Official Packers 2025 Off-Season Thread

Posted this in the game thread.

Off-season needs:

1. OL, CB, WR

2. Everything else

Myers just got hurt. He's not lived up to expectations, but he's about the be a free agent and the shitty 4th string LG takes out his knee in a pretty much meaningless part of the game.

That might have cost him 12-15 million dollars.

Just thinking about the season postmortem.  Compared to 2023, the defense, in general, was better this year.  We definitely had a better kicker. Our running game was better.  But the passing game clearly took a major step back and that’s why there’s a sour taste.  Was it mainly Love? The receivers? Probably both, and the coaches really need to figure it out over the next few months if the team is going to take the next step.

Pretty simple, need more good players who don’t get hurt.  Not easy

The positive thing is there isn't a single impending free agent worth a shit that they have to resign (Stokes or Myers are the only starters). I guess McManus you would want back.

Gute is going to have to have a hell of an offseason.  We clearly need more talent at corner and receiver and linebacker.  Also need to consider DL.  

This team is closer to 8 wins (average) than 12+ (contender).

Not next year BUT Qb may need addressing

Adams says he wants to come back to Green Bay and Rodgers is open to teams outside the Jets. If we pull Manigold out of retirement, Gute could focus on defense in the draft.

On offense :

1) WR

2) C

3) LT (my hope is that Morgan takes a jump)

On defense;

1) CB

2) Edge

What? No long snapper this off-season?

@Shadow posted:

Adams says he wants to come back to Green Bay and Rodgers is open to teams outside the Jets. If we pull Manigold out of retirement, Gute could focus on defense in the draft.

No Namath please

@Pikes Peak posted:

No, Namath please

FIFY

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

The positive thing is there isn't a single impending free agent worth a shit that they have to resign (Stokes or Myers are the only starters). I guess McManus you would want back.

I'd be okay with Gute signing Stokes to a new contract if it's reasonable.  Stokes played better this season.

It’s now put up or shut up time.  

Doubs needs to look at his long term health. He may be done as a football player.  Not sure if Watson is just unlucky or is really made of glass.  Just can't depend on him.

Hopefully Marshawn Lloyd can get healthy. Looking forward to what he can do next season.  And if you are not going to throw to Musgrave you might as well trade him for D improvement.

@Tschmack posted:

Gute is going to have to have a hell of an offseason.  We clearly need more talent at corner and receiver and linebacker.  Also need to consider DL.  

This team is closer to 8 wins (average) than 12+ (contender).

Pack went 4-0 against the awful AFC South and 4-0 against the surprisingly bad NFC West in 2024 (including the Rams without Nacua and Kupp).

Got to think playing the AFC North and NFC East will be a bit more difficult in 2025.

@SteveLuke posted:

Pack went 4-0 against the awful AFC South and 4-0 against the surprisingly bad NFC West in 2024 (including the Rams without Nacua and Kupp).

Got to think playing the AFC North and NFC East will be a bit more difficult in 2025.

Steelers and Browns are not exactly powerhouses and the Giants are likely to be terrible.

If Love plays to his contract, it won't matter who will they play. If we've seen the best of him already, it also won't matter who they play.

Maybe a rep or two in the preseason would help.

@lovepack posted:

Maybe a rep or two in the preseason would help.

Yep. Plus this year he needs to be taking reps in camp on day 1.  He couldn’t do that with the contract situation this past year.

I still have some hope Love has another level he can hit.  That said, if we don’t see him step it up a notch next year, he probably never will.

I don't think Doubs is a Tua-type guy. He seems much more introspective and has a better grasp on what's important in life, given how it appears his family means so much to him. He had the special cap on, didn't hit that hard, it was on grass, and he still suffered what looks to be a major concussion.  It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he walks away from the game after today.

GB is stuck with Love for a few years.  He needs to be better than average going forward.  I'm not sure he has it in him though.  His decision-making and accuracy are both questionable at best.  

