Green Bay Packers and Jermichael Finley Agree on 2 Year $15 Milion Contract

quote:

Originally posted by Pakrz:
Wait and see what TT does next... Flynn will get the tag and GB will trade his ass for a nice pick or a player.

The Flynn think is only the tip of the iceberg.

1) With Finley under contract, TT trades him to the Browns for OT Joe Thomas and a couple late round picks.

2) TT trades WR Driver to the Rams for another pick.

3) Sends Grant to Tampa for a pick. They need a lot of help.

4) Wilson and Wynn might play better in a 4-3 defense. Maybe give them that chance.

With 8 picks of their own, + say 3 comp picks, + about 5 picks via trades = about 16 picks. Should be able to get a couple impact players and enough depth to fix the defense.

Nice drugs ... what kind are they?

No drugs, only green & gold colored glasses with a little wishful thinking mixed in.

I'm a vocal Finley hater and I LOVE this deal..

1 - If he performs up to potential, you have a bargain and negotiating rights. We can always Franchise him in year 3 as well.

2 - If he under-performs or becomes a cancer, you're not tied to him long term..

3 - The tag is still open for TT.. If he can get Wells to agree to a reasonable 3 year deal when he is looking at his one big pay day AND do a tag / trade for Flynn I will bow down to the greatest GM the Packers have ever had.

quote:

Originally posted by IL_Pack_Fan:

quote:

Originally posted by PackerRuss:
What's to say that Flynn gets the tag, and all the teams that would be potential suitors, know that they can lowball offers, since they know the Packers have to get rid of him. If Flynn gets tagged, doesn't that force the hand of TT?

I don't think there's any chance he gets the tag without a deal in place first.

Interesting comments after that Miami article michiganjoe posted. If the 'Fins are giving up a 2nd, would a trade up for RG3 be possible/preferable?

I hear ya, and they can have a deal in place, and I could see another team, reneg on it?? Isn't that what the Bears did to the Ravens? A TON of risk to franchise Flynn, I don't think TT wants/needs to take that risk. Of course, we'd love to get something for Flynn, but the risk doesn't outweigh the reward (a 2nd/3rd) IMO. I would agree with the comments too, that if your going to trade a 2nd/3rd, why not go big and get RGIII or Luck, etc.?

quote:

Originally posted by PackerRuss:
What's to say that Flynn gets the tag, and all the teams that would be potential suitors, know that they can lowball offers, since they know the Packers have to get rid of him. If Flynn gets tagged, doesn't that force the hand of TT?

Btw - I like the deal with YOTTO, as everyone has said, it buys a little time, to see who JF really is, and what we have behind him. It doesn't break the bank, and offers flexibility on some other fronts.

I'd bet that the Dolphins would swap Flynn for a player like Cameron Wake in a heartbeat. They haven't had a real QB in there since Dan Marino left town.

quote:

Originally posted by Pack-Man: I'd bet that the Dolphins would swap Flynn for a player like Cameron Wake in a heartbeat. They haven't had a real QB in there since Dan Marino left town.

If this happened, TT would choke on his Bud Lite again.

On the other hand, Wake is 30, so maybe they'd need more than just him. At any rate, Ted needs to have a Rod Blagojevich like attitude on this situation with Flynn. He needs to say: “I’ve got this thing and it’s f****** golden, and, uh, uh, I’m just not giving it up for f*****’ nothing. I’m not gonna do it.

Yea I want my GM to have an attitude like a corrupt convicted felon.

If TT could swing the Flynn / Cameron Wake deal the Packers would still need something else. Wake's natural position is the same side as CMIII.

Now Wake and CMIII on one side and Ingram / Upshaw / Perry / Burfict on the other with Raji and Neal in the middle of all that....

Just the thought of it is making my head spin.

The monkey wrench is that Ross may have an undeniable man crush on Manning as his QB.

I don't buy Peyton Manning going somewhere and running a new offense. I'm not saying he couldn't do it, but he excels at essentially running his offense at the LOS. I think any team that signs him would be wise to run the same offense Manning played in Indy. I don't think Philbin would be interested in that, personally.

