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.
Alexander is a guy who I initially wasn’t very high on when Green Bay drafted him. After some research and film review though, this is a player who will thrive on a defense like Green Bay’s with new DC Mike Pettine. He is very physical in coverage, plays the ball VERY well, is sure-handed, and has tremendous deep ball coverage. All of those traits should translate very well for him at the next level with Green Bay. Excellent pick.
Grade: A
RD 2, PK 45: Josh Jackson, CB, Iowa.
I honestly didn’t expect Green Bay to go cornerback, cornerback in back-to-back rounds but that’s just what they did. I actually called this pick the night before. This is guy who I was very high on and still am. He reminds me a ton of former Packer and Hawkeye, Micah Hyde. He has excellent ball skills, very good hands, and is excellent in pass coverage. He’s very lanky and has great leaping ability. He’ll fit very well in Green Bay. Yet another great pick.
Grade: A
RD 3, PK 88 (Trade up via Carolina Panthers): Oren Burks, OLB, Vanderbilt.
Unlike starting LB Blake Martinez, Oren Burks can provide a coverage element at ILB for Green Bay. Martinez was a tackling machine last season for them, leading in total tackles with 144. Burks can also be a tackling LB while still providing pass coverage which will benefit the secondary and provide huge dividends for both Burks and the Packers as a whole on defense. Very good pick for trading into the 3rd round.
Grade: B
RD 4, PK 133: J’Mon Moore, WR, Missouri.
Moore is a big body receiver who lacks deep speed, but he has tremendous foot movement, lateral quickness, and leaping ability. He seems to be the heir apparent to the recently departed Jeff Janis, who left for Cleveland early in the offseason. He also will provide Rodgers with yet another threat in the passing game.
Grade: B-
RD 5, PK 138: Cole Madison, OL, Washington State.
Madison is a guy who, even though he’s not a guard, reminds me a lot of a former Packer Josh Sitton. While with Green Bay, Sitton had a tremendous ability to pass protect even under the harshest of conditions. He also had great hands and tremendous footwork while blocking. I see a lot of those traits in Madison and I believe he will be a very good asset to the offensive line and will provide Rodgers with great protection up front as well.
Grade: B+
RD 5, PK 172: JK Scott, P, Alabama.
Originally, this was a head scratcher for me but after I thought about it, I realized it actually was a good pick. Green Bay has had some punter problems over the years. This is not to say that currently Justin Vogel isn’t a good punter, but with possible injury always a concern and punting somewhat of an issue the last few seasons (pinning opponents in the 10-5 yard lines consistently), this was a good pick overall.
Grade: B
RD 5, PK 174: Marquez Valdes-Scantling, WR, USF.
This pick was yet another great one. Valdes-Scantling is another athletic freak at wide receiver. At 6’4″, he ran a 4.37 40 yard dash and had a 30 ½ vertical. He’s a tall, fast receiver that will benefit very much having Aaron Rodgers throw to him. This pick seemed to me to possibly be a replacement for the recently departed Jordy Nelson, who left Green Bay back in March to join Jon Gruden and the Oakland Raiders. From his tape, he seems to have great, shifty movements on routes, great route running and catching ability, and great speed in the open field. Once again, another great pick.
Grade: B
RD 6, PK 207: Equanimeous St. Brown, WR, Notre Dame.
This was yet another big time pick from first year GM Brian Gutekunst. St. Brown is a guy that was very high on Packer fan’s radars and for good reason. He’s 6’5″ and had a current Packer QB as his starter while at Notre Dame. DeShone Kizer was his QB and was absolutely elated that Green Bay had chosen him in the sixth round. He was quoted in a statement on Twitter: “I’m so hype!” “Packers fans, you have no idea what you are about to get in EQ.” “Looking forward to watching y’all’s reactions to him this off-season.” “A special talent.” So, it seems that players and fans alike are fond of this pick. As they should be. Film watch showed me the great speed, route running, and catching ability/radius this guy has. He is an absolute FREAK athletically and will most certainly showcase that ability this upcoming season for Green Bay. Excellent pick.
