Packer Players Pay

[Bretsky]

Bubba got his because he played well enough to earn it.

Despite Bubba's earlier career success, if 2006 had been Bubba's contract year, he would likely be making Donald Lee money now.

timing. luck.

Not a chance. Lee makes the four-year veteran minimum because he has never accomplished a thing. Hence, he is a minimum salary player.

Franks as a three-time past Pro-Bowler, accomplished blocker and a proven red zone threat would have made more that the vets' minimum even if 2006 had been his contract year. If he wasn't worth more than that, the Packers would have cut him this year. They would have gained cap space doing it.

I agree with Patler here. Look at the $$$ Eric Johnson got, compared to his recent numbers. In the past four years, he's had one outstanding year, one very mediocre year, and missed two full years due to injury, and he's making something like $2M.

People spend money thinking that they can get the Pro Bowl performance, and hoping things don't turn out like the down years.

Why didn't we try to sign him again ??

Oops; sorry. Wrong thread

Because we already had one reclaim project at TE. How many do you want, and at what cost?

I'd take Johnson for his contract in a second..assuming we had money to roll.....which we do. Johnson is a much better receiving TE than anything we have on the roster and he came cheap. Past injuries meant his price tag went down. If he stays healthy he'll have a very nice season. He doesn't have blazing speed, but he's a very good route runner that would have been a nice security blanket for Favre. It appears he is developing that role in New Orleans

Every FA has question marks; it doesn't hurt to try.

It's not like we have promising young guys on our roster whose progress would be hindered by signing a vet. That's the perfect excuse of why not to bring a veteran OL in

[HarveyWallbangers]

McCarthy had Johnson in San Fran. I'm assuming he had some input on him.

Here are the second TE on teams in the NFL:
Troy Bienemann
Dwayne Blakley
Daniel Wilcox
Michael Gaines
Dante Rosario
Greg Olsen
Daniel Coats
Steve Heiden
Anthony Fasano
Tony Scheffler
Sean McHugh
Bubba Franks
Jeb Putzier
Ben Utecht
George Wrighster
Jason Dunn
Justin Peelle
Jim Kleinsasser
Kyle Brady
Mark Campbell
Michael Matthews
Sean Ryan
John Madsen
Matt Schobel
Jerame Tuman
Brandon Manumaleuna
Will Heller
Delanie Walker
Joe Klopfenstein
Anthony Becht
Bo Scaife
Todd Yoder

[Patler]

I'd take Johnson for his contract in a second..assuming we had money to roll.....which we do. Johnson is a much better receiving TE than anything we have on the roster and he came cheap. Past injuries meant his price tag went down. If he stays healthy he'll have a very nice season. He doesn't have blazing speed, but he's a very good route runner that would have been a nice security blanket for Favre. It appears he is developing that role in New Orleans

Every FA has question marks; it doesn't hurt to try.

It's not like we have promising young guys on our roster whose progress would be hindered by signing a vet. That's the perfect excuse of why not to bring a veteran OL in

In the off season we did have young guys they seemed interested in. I'm surprised how much Tory Humphrey's name has come up in interviews with TT and MM, and even with one of the assistant coaches. It seemed like an injury to a ho-hum player at the time, and it happened at the very start of camp. But six weeks later later they are still talking about it. It's clear they had expectations for him.

Then there was supposedly good hands Alcorn, and hope to fire him up Harris. But it seems Humphrey was the guy they hoped would step up.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Unlike at S (Bigby) and WR (Jones), it didn't work out at TE.

