The Packers made yet another move in free agency by signing former Washington Redskins CB Bashaud Breeland, per Packers beat writer/insider Rob Demovsky via Twitter. Breeland, who spent the first four years of his career in Washington, totaled 8 interceptions, 59 pass deflections, 7 forced fumbles, and 211 solo tackles. The move comes after Green Bay placed CB Davon House on injured reserve due to season ending shoulder surgery, as first reported by Ian Rapoport yesterday, also via Twitter. The move looks to bolster a rather lackluster secondary/CB group. Currently, the depth chart consists of veteran Tramon Williams and rookies Jaire Alexander and Josh Jackson. Second-year player Kevin King is currently recovering from a groin injury sustained against the Vikings in week 2 at Lambeau Field. He was also out for Green Bay’s week 3 tilt against the Redskins.
With King’s status still uncertain and only one other veteran at CB on the roster, Green Bay had to make a move and Breeland was a great choice at CB. He completely revamps and upgrades the secondary. Hopefully it translates into great things defensively for Green Bay as they’re currently ranked 26th overall in pass defense and are looking to improve on not only that but also the win-loss record. Breeland should add some much needed depth at the CB position which the Packers desperately need at this point in the season. Overall, it was a great signing and certainly improves the secondary as a whole.
Green Bay’s defense took a blow in the third preseason game with then potential starting rookie LB Oren Burks went down with a shoulder injury in practice before the game. This subsequently left him out of the final preseason game and the first two regular season games as well. Now, Burks’ injury is nearly 100% healed and he was listed as an estimated full participant for Wednesday in Green Bay and fully participated in Thursday’s indoor practice.
Mike McCarthy said during his weekly press conference that he wants to ease him in. Possibly only using him on special teams mostly and maybe a few snaps on defense as well. Burks is still projected to take injured LB Jake Ryan’s place on defense alongside third-year starter Blake Martinez.
Drafted in April of 2018 out of Vanderbilt, Burks has the size and athleticism to be a starting caliber LB in the NFL. One of the biggest reasons he was drafted was because of his coverage skills. He may be used in coverage Sunday on Washington’s RB Chris Thompson, who’s the NFL’s leader in catches.
Burks has shown plenty of talent and physicality when on the field in the preseason, let’s hope it translates into his regular season debut.
Aaron Rodgers is now the highest paid player in NFL history thanks to the new 4-year, $134M extension he signed with Green Bay earlier today. The deal is on top of the remaining two years left on his current contract. In total, $100M in guaranteed money, $33.5M per year over four years. This new deal also means that Rodgers will play as a Packer until he’s at least 40.
The deal makes it the richest contract in NFL history as well. Likely $176M-180M total over the next four years for Rodgers. $67M before the end of the calendar year, over $80M before St. Patrick’s Day, & $103M practically guaranteed. The deal also frees up $15.4M in cap space for possible future free agent pickups. All told, this was a great move by both Green Bay & Rodgers. They can both now focus on getting ready for the regular season opener against Chicago on September 9th without any distractions. Rodgers earned every penny of this new deal & I along with everyone else in Packer nation am very happy they got it done when they did.
Green Bay’s offense has lacked the explosiveness it once had under Joe Philbin. During his first tenure as offensive coordinator (2007-’11), Green Bay’s offense ranked in the top ten in the NFL in points scored & total yards every year, including their Super Bowl winning season in 2010. Since then, however, they’ve descended. Since 2012, they’ve only ranked in the top ten in both yards & points three times (2013, 2014, & 2016), under OCs Tom Clements (2012-’14), & Edgar Bennett (2015-’18). Things obviously needed to change & the Packers as an organization knew that.
Since Rodgers has become the starter, Green Bay’s go-to formation has been three receivers & one running back, with Aaron Rodgers under center spreading the ball to multiple pass-catchers on the outside & in the slot. Even last season with Rodgers missing nine of sixteen games, Green Bay was primarily using three wide receiver sets. It’ll also be interesting to see how they’ll utilize the rookie receivers acquired via the draft.