Grade: A
RD 7, PK 232: James Looney, DL/DE, Cal.
Green Bay once again went the California route and drafted defensive lineman James Looney. At 6’3″ and 275lbs, Looney has very good size for his position. He’s very quick off the ball and very aggressive in his pursuit and has great pursuit angles as well. Both qualities should translate to the NFL. Green Bay needs pass rush and this was one part in getting that problem fixed. Great pick.
Green Bay has had long-snapper issues over the past few years. Brett Goode has been injury prone so getting one as a possible replacement in the later rounds wasn’t all that bad of an idea. If you’re asking yourself: “What team would draft a long-snapper in the later rounds of an NFL draft?” Answer? The same team who drafted a punter two picks earlier in the 7th round. This was a great long-term pick for Green Bay. LS was a need and they got a relatively good one in Bradley out of Mississippi State.
This was another great pick and addressed pass rush, a huge need for Green Bay. A defense that only had around 16-18 total sacks as a unit last season and desperately needed guys that can aggressively and relentlessly pursue the QB. At 6’2″ and 248 lbs, Donnerson is an athletic specimen at the edge/LB position. He had twelve sacks in his 4 year career with SEMS. This was an excellent pick by Gutekunst that addressed and fixed a glaring problem on Green Bay’s defense.
Grade: A
Final overall analysis and grade:
Overall, Brian Gutekunst did an excellent job in his first ever draft as the new GM of the Packers. Not only did he address glaring problems on defense, he also got quality playmakers at positions of need and helped out Aaron Rodgers in the process. I don’t think we would’ve seen the same type of aggressiveness in the draft under former GM Ted Thompson. I think with Gutekunst at the helm, Green Bay seems to be heading in the right direction and only trending upwards.
The Packers get their season started off with a bang as they host the Bears and Vikings in consecutive weeks. The season gets started off with four home games in the first six weeks, and then a “Bye Week” in Week 7. After the week off, they will be traveling quite a bit as they will have only four home games in the final ten weeks of the season.
Despite this, they don’t have more than two straight home games or road games. Their week off is at a decent point in the season. They have a Thursday night game in Week 11, which means they have a “mini-bye” before they hit their final stretch of the season.
Two home games vs divisional opponents gives the Packers a great opportunity to jump ahead and take control of the division and tiebreaker scenarios early. Did we expect anyone else but the Bears to open their 100th season? It’s no doubt that emotions will be riding high in the second week as the Vikings come into town. They travel to Detroit in Week 5, their first game in the Motor City before December since 2014. The 49er game will be intriguing as San Francisco has high hopes with Jimmy Garoppolo as their QB. The two weeks after the “bye” will be tough as they visit the Rams in Los Angeles, and then travel to the East Coast to play the New England Patriots. After a home game vs Miami, they travel to Seattle for a Thursday Night Game, and then have some time off before a huge game in Minnesota. Their December features three home games, all vs teams who play their home games indoors. They play Detroit to close out their regular season for the third year in a row, but they will be at home this time.
We never know how the season will play out, but what I am seeing, they had better be ready to play after the “bye week” as they play four road games in five weeks, all against potential playoff teams. Seattle is a question mark, but they are at home and still have Russell Wilson at QB, even if their defense is no longer dominant. I think they are set up to have a great finish to the season if they have their house in order in December.
We can predict this and that, but the whole Packer roster hasn’t even taken shape yet. We still have the draft, plus there will be players coming and going in training camp and during the preseason. The schedule is a fun time of the year though. Many of you will be buying tickets, and perhaps make a trip or two, like to L.A. in November for example. It’s a good time to plan your football parties. Some of you will probably plan your Sunday Mass or Service schedule around the Packer games. For your friends and relatives that are not really into football, I guess they will have to find something else to do during Packer games. Hey, there is always Saturday, and there will be some Sundays free during the season.
