Just a little insurance. I'm sure they're targeting interior players in the mid-rounds, but you never know how things can shake out.
An odd choice for CB, but Compers will devise something for him!
Curious what the timing means, if anything. Same with AP. Do players drop prices last minute before the draft cuts down potential suitors?
On one hand Saturday was 36 when Ted signed him. On the other hand Jari will be 34 when the season starts.
Does he have a serviceable year in him? I honestly think he does. As much as I like Murphys athleticism and testy disposition it's still concerning that GB was going to toss him the keys to RG . They got away with it with Taylor. But still.
This draft looks like it's got several interior guys that can really play in what's historically been Ted's wheelhouse for interior guys that can really play. Rounds 4 and 5.
My question is this. Why in the ever loving **** would Ted give Barclay anything other than a plane ticket out of town and a pat on the back when he's signing a 34 year old guard?
Barclay just needs to develop for another 10 years.
Low/no risk.
Why not?
I love the Evans signing. The Saints were trying to replace him the last few years he was there but year after year he ends up in the starting lineup and always manages to get the job done. Pro Football Focus has him graded consistently as an average/above-average player for each of the last four seasons. The Seahawks messed up bad when they gave up on him. That was a big mistake. Always a chance the Packers get Jeff Saturday'ed in this deal but until Evans proves he cannot play he is the best RG on the roster.
I equate this signing more towards a Bruce Wilkerson type.
fightphoe93 posted:If there's one thing that keeps me from getting too excited about the Evans signing, it's that he was in Seattle's training camp last year and was cut. That Seattle OL was horrible and he couldn't make it there. You never know, there can be lots of reasons things don't quite work out and it sounds like he did an okay job when he re-joined the Saints after the Hags cut him. The Pack definitely needed some competition for that spot, so at worst, he probably gets a very long look from the Pack.
I expect his contract numbers had a lot to do with Seattle cutting him
A vet for camp that the young guys can learn from. If a young'un doesn't show the development they wanted this spring, Evans is a serviceable stop-gap.
Schnieder regrets cutting Evans
Worried about his age and certainly dumping his salary mattered. Ive also read that he didn't look good in his move to LG.
Good news that he will be asked to play his natural RG position in Titletown. Nice add.
It's a good signing if all it does is stop some of the ridiculous hand-wringing over letting Lang walk. Appears to be a low-risk stopgap measure with little downside at a position of need.
Methinks TT is stepping outside his comfort zone in signing more free agents than normal. It may be he's setting up his exit and wants to go more in on a SB run than in the past without breaking the bank or going too far out of his zone. It's a nice rumor if nothing else...
I think his pursuit of free agents reflects his opinion of the draft. Other than OJ Howard and maybe David Njoku, it's an insanely weak TE class. The OG class doesn't seem to be super deep either although there will be some opportunities in R2 and R3 to snag some quality prospects like Feeney, Elflein, Dawkins, and Dorian Johnson. If they don't snag one of those guys in R2 or R3 I would expect that Evans will be the starter on opening day. The DT class is kind of rough also, so he brought in another vet (Francois).
michiganjoe posted:It's a good signing if all it does is stop some of the ridiculous hand-wringing over letting Lang walk. Appears to be a low-risk stopgap measure with little downside at a position of need.
I agree. Lang seemed to be extremely well liked by many members of the media and by the coaching staff and teammates. It's a shame to lose a guy like that. However, he's coming off surgery, had a broken foot, and while good (a Packer HOF type) he isn't a superstar guard. He just got 30 million over 3 years with 19 million guaranteed.
TT had a choice - they could pay their starting guards 18 million a year over each of the next 3 years or they could use the money somewhere else. They spent 15 million a year total on M. Bennett, Lance Kendricks, Jahri Evans, Davon House, and Francois. I think they have a much better chance with those 5 guys and an extra 3 million than a pair of guards in their 30s.
Sitton and Lang may both make the Pro Bowl next year. If nothing else the perception the Packers didn't do right by them increases their visibility which is how interior lineman get elected to the Pro Bowl - like the year the Packers had to bench Jeff Saturday but he still got selected.
The best guess is that Sitton and Lang play well for parts of their contracts but miss some games (they both missed 3 in 2016). The Packers will get by with the guards they have. Lang and Sitton will make some Pro Bowls and get to go on vacation much earlier in January than they would have had they been in Green Bay, people in the media will write click-bait articles about how the Packers screwed up by letting them go, and their absence will hurt a little but won't make much difference at the end of the season when our defense gets smoked in another later round playoff game.
signing more free agents than normal
Is this true?