[HarveyWallbangers]

The third stringers:

Tim Euhus
Martrez Milner
Quinn Sypniewski
Matt Murphy
Marcus Freeman
John Gilmore
Darnell Dinkins
Tony Curtis
Stephen Alexander (cut today)
Mark Bruener
Bryan Fletcher
Greg Estandia
Michael Allan
Garrett Mills
David Thomas
Billy Miller
Kevin Boss
Joe Kowalewski
Tony Stewart
Brent Celek
Matt Spaeth
Legedu Naanee
Ben Joppru
Billy Bajema
Aaron Walker
Jerramy Stevens
Ben Hartsock
Cody Boyd

[HarveyWallbangers]

I think Lee and Franks can do okay. Again, I think this whole thing comes down to the OL. If they play like week 1, we are in BIG trouble. If they play well, then we'll be at least decent on offense, and we'll have a legit chance at the playoffs.

[Jimx29]

McCarthy had Johnson in San Fran. I'm assuming he had some input on him.

Here are the second TE on teams in the NFL:
*Snipped*

Todd Yoder

I can't get over the fact that "Yoder" is one of the most popular Amish family names. There's like 100+ of them in and around my local area.

[LL2]

I'd be more than happy to walk around with a clipboard and a pen above my ear for 1.5 mil.......

Me too! That has to qualify for one of the best paying jobs for the least amount of work.

[Harlan Huckleby]

If Franks was in his contract year in 2006, I seriously doubt the Packers would have resigned him at all.

[Patler]

If Franks was in his contract year in 2006, I seriously doubt the Packers would have resigned him at all.

Sure they would have, maybe with incentives like Green's contract last year.
They had no one else.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Packers in salary-cap heaven
By Pete Dougherty, Green Bay Press Gazette

The Green Bay Packers are among the healthiest salary-cap teams in the NFL and in a pay-as-you-go cycle that should keep them in excellent cap standing for the next several years, if not longer.

Not only are they $12.2 million under this year's salary cap of $109 million, they have player contracts for 2008 that count about $91 million in cap costs, or about $25 million under next year's projected cap of $116 million. This is according to sources with access to NFL and NFLPA salary information.

When Ted Thompson became general manager in 2005, the Packers' cap wasn't in bad shape, but 2½ years into his tenure, it's near optimal health, for two main reasons: One, because Andrew Brandt, the team's vice president of player finance, managed franchise quarterback Brett Favre's huge contract smartly beginning in the early 2000s; and second, because Thompson brought a better understanding of cap value to player procurement compared to former GMs Ron Wolf and Mike Sherman.

Thompson was a financial planner after finishing his playing career in the NFL and is, by nature and experience, more conservative with the Packers' money than his predecessors.

He and Brandt have considerable personnel flexibility in augmenting the Packers' roster the next couple of years, at a minimum. They can use the $12.2 million this year to extend the contracts of two or three players, if they choose, and late in the season, they can push any money remaining into even more cap room next year by doing "dummy" incentives.

Also, if Favre retires after this season, the Packers will pick up about $11 million more in 2008 cap room, give or take $600,000, depending on whether he retires before or after June 1.

"It's no different than anybody in any business," Thompson said this week. "You don't necessarily like to borrow into the future for today. It just makes more sense from a business model to do it that way. Everybody looks at things a little differently. But I think most teams have gotten better at managing the cap. Because quite frankly there were times in the late '90s for sure and even in the early 2000s where people had to make (personnel) decisions solely based on the salary cap, unwise business decisions based on the salary cap."

The management of Favre's contract going to the early 2000s has been a key to the Packers' cap health. Unlike teams such as Dallas (Troy Aikman) and San Francisco (Steve Young) in the late 1990s and early 2000s, or Tennessee (Steve McNair) more recently, the Packers never did major restructuring with their highly paid franchise quarterback to make extra cap room in the short term. So, when Favre retires, they won't get the costly prorated signing-bonus acceleration that can put a team in salary-cap jail.

Favre's contract runs through 2010, but the Packers have taken the pay-as-you-go route with him, so they've avoided paying him yearly signing bonuses to create extra cap room that pushes significant money into future cap years. Favre has the NFL's highest base salary this year at $11 million, which all counts against this year's cap. The prorated money from his previous signing bonuses adds up to only $800,000 this year, $600,000 next year and nothing after that.