I know there is a long way to go before the first game kicks off, but the release of the schedule is welcome news for sure. The draft will be coming up soon, and we will see what happens. There have been some grumblings from fans and rumors about the team and whether Aaron Rodgers is frustrated with management. A lot of it is just talk. There is plenty of time to sort things out. The team will be just fine. Let’s enjoy this moment and get ready for the draft as we build this roster for their 100th NFL Season, a season in which I believe they are fully capable of ending with another Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Former Dallas Cowboy wide receiver Dez Bryant was released from the team Friday per ESPN NFL Nation reporter Todd Archer & later was confirmed by ESPN NFL Insider Adam Shefter via Twitter. This brought about questions regarding what teams could possibly use Bryant’s services. Among those teams was the Green Bay Packers. Analysts and some fans alike were thinking he could be a possible replacement for Jordy Nelson. That sounds like a great idea, right? Let’s dive a bit deeper into it.
Over the last seven years with the Cowboys, Bryant has accumulated a total of 531 receptions for 7,459 yards, and 73 touchdowns at an average of 14.0 yards per catch in 113 career games (99 starts). With Green Bay in ten years, Jordy Nelson had a total of 7,848 yards, and 69 touchdowns at an average of 14.3 yards per catch in 136 career games (88 starts). Not that much of a difference stat wise. While I definitely understand why people are saying he could be a possible replacement for Nelson, I just can’t see him and Rodgers having as good of a connection. Nelson was also 33 years old when Green Bay released him. Bryant is soon to be 30 years old and will most likely be asking a hefty price tag. With Green Bay already using 30M in cap on Jimmy Graham, I just don’t know how they’d end up signing a guy like Bryant as well to the roster. It’d be much easier just to get a wide receiver in the draft. Also, Bryant has had a bit of an attitude problem with Dallas, something I don’t want in the locker room. He has this “it’s all about me” persona that I believe won’t vibe very well in Green Bay.
Nelson never had that while with the Packers. He was a complete team player. Never cared about individual stats and greatness. He Only wanted his team to succeed and tried with all of his effort as an individual player to make that happen. The biggest moment of the “team player” mentality that Nelson had came in the 2016 NFC Championship game against Atlanta.
Nelson had fractured his ribs two games prior against the Giants in the NFC Wild Card game at Lambeau Field. Nobody thought he would end up even suiting up for the game, much less play in it. That’s exactly what he did. He actually had a pretty impressive stat line all told. Six total receptions for 67 yards and 1 touchdown. Rodgers was asked about it after the game and said: “Yeah, I mean I’m so proud of Jordy.” “It’s incredible that he was out there.” That right there epitomized the connection built between them both as players and individuals.
Nelson was Rodgers’ go-to guy on offense. Nobody will be able to replicate what they did as a QB-WR tandem on the field in Green Bay, not even Dez Bryant. Although he may be able to bring some production to Green Bay’s offense out wide as a receiver, I just don’t think he’ll mesh as well with Rodgers as Nelson did. That takes time and effort. So while it’s great to think Bryant coming to Green Bay would solve the wide receiver problem all together, in reality, it won’t — even when a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers is throwing to you. Their connection is something that cannot be duplicated nor replaced and is something that will be sorely missed in Green Bay in 2018 & beyond.
Green Bay saw a shuffle within the offense when they signed tight end Jimmy Graham and subsequently released wide receiver Jordy Nelson on March 13th. Some fans didn’t take too kindly to the moves. They were saying how much Nelson has left in the tank, the connection between him and Rodgers, etcetera, etcetera. That all may be true, but at the end of the day, the NFL is a business and sometimes you have to move on from certain star players.
That being said, Jimmy Graham will be an immense upgrade to the offense. He’s a versatile, multi-positional threat at tight end and Green Bay will use him as such. Some fans also have said Graham is washed up because of his age (he’s 33) and “lack” of explosiveness when in the open field. That’s not true at all. He’s still an elite level player at tight end. The main reasoning behind those claims are because of the way Seattle used Graham in the offense.
