectful slap in the face for any DE to take.

Furthermore, while Kampman may have made the pro bowl, I don't consider him a pro bowl calibur player, i.e. a difference maker. Just as Chicago made the SB, I don't consider them a SB calibur team.

[4and12to12and4]

Wow... you guys need to get a room when it comes to Kampman!!!

I like Kampman, always have, but to say he's one of the 5 or 6 best DL in all of football is insane...

Hell, teams thought absolutely nothing of blocking him with a TE... it happened all the time - and not just on plays away from him... they'd assign a TE to him straight up in pass blocking. Granted, he would defeat that block a good amount of the time, and I think offensive coordinators stopped doing as much as the season wore on, but still... that's a pretty disrespectful slap in the face for any DE to take.

Furthermore, while Kampman may have made the pro bowl, I don't consider him a pro bowl calibur player, i.e. a difference maker. Just as Chicago made the SB, I don't consider them a SB calibur team.

You obvoiusly didn't watch the Pro Bowl, Kaampman only registered 4 tackles, but he was beating his guy all game long putting pressure on AFC QB's. I TVO'd the game just to solely watch his performance and was not expecting much of him against the big boys he'd be facing, but Peyton kept him in almost the entire game and he REALLY held his own!! In fact, he was the reason for a sack in the first half, (can't remember who got the sack), but he pressured the QB to move deep into the pocket right into the arms of the other end (it might have been Johnson). But, watching him, he was running around all over the place filling gaps, he even caught LT from behind 7 yards past the line of scrimmage after he broke through the line and saved a big run, LT probably had to make one or two db's miss for a TD, but Aaron dove from an angle that wasn't easy to make the tackle and wrapped him up. It was very impressive. I gained a ton of respect for him after watching him in Hawaii. For some reason, maybe because he doesn't look big enough for the position, I keep thinking he's becoming overrated, but, he simply has got more strength than he looks like, and has GREAT instincts. He's the real deal, and I agree he is in the top ten in the league. I mean, 15.5 sacks doesn't just "accidentally happen. He's a very cerebral player.

[wist43]

Look, Kampman is a nice player... you can win with guys like Kampman in your starting lineup; but, don't mistake him for a difference maker.

At the end of the day, he's a "lunch pail" guy...

Does any team, in their preparations for Green Bay say, "we have to account for Kampman"??? Of course not... he's not a difference maker.

Do teams, in their prep for San Diego say, "we have to account for Merriman"??? Of course they do... b/c he's a true difference maker.

The only difference maker on Green Bay's roster is Brett Favre. In his prime, you could've added Ahman Green to that list; Donald Driver is getting close; and, Hawk can maybe get there - but that's it.

Kampman is what he is - a nice player, that if taken lightly can make an opponent pay; but he certainly doesn't strike fear in the hearts of opposing OC's and ROT's... he's not a difference maker.

[Scott Campbell]

Do teams, in their prep for San Diego say, "we have to account for Merriman"??? Of course they do... b/c he's a true difference maker.

I think teams have to account for Merriman's personal Chemist.

[BallHawk]

Donald Driver w/o question is there. Kampman is undeniably a guy you have to plan for.

[SkinBasket]

At the end of the day, he's a "lunch pail" guy...

In other words, he is white.

What the fuck more do you want out of a DE? Did you decide to just ingore the stats Patler posted? Did you even watch GBs games this year? I don't think you did after reading your assertation that Kampman was solely going up against TEs. What you seemed to miss was Kampman beating the OL he was matched against BEFORE getting to the TE double.

To hell with it. Either you're trying to provoke a response from the people who know what the hell they're talking about, or you're playing the part of the bafoon for kicks. Then again, maybe you ain't playin'.

[Patler]

I like Kampman, always have, but to say he's one of the 5 or 6 best DL in all of football is insane...

Hell, teams thought absolutely nothing of blocking him with a TE... it happened all the time - and not just on plays away from him... they'd assign a TE to him straight up in pass blocking. Granted, he would defeat that block a good amount of the time, and I think offensive coordinators stopped doing it as much as the season wore on, but still... that's a pretty disrespectful slap in the face for any DE to take.

First, I did not say he was one of the 5 or 6 best DL in all of football. I compared him statistically to all lineman, but specifically said he was one of the six or so best ends.

It really doesn't matter who they tried to block Kampman with, the fact is they were not successful. Further, I dispute your assertion that blocking him with a TE "happened all the time". I think it was the Vikings who tried it and Kampman abused them for it. I will admit, there was a time in the middle of the season when Kampman did not do well against a few fairly pedestrian tackles he went up against, but that was only a couple weeks. PLayers have ups and downs, they all do.

I'm not sure what you think a pro-bowl player is. He is not necessarily a future HOFer. He is simply one of the best at his position that year. If Kampman is not "pro-bowl calibre" then you should be able to name 8 or 10 DEs who are, to make it clear that he is not. Who were they in the 2006 season?