January 6th, 2018: Green Bay brings back Joe Philbin as offensive coordinator. They also hired Mike Pettine as defensive coordinator. These changes brought about a hopeful feeling within the organization & from fans. Hopefulness to bring Green Bay back to prominence again & to once again make it “Titletown, USA”. It’s crazy to think that it’s been 8 years since they’ve last been to the big dance.
Green Bay brought in some new weapons on offense in the offseason with rookie WRs Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Equanimous St. Brown, & J’Mon Moore. They also acquired tight ends Jimmy Graham & Marcedes Lewis in free agency. I along with plenty of other Packer fans are salivating over the fact that these guys will be used with Philbin as OC. Davante Adams will also be a huge threat to try & contend with on the outside as well as Randall Cobb in the slot. It leaves plenty of different offensive sets to ponder as a defensive coordinator. Single TE, three WR, multiple TE, even sending TEs out wide & in the slot. Basically, it’s going to be pick your poison when it comes to trying to defend this Packers offense.
Joe Philbin & Aaron Rodgers also shared an important & impressive relationship as it relates to player & coach. During his MVP season in 2011, Aaron Rodgers threw for 45 total touchdowns & just 6 interceptions, a ratio of 7.5/1. He also had the highest regular season QB rating at 122.5 while under the tutelage of Philbin. Overall with Philbin as OC, Rodgers has thrived, completing 65% of his passes while throwing for a total of 17,037 yards, 131 touchdowns, & just 37 interceptions while posting a QB rating of 105.1. Philbin is an important piece to have back for the Packers as an organization if they hope to make it far in the postseason.
The combination of Philbin at OC & Pettine at DC should have Packer fans hopeful. They both have had top ten rankings as coordinators in their respective careers. That should be anything but negative news for Packer fans the world over. Green Bay as an organization knows they have a window of opportunity to try & capitalize on with Rodgers at QB. It’s not completely closed yet which is a good thing in Green Bay.
Step one is complete. An organizational overhaul from a personnel standpoint. Step two is putting all of the player acquisitions to use on the field. I have a feeling that’s not going to be a problem at all this season. It will be intriguing to see if the offense will try & become more multi-dimensional & use more complex sets or if they’ll stick with what’s been working. Like the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
The Packers had one of their worst seasons in the Aaron Rodgers era in 2017, going 7-9, finishing 3rd in the NFC North, and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Their worst finish since 2013 when they went 8-7-1. Because of that, the main stream sports media seems to be counting them out quite early for the 2018 season. All I’ve been hearing is “Watch out for the Vikings!” or “Watch out for the Eagles!” Not one mention of Green Bay when predicting conference winners and/or Super Bowl contenders. One question I have is why? They addressed key off-season issues that have plagued them as a team over the years. Secondary and defensive line being at the top of the list with the additions of Muhammad Wilkerson and Tramon Williams and also adding players through the NFL draft.
Green Bay as a team under Rodgers has been very successful. Since 2008, they’ve won the division five times in the last nine seasons and had made the playoffs eight straight times before Rodgers got hurt in week 6 of the 2017 season against the Vikings, effectively ending the streak and the season. They’ve recorded 10+ wins in 7 of the last 9 seasons and have made the NFC Championship in 2 of the last 4. To say with a straight face that Green Bay isn’t a contender for the Super Bowl in the NFC this season would be asinine. I’d say they’re up there with the likes of Philadelphia, Minnesota, Los Angeles, and New Orleans within the conference.
Since 2008, (2008-’17, 9 seasons), Green Bay has posted 100 wins in the NFC, the most in the conference within that span. Aaron Rodgers as starter has posted 94 of those 100 wins. 56-14 at home. I don’t understand why the media is counting out such a successful team after one bad year in about 5 years. There is absolutely no reason to.
As long as Green Bay has Aaron Rodgers under center, they always have a fighter’s chance in the NFL. His play on the field speaks for itself. With Rodgers as QB, the Packers have posted 103 wins and just 55 losses (regular and postseason combined). Good for a .652 win percentage. 8th-best in the NFL among active QBs. Without him, the Packers are a measly 5-11-1.