For the doubters thinking he’s washed up and won’t provide anything to the Packers’ offense, stop the doubt. The Seahawks didn’t use him effectively within their offense. He’s finally healthy and he just had his first 10+ touchdown season since 2014. He’s exactly the red-zone threat the Packers need. He will flourish with a guy like Aaron Rodgers throwing to him. He was used primarily as a blocker which didn’t bode well at all for him. He’s not a blocking tight end. He’s been known as an elite pass catcher, not a run or pass blocker. Even with that though, Graham finished the 2016 season for Seattle with 65 receptions for 923 yards, both franchise-best single-season marks for a tight end, per NFL Communications.
Statistically, Graham is an elite tight end. In 121 career games (89 career starts), he’s compiled a total of 556 receptions for 6,800 yards, and 69 touchdowns in seven years with two different teams (New Orleans and Seattle). For comparison, former Packer wide receiver Jordy Nelson had 550 receptions for 7,848 yards and also 69 touchdowns in 136 career games (88 career starts). In ten seasons with Green Bay, Nelson only has Graham beat by about six less receptions and 1,048 yards. Also in comparison, current New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski has compiled 474 receptions for 7,176 yards, and 76 touchdowns in 102 career games (89 career starts) with the Patriots. Graham only trails him by 376 total yards & 7 touchdowns.
Despite the criticism, the addition of Jimmy Graham to the offense will make Green Bay that much more dangerous. He can play multiple positions and also stretch the field. Both of those things will cause nightmares for opposing defenses and their coordinators. Having a weapon of Graham’s caliber at Rodgers’ disposal will only make him perform better and in turn, also make Graham and the offense perform better. He will flourish with a guy like Rodgers throwing to him. I for one cannot wait to see the connection build between him and Rodgers once the 2018 season starts in September. I foresee great things this season. Go Pack!
Green Bay saw its best remaining safety in Morgan Burnett leave for the Pittsburgh Steelers eight days ago. That certainly leaves a hole in the secondary that will need to be filled quickly. One guy that could end up filling that hole would be Kentrell Brice. A soon to be third year player out of Louisiana Tech, Brice saw very limited action in his career (25 games with only 7 total starts, including the postseason).
His limited action was most likely due to the play of Haha Clinton-Dix, Morgan Burnett, & Josh Jones, all of whom have contributed more to the team than Brice has in only two years. This is not to say that Brice doesn’t have the talent or ability to play as a starting caliber safety in the league, because he does.
For only being an NFL player for two years, Brice still tallied some pretty good stats for a third string safety on the depth chart behind both Josh Jones & Morgan Burnett. He ended up recording 17 total tackles to go along with one interception in 6 games played (3 total starts) in 2017. In 2016, his first year, he started in only one game, recording 17 tackles, & one fumble recovery. He saw his 2017 season end on injured reserve due a very severe ankle injury.
2018 could see a step up for Brice in both games played and overall production on the field so long as he stays healthy. Green Bay needs to find another answer to its bleakness in the secondary. Another free agent may be in mind as well as some more help via the defensive laden NFL draft in late April. There are a plethora of great options. The top options for them include Josh Jackson out of Iowa, Derwin James out of Florida State, Minkah Fitzpatrick out of Alabama, & Denzel Ward out of Ohio State. All of these options can be attainable either by waiting for them to fall to #14, or trading up to get one or two. Green Bay has the most picks of any team in draft (12), so any of these players can & would certainly bolster a very weak secondary.
Brice could also have to see a position change in order to see his production go up which won’t necessarily be a bad thing. Haha Clinton-Dix, a player listed ahead of Brice on defense, plays free safety, which is Brice’s natural position. A transition from free to strong safety would either mean he would compete with fellow starting strong safety Josh Jones for the starting job, or get snaps on a rotation with Jones. Whichever route Green Bay chooses to go should benefit Brice. He showed flashes of the great player he can be within his first two years in the NFL. Let’s hope that Brice doesn’t get left in the dust in the secondary. He has the ability to be a great & capable starting caliber safety in the secondary, so long as he stays healthy.