I'm imagining TT spitting his coffee all over his desk in his hurry to say "DEAL!" to this proposal.
No up front $
An average 1st year salary (given JF's importance to the scheme)
An apparently content Finley.

This will be JF's 5th year in the league. He's going to turn 25 but he's a veteran with already one serious injury. He is in that time frame that usually tells if a player's body will succumb to the abuse and have an average NFL career
(about 6 years). And if he can show the impact of a Gronk/Graham, then 8+Million is fair for the second year.

quote:

Originally posted by Fond Du Arrigo:
I don't buy Peyton Manning going somewhere and running a new offense. I'm not saying he couldn't do it, but he excels at essentially running his offense at the LOS. I think any team that signs him would be wise to run the same offense Manning played in Indy. I don't think Philbin would be interested in that, personally.

Ross would have to be stupid to not allow his new head coach a shot at bringing in a hot young prospect that was developed by his old team. If Miami doesn't want Flynn, there are other teams like the Browns, Redskins, Seahawks and Cardinals that would probably be interested. The 49ers, Rams, Broncos, Raiders and Chiefs are also possible suitors. The Pack hasn't had a bargaining chip like Flynn since Hasselbeck was traded to Seattle. And Flynn is clearly a better prospect than Hasselbeck was in 2001. Let's just hope that the result isn't another Jamal Reynolds if the tag/trade scenario does happen.

Hassellbeck had less than stellar stats going into the 2000-2001 off-season and had no starts.

Flynn's lack of tape will not be an issue with Miami. Other than Tom Clements, no one knows Flynn better than Philbin. If Miami has no intentions of signing Flynn, that will be very telling.

Suprised it got done. Great news.

Be nice to get something now for Flynn.

quote:

Originally posted by IL_Pack_Fan:
I don't think there's any chance he gets the tag without a deal in place first.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Disagree. There are a handful of teams that want his services. It's just a matter of what they'll give up. If nobody offers a 1, you shoot for a 2... and so on. There is zero chance of a franchised Matt Flynn remaining on GB's roster. Zero, zip, nada...

quote:

I still thinks its one hell of a long shot to even pull off the T and T, but I've always felt TT can do it if anyone can.

Why? It was done with Cassel. Hell, TT did the same thing with Corey Williams. Tagged him and traded him to Cleveland for a 2nd. Why is this a long shot? A potential franchise quarterback is held as an absolute premium in the NFL. TT has a pot of gold in Flynn.

quote:

Originally posted by ChilliJon:


Maybe it's just me. But I don't see any way TT let's Wells go anywhere. This is simply not the year to eff around around with the line. Yeah, he may have to overpay a bit to keep him. But it's essentially a new offensive coaching staff and continuity means a lot this year. That and he needs to focus on the D.

I'm am sure the one lesson TT learned from Wolf is not overpaying older players after coming off a SuperBowl win.

Should hang out with Randy Moss in the off season.

Just needs a little stickum on his hands.

Blake Baratz was on P.A.'s show today, and said the Packers were the ones who initiated this deal. He seemed very grateful for that too, saying several times "The Packers didn't have to do this."

He also said that he had a 48 page document prepared, detailing why Finley should be franchised as a WR, and he would go over that with P.A. when he comes into the studio next week.

both sides happy as clams. thanks TT.

from Wilde:

“This year, I’m healthy, full offseason, big season ahead. Hands down. I need it,” Finley said. “I just need to come out and play my type of ball. Everything else will take care of itself, I promise you that.”

Finley said it was also a no-brainer to return to a team with NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, even though with a bevy of weapons the offense spreads the ball around in the passing game.

“We got that high-powered offense, it was a no-brainer. I didn’t want to leave that,” Finley said. “It’s just one of those things where you don’t want to leave a team like that, you’ve got Aaron Rodgers back there throwing the ball. You don’t want to mess that up.”

Finley said he wasn’t worried about leaving any money on the table in the short term – “I’m 24 years old, came in this game with nothing, leaving with a lot right now,” he said – and that he was surprised at how quickly the deal came together after very little progress before Wednesday.

“It was all of a sudden. It was one phone call,” Finley said. “We got that phone call Wednesday morning and it was like night and day – it switched. I was like, ‘What? Ted?’ It was a no-brainer that I was going to sign the deal they threw on the table. Two-year deal, right at the $15 (million)? It’s a great deal for me.

