WILL BUBBA BE THE PACK STARTING TE?/TE WATCH

[Fritz]

Unless he gets hurt, Bubba Franks will be the starting tight end for the Green Bay Packers when they open the season.

[Fred's Slacks]

I have a theory with Bubba. I think that all the complaining about how he could never gain any yards after the catch had him determined to show that he could. I think all the focus on turning up field and gaining yards caused him to lose focus on catching and securing the football. I don't know how else to explain how a guy who was formerly sure handed, loses that. That's not something you typically lose with age. Hopefully he will start focusing on catching and securing the football and revert back to the solid, reliable tight end he used to be. That's why I voted for Bubba (plus the fact that we really don't have anyone else).

[Merlin]

I think McCarthy is going to do more to get any TE into the flow of the offense and not blocking. I think that is what most affected Franks last season. He will be the starter because he can be that good. Watch for Lee or another TE to be in there when we have to keep the TE in to block. Even thought Franks is possibly the best blocking TE we have, McCarthy is pretty smart, smart enough to see what is obvious.

[packinpatland]

I have a theory with Bubba. I think that all the complaining about how he could never gain any yards after the catch had him determined to show that he could. I think all the focus on turning up field and gaining yards caused him to lose focus on catching and securing the football. I don't know how else to explain how a guy who was formerly sure handed, loses that. That's not something you typically lose with age. Hopefully he will start focusing on catching and securing the football and revert back to the solid, reliable tight end he used to be. That's why I voted for Bubba (plus the fact that we really don't have anyone else).

This is a very good theory. Sure explains why it wasn't just few single 'bad' games he had, but a whole season.

[GBRulz]

I think McCarthy is going to do more to get any TE into the flow of the offense and not blocking. I think that is what most affected Franks last season. He will be the starter because he can be that good. Watch for Lee or another TE to be in there when we have to keep the TE in to block. Even thought Franks is possibly the best blocking TE we have, McCarthy is pretty smart, smart enough to see what is obvious.

I was going to just post basically the same thing. I truly believe Bubba's success was affected last year because we needed him for blocking all the time. So much of this year is going to weigh on our OL.... I sure hope we can get away from the max protect scheme.

[Bretsky]

I have a theory with Bubba. I think that all the complaining about how he could never gain any yards after the catch had him determined to show that he could. I think all the focus on turning up field and gaining yards caused him to lose focus on catching and securing the football. I don't know how else to explain how a guy who was formerly sure handed, loses that. That's not something you typically lose with age. Hopefully he will start focusing on catching and securing the football and revert back to the solid, reliable tight end he used to be. That's why I voted for Bubba (plus the fact that we really don't have anyone else).

I hope you are right, Bubba is a solid blocker, but his patterns and speed are nothing special so at miminum we need him to catch the ball.

Maybe he's becoming another Toolbox.....aka....Ed West. Always like that guy. Short on talent, but worked hard and seemed to maximize it

[Fred's Slacks]

I think McCarthy is going to do more to get any TE into the flow of the offense and not blocking. I think that is what most affected Franks last season. He will be the starter because he can be that good. Watch for Lee or another TE to be in there when we have to keep the TE in to block. Even thought Franks is possibly the best blocking TE we have, McCarthy is pretty smart, smart enough to see what is obvious.

So you are saying we take out our best blocking tight end when we need him to block? The reason Bubba has any value is because he is both a good blocker and good receiver (well, he used to be). We can all agree he never has been and never will be a big play guy, so why only use him as a pass catcher? I don't think that helps Bubba in the passing game.

I think you are correct that his stats were down because he was not as active in tha passing game but that doesn't explain the high drop rate and the fumbles. Maybe he needs to be spelled more often but I don't think you just take him out when you need another blocker(defenses would catch on to that). I think he just needs to refocus on catching the ball and moving the chains and he will be alright.

Hopefully its a moot point anyway. Lets hope the OLine steps up enough that we don't need to keep the tight end in as much to help.