Green Bay needs help in the secondary bad. This became even more apparent when Green Bay traded away its best corner in Damarious Randall to the Cleveland Browns for quarterback DeShone Kizer and swapped 4th and 5th round picks in the upcoming NFL draft. Everyone thought that it would hopefully lead to a signing of a big name free agent CB or two…Didn’t happen. Instead, they opted for a cheaper, proven veteran.
Williams will be a definitive upgrade over current starter Devon House. He is coming off of one of his best seasons as a pro and still has some gas left in the tank. According to Pro Football Focus, Williams allowed a catch percentage of 49.7 percent & a passer rating of just 58.4 percent over 666 total snaps on defense for the Arizona Cardinals in 2017–the lowest among all free agent CBs. He also had the 7th lowest yards per target in coverage at 30.2. He allowed a passer rating of 1.0 when targeted in man coverage.
People also often overlook the fact that he played an instrumental role in Green Bay bringing home a 4th Lombardi Trophy back in 2010. During that run, Williams tallied three total interceptions for a total of 79 yards with 1 TD. He also recorded 8 total tackles, 5 of which were solo. He played a very important role for Green Bay during that impressive run.
In eight years with Green Bay (127 games, 99 total starts), Williams recorded 28 total interceptions for 423 yards and 1 touchdown. He also forced 5 fumbles & had a total of 395 tackles while with Green Bay as well. He was and still is a very capable starting cornerback. He will provide Green Bay with some much needed veteran leadership on the defense. Something it hasn’t had since Julius Peppers back in 2014.
Overall, this reunion of sorts in Green Bay was a much needed one considering the dire direction the secondary was heading with Randall & Burnett both leaving for new teams. This move was smart from both a football and business perspective. Williams is a proven veteran who can and will provide a spark to a very rookie laden defense. I think Green Bay could benefit very much from this signing, especially if they get a few more impact players in the secondary via the draft, there’s plenty of options there.
Gutekunst isn’t done making moves just yet. It’s just the beginning. Providing a great pass rush with the addition of Mo Wilkerson on the defensive line will also make the secondary better. He knows Green Bay needs to become a championship caliber team & improving on a very porous pass defense by getting a proven veteran is a pretty good start.
Green Bay opened up the free agency period by doing three huge things. All of which will drastically impact the season. They started out by inking former New York Jets defensive end Muhammad Wilkerson to a 1-year, $5M deal. A move which ends up bolstering a weak pass rush, something the Packers desperately need. Joining a defensive line with a slew of capable interior defenders, Wilkerson may have landed in the best possible spot for him to return to his formerly dominant self in 2018.
Packers interior defenders Mike Daniels and Kenny Clark bullied their opposition as a duo this past season, both earning 87.0-plus overall grades and 88.0-plus run-defense grades, according to Pro Football Focus. As such, Wilkerson should see much more 1-on-1 matchups as a cog in Green Bay’s defense which should give him more opportunities to make plays and re-earn the reputation of being a fierce defensive lineman.
What it means for Green Bay:
Fitting Wilkerson into the rotation at the interior of the defensive line with Clark and Daniels, two high-end rush defenders, gives defensive coordinator Mike Pettine a surplus firepower in the trenches to effectively stuff opposing ball carriers at the line of scrimmage. If Wilkerson can tap into his previous pass-rush successes, Pettine will have quite the interior pass-rush as well.
In 2015, easily the best season of his career, Wilkerson recorded 78 total pressures (including 12 sacks) across 575 pass-rush snaps, ranking fourth among all NFL interior defenders, according to Pro Football Focus. Of the 78 total pressures, 32 (41 percent) were recorded when Wilkerson was rushing outside of opposing right tackle. That alignment has still been successful for him despite decreased usage over the years.