The moral of the story here is never count Green Bay out. Especially this early. Rodgers makes them that much better when he is on the field. There is still work to be done, sure, but to say that Green Bay hasn’t improved as a team since the end of 2017, at least on paper, would be blasphemous. Whether those improvements show themselves on the field remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure, don’t sleep on them this season, especially with a 100% healthy Aaron Rodgers at the helm.
When you mention the top five wide receivers in the NFL right now, you’ll get different answers at different spots on the list from fans around the league. Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr, AJ Green, etc, etc. One name that is missing usually when mentioning them is a guy in Green Bay, 4th year WR Davante Adams. Rightfully so in some aspects. Adams’ career so far has/had been overshadowed by another great WR in Green Bay, Jordy Nelson. With him moved onto Oakland though, Adams looks to take over the role as the #1 WR.
Since 2016, he has caught a total of 22 touchdowns, the most of any WR in that span. In comparison, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham, & AJ Green have caught a total of 34 TDs COMBINED in that span. He will also see his overall workload increase a bit as a result of taking the #1 spot. That shouldn’t be an issue though due to the amount of catches he had last season at the #2 spot (74 total with 10 TDs). Nelson had 53 total receptions and 6 TDs as the #1 WR in 2017.
Adams should have no problem taking over as the #1 WR for Rodgers. He and Adams already have built a connection with each other that only is getting better with each passing season since his rookie one in 2014. Since then, Adams has started in 52 of 59 games with a total of 2,811 yards and 26 touchdowns on 237 receptions.
Let’s also not gloss over the fact that he had Brett Hundley throwing to him in weeks 7-15 & 16-17 & still put up almost 1000 yards with 10 touchdowns. He had 885 yards on 73 catches good for 12 yards per catch. Adams is no slouch at wide receiver & continues to shine regardless of the quarterback or situation that is put in front of him. He looks to take a firm hold of the #1 spot this season & use his leadership skills to better equip the younger, more inexperienced rookie wide receivers who are just beginning their time in the NFL with Green Bay. I do know one thing, people need to stop sleeping on him and start talking about him in the same breath as Julio, Odell, & other top tier wide receivers. Adams has definitely earned it.
When drafted in 2015 out of Stanford, Ty Montgomery was primarily going to be used as a wide receiver and special teams/return man. Little did he know, he’d be used as much more. 2015, he was used as a return man and wide receiver. 2016 saw him transition to a full-time running back due to the injury issues at the position at the time. He had 77 attempts for 457 yards and 3 total touchdowns. He was good for 5.9 YPC, the highest on the team at the time.
2017 saw him transition into a wide receiver/running back hybrid but due to a nagging ankle injury, he saw the field on a limited basis. He only caught 23 passes in 5 games for 173 yards and 1 touchdown. He ran the ball 71 times for 273 yards and 3 touchdowns. Good for only 3.8 YPC. Overall in 14 games started, he’s carried the ball a total of 151 times for 744 yards and 6 touchdowns.
He was asked about it in an interview on Thursday, saying: “I feel like this is what I should be doing, doing multiple things, running the ball out of the backfield, catching the ball out of the backfield, and catching the ball outside.” “You know, it’s one of the benefits of me being able to keep my number 88 and having the skill set that I have is what personnel do you have out there, how do you line up to this set or this formation or this personnel that we’re in.” “So I think it’s about matchups and creating mismatches.”
It also creates questions for defensive coordinators. How do you defend a guy who can play multiple positions at a high level every game? That’s exactly what you want an offensive weapon like Montgomery to do. It helps the offense be more effective and efficient as a whole as well. Green Bay as an organization knows that they have a special player with him. Someone who can be a multi-positional threat. Montgomery looks to get back to his peak form in 2018 for Green Bay and if he does, look out.
Green Bay wide receiver Randall Cobb seems to have been left in the dust when discussing wide receivers in the league. His stats over the last 3 seasons are among the elite. Since 2014, Cobb has more touchdowns (26), than Julio Jones (23), Jarvis Landry (23), and Larry Fitzgerald (22). Although his numbers have dipped a bit, he still has plenty of gas left in the tank. With Jordy Nelson now gone, his playing time and overall production should rise in 2018.