Some "key/impactful" or "name" UFAs signings form Thompson
Ryan Pickett, DT (2006)
Charles Woodson, CB/S (2006)
Brandon Chillar, LB (2008)
*Charlie Peprah, S (2010)
*Jeff Saturday, C (2012)
Julius Peppers, OLB (2014)
Letroy Guion, DL (2014)
Jared Cook, TE (2016)
( * a bit generous in the key/impactful grading )
Who from this years group will play a key role in 2017. Guys like Evans, Francois, McCray, Kendricks? These guys, are mostly just guys IMO. Thompson [re]signs is own guys yearly, and often grabs street FA guys. Bennett is like a Pickett signing to me. Not sure he is signing more than normal or out of his comfort range.
Didn't Uncle Ted put a down payment on a CB House? Why all the we have to take a CB chatter? Besides Ted is famous for UDFA CB's.
Help me understand. Are we going to miss Datone Jones? I can't stand the Vikes but i hope he does awrite.
Post-draft it looks like the only hole on the roster is at linebacker. Can't see the Packers carrying less than 10 and right now they only have 9 that I would say are 53 man roster players.
OLB - Matthews, Perry, Fackrell, Biegel, Elliott
ILB - Ryan, Thomas, Martinez, Tripp
And Tripp is more that 10th/11th linebacker that is kept around for special teams play. There's a reason why he has been on 4 different NFL teams before his 26th birthday.
After that they still have Reggie Gilbert from last year. We don't know if he is anything more than practice squad material at this point, although reviews from early last year were pretty good.
They've signed one outside linebacker (Johnathan Calvin) and one inside linebacker (Cody Heiman) as undrafted free agents but generally there are about 20 of those signings and only 1 or 2 are good enough to stick on a team (so only about a 5 to 10 percent chance they have anything there).
Add in that Matthews and Perry aren't exactly known for their durability.
I wasn't a big fan of bringing in Mario Williams but if the big man is willing to work on the cheap I'd be pretty happy to see him wearing the green and gold next year. Could use some insurance at ILB to try to prevent against another Thomas/Martinez meltdown but the pickings out there are pretty slim right now. Probably have to wait until cut-down day and snag somebody off waivers for an upgrade there. Always a chance that Fackrell or Biegel could turn into a plus starting OLB and that could result in Matthews being kicked back inside.
A 4th round draft pick with a knee injury is a "meltdown".
Packers plan to release RB Christine Michael, league sources tell @FieldYates and me. https://t.co/71uC7PwcLm
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 1, 2017
I really do get the sense that ILB is going to look different this year with Burnett/Jones playing the Buchannon/Barron hybrid role on Nickel and Dime which accounts for the bulk of the snaps. Clay and Biegel can also work in there.
OLB will definitely need some good health from two guys not necessarily known for it and some real production from Biegel, Fackrell and Elliot.
http://profootballtalk.nbcspor...t-christine-michael/
Either they're planning to bring in a veteran like Charles or Blount (doubtful) or they feel really good about this RB group.
Regarding ILB. I'd give Philly a call and ask what it would take to pry Mychal Kendricks away. They shopped him during the draft. He's been buried on the roster after Philly moved to Dick Schwarztz 4-3 defense.
GB is going to have more picks than they know what to do with in 2018. They will likely receive four comp picks. Two of those comp picks very likely will come in round three.
Philly may very well cut Kendricks at some point. But I have to think they'd consider a 4th or 5th for him.
Grave Digger posted:http://profootballtalk.nbcspor...t-christine-michael/
Either they're planning to bring in a veteran like Charles or Blount (doubtful) or they feel really good about this RB group.
I am kind of surprised they haven't even given Michael a chance to keep his job. Not a big deal as I wasn't a huge fan of his, but just a little odd that they signed him this off-season and then won't even bother letting him compete with the rookies.
Maybe they asked the new guys what to do on a few plays and they knew the answer whereas Michael didn't. 
I think they gave Michael and Jackson a tryout during the season and either weren't impressed with their on field performance or off field performance. Michael seems like a guy who just doesn't get it, other than his big run against Seattle I wasn't very impressed. Easier to share practice reps with 4 RBs rather than 6.
ChilliJon posted:Regarding ILB. I'd give Philly a call and ask what it would take to pry Mychal Kendricks away. They shopped him during the draft. He's been buried on the roster after Philly moved to Dick Schwarztz 4-3 defense.
GB is going to have more picks than they know what to do with in 2018. They will likely receive four comp picks. Two of those comp picks very likely will come in round three.
Philly may very well cut Kendricks at some point. But I have to think they'd consider a 4th or 5th for him.
I think he is making 4 million on his contract now. I cant see Tightwad Ted bringing that kind of cap hit here.
GB exercised 5th year option on HaHa. Easy decision. Expect him to be in GB for a long time.
Jamal Charles heading to Denver tomorrow for interview, etc
bvan posted:
Whoa, Nellie. 
Adios Christine Michael...Ty Monty, and 3 rookies...
PackFoo posted:Adios Christine Michael...Ty Monty, and 3 rookies...
And the Ripper
Aaron Rodgers is the leading rusher on the roster. And it's not close.