Wilkerson’s 10.7 pressure percentage over the past three years (2015-17) rushing outside of the right tackle is far and away his best compared to any other alignment along the defensive line. However, after playing 42.98 percent of his snaps at said position in 2015, he played just 34.2 percent and 13.7 percent of his snaps rushing outside of the right tackle in 2016 & ‘17, respectively.
With Daniels and Clark at his disposal, Pettine will have the luxury of moving Wilkerson up and down the defensive line while the aforementioned duo handle the interior. If Pettine wanted to maximize his new defensive lineman’s skills, giving Wilkerson ample opportunities outside of the right tackle might be his best bet.
Bottom Line:
Signing Wilkerson to a one-year, “prove-it” deal limits the risk for Green Bay and gives him an opportunity to showcase himself before inking a much more lucrative, long-term contract in the future. Both parties should come out of this deal on top. I give this signing an A-.
Tight End Jimmy Graham:
They then signed tight end Jimmy Graham to a 3 year deal. Signing with the Green Bay Packers gives Graham an opportunity to return to a role that he finds more comfortable, which is as a perimeter passing weapon who spends a large amount of snaps out wide or in the slot rather than as a true in-line tight end. All three seasons Graham spent with the Seahawks were spent with more time lined up as a true tight end than he had during his last year with the Saints in 2014.
Graham’s final year as a Saint also saw him lined up at wide receiver on 197 snaps while Seattle didn’t line him up at wide receiver for 100 snaps in a season until his third and final season with the team, according to Pro Football Focus. Additionally, Graham lined up in the slot on 304 snaps his final year in New Orleans but didn’t line up in the slot for 200 snaps until 2017. The pairing of Graham with Aaron Rodgers and head coach Mike McCarthy will see Graham in a role in which he enjoys and thrives.
What it means for Green Bay:
Graham is 31 years old now, so he isn’t the dominant presence he once was and is on the heels of his worst season as a pro. He can still be a highly effective mismatch player in the pass game however, and Graham has always been at his best when he can be moved around to take advantage of mismatches in coverage. In 2014, Graham caught 44 passes when he was lined up in the slot, which ranked No. 2 among all tight ends. That same season, his four touchdowns from the slot tied him for first among tight ends. Graham is likely not as fast as he once but he can still be a viable mismatch weapon from the slot for the Packers’ offense. Additionally, Graham still has the freaky size and very large catching radius to be a red zone weapon in Green Bay.
Bottom Line:
Aaron Rodgers is probably giddy with anticipation to have a pass-catching weapon with the track record of Jimmy Graham on his team. Rodgers’ pinpoint accuracy can also take advantage of his size and catch radius, especially in the end zone, however, he is not getting any younger. The Packers have given him a substantial amount of money on a team that had to shed the cap hit of longtime WR Jordy Nelson to make move this offseason. A move that gives them an additional $10.2M to be able to afford his contract (3 years, $30M). I give this signing a C+.
Overall, I give these two moves a combined B+. They address two glaring problems on both sides of the ball for them and also got them very good players to hopefully fix the problems. Green Bay rarely dips its hands into the free agency pool and for them to do that while also addressing the issues at hand for both the offense and defense speaks volumes about the direction the organization is going. Even though they had to do one of the moves at the expense of fan-favorite Jordy Nelson. He ended up signing a 2 year, $15M deal with the Oakland Raiders with $13M guaranteed, as first reported by NFL Insider Adam Schefter via Twitter at around 3:15 PM local time Thursday. These signings were much needed and addressed key issues with Green Bay, let’s hope they end up panning out.
The Packers were a busy team on the eve of the new NFL season. Unrestricted free agents cannot officially sign until today, but the Packers scored two players who will help address their major needs.
As the hours were ticking away into Tuesday afternoon, the Packers haven’t announced any deals, frustrating many fans who wondered if they were going to go through more of the same that they did for several years under Ted Thompson, which is getting their hopes up that TT will make a big splash in free agency and then coming up with bread crumbs, and sometimes not even that.