In 2017, he had 66 receptions for 653 yards and 4 touchdowns. Even as the third string receiver behind both Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams, Cobb still proved to be a vital part of the Packers’ offense. Often, he was used as a decoy on pass plays or as a running back. Both instances make him a threat on the field. According to Pro Football Focus, Cobb rated at 73.0 as a wide receiver last season.
As far as efficiency goes, he was that and more in 2017. He had a catch rate of 71.7% (7th overall in ‘17), of his 76 total targets, 82.6% were catchable (14th overall in ‘17), 2.03 yards per separation at target (11th overall in ‘17), a 96.8 passer rating when targeted, and finally, he had a total of 424 yards after catch (7th overall in ‘17). He also only had 2 total drops (95th overall in ‘17).
With the addition of Jimmy Graham into the offense combined with Jordy Nelson leaving for Oakland, Randall Cobb should see an increase in both targets out wide and in the slot. That should only bode well for him in 2018. He is still an important and vital part of what makes Green Bay a threat in the NFL even though his numbers have dipped from previous seasons. He has the speed to get into the open field after a catch and has great hands for being a relatively small receiver at only 5’10”. Randall Cobb is still a capable, durable, and dependable receiver and the numbers prove it.
Green Bay ended up signing another tight end Thursday night with veteran Marcedes Lewis coming over from Jacksonville. He announced it himself via his Twitter. This now makes it three total tight ends on the roster along with Graham and Kendricks. The addition of Lewis makes the Packers offense even more dynamic and multidimensional. He’s one of the best blocking tight ends in the league and with struggles from the offensive line in Green Bay, Lewis can help shore that up on both the run and pass.
Lewis spent 11 seasons with the Jaguars from 2006-’17. At 6’6″, he’s yet another tall target for Aaron Rodgers. In his 11 year career, he’s caught 375 passes for 4,572 yards and 33 touchdowns at an average of 12 yards per catch. Having spent his career with mediocre to average quarterbacks, I’m sure he’s very happy to start catching passes from one of the best QBs, if not the best in the league today. Only time will tell, but it looks like Green Bay has improved in all facets of the game, at least on paper.
Before the Lewis signing, Green Bay had gone through Jermichael Finley, Andrew Quarless, Jared Cook, and most recently, Martellus Bennett, under Rodgers’ leadership. That’s a lot of tight ends. Hopefully, this signing helps Green Bay stay steady at the tight end position. They know how important that position is in a pass-heavy league with Aaron Rodgers. One thing is for sure, Green Bay’s offense is going to be a very tough one to stop this season.
With the insane amount of money getting dished out to NFL quarterbacks around the league recently, it’s not out of question to say that Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers deserves that and more. Back in April of 2013, Rodgers signed a then 5-year, $110M contract ($54M in guaranteed money), making him the highest paid player at the time. But now that San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo (5-years, $137.5M, $74.1M guaranteed), Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins (3-years, $84M fully guaranteed), and now most recently, Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan (5-years, $150M, $100M guaranteed), have gotten their deals, the Packers want to make sure Rodgers is taken care of. Rodgers currently sits at 9th on the highest paid QB list. Now, we wait.
The ball is now in Packer GM Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball’s court. Rodgers said himself back in March that he is confident that his agent and Green Bay’s front office will get something done. But now that the numbers are out for other QBs in the league, it’s time to start finalizing a deal for the best one in the league today. $100M seemed like a reasonable price for Rodgers, but now with Ryan most recently signing one worth $150M with $100M in guaranteed money, that is now the leaping point instead of the starting point in regards to Rodgers’ new deal.
I expect Green Bay to get one done sooner rather than later. Most likely by the end of the pre-season if not sooner. Now until late August would be the expected timeframe for the new deal to get done. Aaron Rodgers is going to be a very, very rich man when all is said and done, as he should be. I expect upwards of $160M total with $120-30M in guaranteed money. It’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility, especially for a QB the caliber of Rodgers.