The question is, how will Thompson use his cap room over the next year? Is he really too conservative, and does he have too much faith in his drafting abilities, for his own good? Was this past offseason, when he signed only one free agent, and a cheap one at that, the likely model for his plans? Or was 2006, when he signed two relatively expensive free agents, more like what he'll do with the money?

One certainty is he'll use some, if not much of the money, to extend the contracts of his core players, perhaps even players who have two years or more left on their deals. Getting to players early in their contracts usually saves money in the long run, as long as the players are chosen well. Those players are more of a known quantity also.

Another certainty is he'll rarely, if ever, get involved in the high-stakes free agency, because he considers most of those moves as over-spending for players who are beginning the downside of their careers. On the other hand, two years ago, he spent $10.5 million in first-year pay for safety Charles Woodson, $6.5 million in first-year pay on Ryan Pickett, and almost $3 million in first-year pay on safety Marquand Manuel.

Thompson has maintained for his 2½ years that he's not free-agent averse, and that he'll spend when he feels it's right. Last spring, he maintained a steady public and private stance that he stayed out of the free-agent market because it was a weak class that drove up prices for players unworthy of the pay. His only signee was backup cornerback Frank Walker, for a $150,000 signing bonus.

This offseason will tell more, because he won't be spending huge money on his own players.

Next year, the Packers will have only three free agents of any note, though none is close to a must-sign player: defensive tackle Corey Williams, starting tight end Donald Lee and long snapper Rob Davis.

Williams plays at the Packers' deepest position, so if Thompson has concerns that Williams' previously questionable work habits suggest he'll become complacent after a big payday, he won't feel forced to re-sign him, as Sherman did with Cletidus Hunt in what turned out to be a disastrous long-term deal in 2004. Lee will be not much more than a minimum-wage type player unless he produces considerably better this year than last.

Halfback Vernand Morency, defensive tackle Colin Cole and halfback Noah Herron will be the team's only restricted free agents.

Those won't be hard decisions come next March. The rest will be on Thompson. He'll have the resources. But will he find anyone worthy?

[Harlan Huckleby]

If Franks was in his contract year in 2006, I seriously doubt the Packers would have resigned him at all.

Sure they would have, maybe with incentives like Green's contract last year.
They had no one else.

Maybe. But I note with pleasure that you concede that they wouldn't give him the same large contract that they did.

Its pure speculation, but I think they might have let Bubba go because he apparently had lost a step. Sometimes it is easier to release a player than deal with a demoted guy. Start fresh. (Guess he looks a little fleeter of foot this year.) Maybe they draft Greg Jones instead of Harrell.

[Bretsky]

If Franks was in his contract year in 2006, I seriously doubt the Packers would have resigned him at all.

Sure they would have, maybe with incentives like Green's contract last year.
They had no one else.

Maybe. But I note with pleasure that you concede that they wouldn't give him the same large contract that they did.

Its pure speculation, but I think they might have let Bubba go because he apparently had lost a step. Sometimes it is easier to release a player than deal with a demoted guy. Start fresh. (Guess he looks a little fleeter of foot this year.) Maybe they draft Greg Jones instead of Harrell.

Greg Olson you mean; Greg Jones is a RB for Jacksonville who was already a NFL Player.........I wanted to beat Pater to the correction

[Patler]

Maybe. But I note with pleasure that you concede that they wouldn't give him the same large contract that they did.

Its pure speculation, but I think they might have let Bubba go because he apparently had lost a step. Sometimes it is easier to release a player than deal with a demoted guy. Start fresh. (Guess he looks a little fleeter of foot this year.) Maybe they draft Greg Jones instead of Harrell.

1. His contract isn't that large in years 1-3.
2. I wrote the contract might have been incentive laden. Same money paid under different conditions.
3. He didn't lose a step, he was always slow!