“I appreciate Blake and the Packers organization for meeting in the middle because I really didn’t want to test the market – that’s my honest-to-God opinion.

“I’m glad everybody meshed together and met in the middle. It’s the best of both worlds. Green Bay got the deal they wanted; I got the deal I wanted. I’m just happy, man.”

In TT we trust.

If he's planning to use the tag on Flynn for extra picks, that means Driver, Clifton, and Grant are likely gone.

@JasonColeYahoo: Source says that Pack likely to cut Clifton and restructure Driver.


{Jason Cole is an award-winning writer who covered the Miami Dolphins for 15 years at The Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. A member of the Pro Football Writers Association}

save about $7 million? in cap room by doing that

Late on hearing this but I like it; 2 year tryout.

Tryout? He was the 3rd most productive TE in the NFL last season according to a beat writer... drops and all. Could he be better? Absolutely... and he will get better. But Jesus, I don't understand some of the Finley chatter that goes on.

If I asked the question who was the best TE in Green Bay Packers history to date, how many of you guys would say Jermichael Finley? Paul Coffman's 1983 season was the only one in Packer history statistically better than Finley's last year. A healthy, focused Finley will blow away Packer records for TE's without question.

Agreed, tryout is goofy. I want a tryout if it pays $7.5M. Still, I hope no one would say Finley at this point. Kramer was better. Coffman was the same type of pass-catching threat in a different era, Chewy wasn't nearly the same downfield threat as Finley but an absolute beast as a blocker. At this point I'd equate Finley with Keith Jackson. A threat down the middle, a guy you have to account for but also not a focal point of the offense.

I know it's in fashion to talk about how Finley opens up the flanks, and he does, but IMHO Jennings is the best player on this offense other than AR.

And Jordy does a lot downfield to open up those intermediate routes for Finley.

The only WR/TE pass-catching skill guys I'd trade Jennings straight-up for right now would be Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson and Andre Johnson - but only if he was healthy. That's it. How did GB's offense look in KC without Jennings or in the playoffs when Jennings' was just getting back on the field? They won the SB without Finley but with an en fuego Jennings.

I wouldn't trade Jennings for any WR, but then again, I'm a sentimentalist in certain things. The guy seriously reminds me of Jerry Rice. He may be the best route runner in the league. He even has comparable size/body type and speed to Rice if I'm not mistaken.

You can nitpick over the word tryout but Finley wasn't signed to a long term deal. To me that says TT taking a wait-and-see approach. Bar is set pretty high in this current offense.

quote:

Originally posted by Iowacheese:
Had no idea a deal for JerDumDum could be done with such a nice risk/reward scenario for the Packers....Finley is now financially set for life at 24yo.....and able to posture in THREE years for a mega deal....Yep three years because if YADDA can ever live up to his own hype....we tag him in Y3 if we cannot get him signed.

The way Finley's contract is structured makes his 2014 tag number come in at ~12M. The new TV contract will be kicking in, but that's still a big number.

quote:

Originally posted by ammo:
And Jordy does a lot downfield to open up those intermediate routes for Finley.

I think you probably have that backwards. Finley occupying two defenders on his intermediate routs is what opens things up for Jordy downfield.

I love the way TT does these three year deals, probably selling it to the player as in "You can get another big payday out of it." It also minimizes risk to the team and serves as an incentive to the player to keep production high so they CAN get that next big payday.

I'm certain that Finley is gonna blow the roof off next year now that he's financially set. I look for the drops to drop significantly.

quote:

Originally posted by Fond Dum Dum Arrigo:
I wouldn't trade Jennings for any WR, but then again, I'm a sentimentalist in certain things. The guy seriously reminds me of Jerry Rice. He may be the best route runner in the league. He even has comparable size/body type and speed to Rice if I'm not mistaken.

sheesh....might as well compare Ryan Grant to Emmit SMith.

Jennings has certain characteristics that are reminiscent of Jerry Rice to me. I never said he was at Jerry Rice's level of performance. Obviously learning to read is something you haven't learned yet, Dunkin'...sheesh!

You two seem to have a nice repore.