However, this time was different. New GM Brian Gutekunst was able to secure one of the top tight ends in the league in Jimmy Graham, and then a few hours later, they lured defensive tackle Muhammad Wilkerson to Green Bay.
Not all of the news made the Packer faithful happy though. Not long at all after the Jimmy Graham announcement, reports came out of Green Bay that Jordy Nelson was going to be released. Before the Wilkerson announcement, one of the free agents that would have helped fill a need, cornerback Trumaine Johnson, signed with the New York Jets instead of the Packers.
I can’t speak for any Packer fan except for myself, but I am excited about the Graham signing. Is he the same player he was five years ago? Probably not. Can he still make a huge impact, especially in the red zone? I think so. He is a touchdown machine. He has been blessed with some talented quarterbacks during his career with Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, and now Aaron Rodgers. Two of the three are locks for the Hall of Fame, and Russell Wilson has a very good chance of getting there as well when his career is finally over.
I was disappointed that they couldn’t lock up Trumaine Johnson. When I heard the news, I knew that the Packers had to make a move to settle the Green Bay faithful down a bit, a move like acquiring Wilkerson, which they did a short time later. Wilkerson is a talented player, but he had some disciplinary issues for the Jets, mainly tardiness. The team finally got tired of his act. I am sure that Gutekunst and Mike McCarthy will talk with him and let him know that he has a clean slate in Green Bay. If he keeps his head where it needs to be, he can be a great asset. It’s not the number of sacks that will determine his greatness; it’s his presence. I think of former Packer Ryan Pickett. Pickett didn’t dominate the stat sheet, but his presence made it easier for every other player on the defensive line. In the Super Bowl vs Pittsburgh, Pickett wrapped up Rashard Mendenhall, giving Clay Matthews a chance to make a hit and force a key fumble. Another former Jet, Howard Green, didn’t fill up the stat sheet either, but he made his presence felt at times, none more than when he pressured Ben Roethlisberger in that same game, hitting his arm and causing the ball to be underthrown and intercepted by Nick Collins, who returned it for a touchdown. Will Wilkerson make a key play in a game for Green Bay? Only time will tell.
Good things unfortunately have to come to an end sometimes as Jordy Nelson has been released. The team apparently wanted him to take a huge pay cut and the two sides were unable to come to an agreement. Whether it was the right move or not, this one hurts. Jordy is one of the true good guys in football. I knew when the end was coming for Donald Driver in Green Bay, and that one hurt as well. Could Jordy eventually return for a lower salary? Anything is possible, but until I hear otherwise, it is goodbye for now. He will obviously get inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame someday, and when his career is over, he will always be welcome back in Green Bay. It remains to be seen what will happen with Randall Cobb, who is in the final year of his contract.
Overall, I am excited about the two new players, but the team still has a lot of work to do with the roster before they are ready to make a Super Bowl run this next season. Even if the team doesn’t make any other significant free agent signings, there are still other ways of acquiring good talent such as trades. We now have an aggressive GM who will do what it takes to get players on this team. Whether or not I agree with the moves that Gutekunst made, such as the release of Jordy Nelson, he faced the media and talked about why he did it. I respect the fact that he makes himself available like that. Ted Thompson rarely addressed the media, leaving McCarthy there to answer questions and be the fall guy. Now that Kirk Cousins has agreed to a deal with the Vikings, one of the things the Packers are going to focus on is getting that contract extension done with Aaron Rodgers. Clay Matthews may have to restructure his deal, or he may not last much longer in Green Bay. Once again, it will hurt if he gets released, but sometimes you have to make tough and unpopular decisions in order to achieve success.
There will be many bumps along the way, but it’s going to be quite a ride these next few months. It’s all about putting a team together that is capable of adding another Vince Lombardi Trophy to the collection in Green Bay. Stay tuned because the chase for another Super Bowl Championship has already begun.
