Wasted Money

[Packnut]

Ok, I'm not getting this. We can't spend money on FA's but Jones gets paid for sitting on his ass at home? WTF is going on up there? This is getting to be total BS. Harlan now gets credit for changing a decision he made? Jones was his guy for goodness sake. He made the mistake and now no one up there has the balls to just come out and fire Jones?

We all know this decision is'nt gonna be reversed so why pay this guy for doing nothing. It's called cutting your losses! This whole thing is getting down-right embarrassing.

[HarveyWallbangers]

This isn't too hard to figure out. Jones has a contract. If they fire him, they'll end up having to pay him. Just like they did with Sherman. I'm sure they are working on some type of settlement package.

What do you mean by "we can't spend money on FA's?"

[Bretsky]

ya, we dropped some change on downtown Frankie Walker this year

[HarveyWallbangers]

Whether FAs were signed or not is irrelevant. How much money did the Packers have left last year? Right now, they have $14M, but need about $5M to sign draft picks. That leaves $9M for the rest of the offseason. They made a play at some FAs, but weren't successful. They resigned Jenkins to a nice contract and signed Barnett to a nice extension. Any money leftover could conceivably go to more extensions--like those two this year and Kampman the year before.

I was disappointed that a couple more FAs weren't signed, but I don't see it as Thompson never signing FAs (Woodson, Pickett, Manuel) or not trying to sign FAs (Vinatieri, Arrington, Keyshawn, trade for Moss). Thompson is just more selective than some of the fans.

[Bretsky]

Whether FAs were signed or not is irrelevant. How much money did the Packers have left last year? Right now, they have $14M, but need about $5M to sign draft picks. That leaves $9M for the rest of the offseason. They made a play at some FAs, but weren't successful. They resigned Jenkins to a nice contract and signed Barnett to a nice extension. Any money leftover could conceivably go to more extensions--like those two this year and Kampman the year before.

I was disappointed that a couple more FAs weren't signed, but I don't see it as Thompson never signing FAs (Woodson, Pickett, Manuel) or not trying to sign FAs (Vinatieri, Arrington, Keyshawn, trade for Moss). Thompson is just more selective than some of the fans.

never said he didn't sign FA's

he just sat in his shell this year up to now

And yes, ya can always frontload more deals God knows we'll be set up cap wise for the future then too

[Scott Campbell]

Ted is cheap.

[pittstang5]

as Harv said - 9 mil leftover after the rookies. Obviously the FA market is dried up, so who currently does the Pack have that should be resigned or extented?

My vote:

Corey Williams - he's young and came on strong last year. It shouldn't cost alot, they have the money, do it now.

[rpiotr01]

Corey Williams - he's young and came on strong last year. It shouldn't cost alot, they have the money, do it now.

But where/ when do you play him? Pickett, Harrell, Jenkins, Cole, possibly Jolly. Those first three either are, or will be locked up into a good amount of money.

I wonder at this point if Williams is more valuable as trade bait? He could start on many teams and perform well. He's young. We just happen to be deep at his position, and while yes, he's a good player, you need to give up good players to get good players in return. I don't know for whom he'd be traded, or if that's likely or even possible given his contract status, it's just a thought.

As for TT, I still think it's early to say what his MO is. As far as I can see he places a lot of importance on the draft, and with regards to FA - if he sees somebody he likes, he goes after them. 2005 was a small FA year with him. 2006 we had a large FA haul with Woodson, Pickett and Manuel, and as mentioned earlier, could have been much larger since we were known to be bidding on Vinitieri and Arrington. This year was another quiet year. So who's really to say what'll happen next off-season?

Personally I thought this year's FA crop was lousy, definitely below average. People made a big deal about Thomas and Clements, but I don't think either of them were in the same league as Hutchinson or even Julian Peterson. Honestly, even Clements talent wise isn't as good as Woodson. Vinitieri is a future HOF. Sean Alexander and Edgerrin James were FAs in 2006. That was a very good FA class IMO. This year, meh. Justin Griffith would have been nice to close the deal on, but there's no guarantee he's better than Miree. I don't blame him for not jumping in. I think it's going to be a year-by-year thing with TT.

[HarveyWallbangers]

But where/ when do you play him? Pickett, Harrell, Jenkins, Cole, possibly Jolly. Those first three either are, or will be locked up into a good amount of money.

Jenkins plays DE now. Cole is just a body. We have no idea how good Jolly will be. He could suck. Most teams need 3 good DT now.

[Patler]

as Harv said - 9 mil leftover after the rookies. Obviously the FA market is dried up, so who currently does the Pack have that should be resigned or extented?

My vote:

Corey Williams - he's young and came on strong last year. It shouldn't cost alot, they have the money, do it now.

There are a few other probable starters (Morency, Miree and Rayner) who have contracts that expire after this season. Any of them could perform well-enough this year to merit renewal before the end of the season.

Possible early renewals for other starters having contracts ending in 2008:
Tauscher
Poppinga
Underwood (maybe a starter)
Ryan

[Patler]

But where/ when do you play him? Pickett, Harrell, Jenkins, Cole, possibly Jolly. Those first three either are, or will be locked up into a good amount of money.

Jenkins plays DE now. Cole is just a body. We have no idea how good Jolly will be. He could suck. Most teams need 3 good DT now.

Not only that, Williams has also played DE earlier in his career with Green Bay. If Jenkins were to get hurt, Williams might be the best bet to replace him on early downs. The other DEs are mostly pass-rush types. Some thought last year that Williams would replace KGB. Jenkins was kind of a surprise.

[cheesner]

as Harv said - 9 mil leftover after the rookies. Obviously the FA market is dried up, so who currently does the Pack have that should be resigned or extented?

My vote:

Corey Williams - he's young and came on strong last year. It shouldn't cost alot, they have the money, do it now.

I would go with Nick Collins, Scott Wells, and then Corey. I know the first two have a year or two left on their rookie contracts, but if they continue to improve this year, lock them up for continuities sake, especially Wells on that OL.

[rpiotr01]

Harvey and Patler, all good points. I guess my only point is that if it's obvious that our team has a glaring hole in it somewhere and the opportunity arises to trade for someone to plug that hole, Williams IMO is a good candidate. Ideally we'd be able to keep him, but the general depth on the line I think makes it so that it's not devastating to lose him. I'm certainly not against keeping him around, and we have the room for it

Very good point about Tausch Patler, no one really thinks of him when it comes to extending him, but he should be at the top of our list for the next year or so.

Cheesner, I believe Wells was extended last year.

[The Leaper]

Very good point about Tausch Patler, no one really thinks of him when it comes to extending him, but he should be at the top of our list for the next year or so.

I think Tauscher still has something to prove in terms of how healthy he will be moving forward and how solid he can be in the ZBS. It is unlikely that he will be signed to a new deal during this current cap year IMO...unless he plays extremely well.

There just won't be many extentions happening this year. I think the one strong candidate is Morency if he plays well in a starting role. Wells is another good choice. Most of the others guys aren't likely to take a big enough step forward to merit a sizeable contract extention...and even if they did, they may very well gamble on trying to have another good year on top of it to hit the jackpot in free agency.

[Patler]

Wells' contract was extended last season. He is signed through 2011.