GB needs to find a goto WR in the draft, FA or via trade.  Reed is the best of the bunch but he's a slot guy.  Everybody else is either injury prone or a JAG.  

Just a thought... but maybe, just maybe, MLF should consider throwing the football to the two young stud TEs.  

Morgan has to pan out as a #1 pick and find a home on the OL.  I'd look to upgrade at center as well.

The pass rush is horrible.  Gary is a try-hard guy with a great motor but he is being paid to be a difference-maker.  He isn't.  LVN sucks.  Need help at DE for sure.

GB has a mess at CB.  You can't trust Jaire to stay on the field but he has a ton of talent.  I think GB has to keep him.  I'd try to keep Stokes as well.  He played pretty well during the second half of the season.  CB should be a priority in the off season.  

Cooper is a stud at LB.  I'd stick with Walker as well.  No idea what GB has in Hopper but I'd look to improve that position.  

Good at safety.  

Resign the kicker.

MLF will be back next season but it might be his last if this team underperforms again.  His teams aren't prepared in big moments far too many times, his play calling can be sketchy and his in-game management (Clock) is horrid. This year's version of the Green Bay Packers is worse than last years.  That's a pretty damning statement about MLF and his staff because it's obvious the team has regressed.  And can somebody fix the Special Teams?  Dear God...

The Packers can't rely on the draft to plug in starters. They'd be lucky to get one, maybe two from the draft (as starters in their rookie years). As MichiganPackers2 stated above, they don't have any significant contract they need to do in the offseason.  QB is taken care of as is anyone on the roster worth keeping moving forward.  They have plenty of cap room to sign a couple of starters. And I hope Gute does so. I also wouldn't mind trading a high pick or two for an established player(s). Some of us act as if draft picks are gold, unfortunately, they're often fools gold.

@Pakrz posted:

GB is stuck with Love for a few years.  He needs to be better than average going forward.  I'm not sure he has it in him though.  His decision-making and accuracy are both questionable at best.  

GB needs to find a goto WR in the draft, FA or via trade.  Reed is the best of the bunch but he's a slot guy.  Everybody else is either injury prone or a JAG.  

Love will get much better if he has receivers that don't drop the ball 3-4 times a game and can stay healthy.  IMHO I really don't think the issue is Love its the receiving group. Watson has had some unfortunate bad luck with injuries and Doubs has started to miss some time with the bad concussions.

Receiver has to be addressed in FA or the draft and if they can get a couple of guys who can get open and catch the ball Love will be just fine.

I been saying that for a couple months now but always get the dreaded thumbs down

QB - set but needs to develop

OL - needs C and another bump at T or G.(FA+DP)

RB - set

TE - set.  but a mystery where the 12 personnel pkgs were.

WR - need solid #1 and another reliable vet (2FA)

DL - need legit DE/rusher and DT (FA+DP)

LB - set

CB - need a #1 (FA/DP)

S - set

ST - whatever

*DP=draft pick

@YooperPackfan posted:

I been saying that for a couple months now but always get the dreaded thumbs down

Just gave you another one. 

Just trying to find some humor this AM.

I wonder if LaFleur will look for a new WR coach and/or passing game coordinator.  Jason Vrable was the WR coach in 2023 and helped those guys come together as a unit toward the end of the year.  Ryan Mahaffey was promoted to WR in 2024 and we all saw the lack of progression/regression.  Love said it in his press conference after the Eagles game, Tom Brady mentioned it in the broadcast and others have said the passing game is lacking the "details".  I have not heard this explained, but I think this gets down to coaching.  Guys not running routes/spacing correctly, not being where they are supposed to be, etc.  Funny enough, Vrable was the passing game coordinator for 2023 and 2024.

The last two seasons feel like MLF will need to "do something," to quell the criticism of falling short.

On the table...firing Bisaccia to just show he can be a tough guy...and ST have had their issues since RB has been the guy...although vastly improved over the Mo Dray years.

Firing various meaningless position coaches.

Relinquishing play calling so he can "focus more on the entire team," though I am not sure Steno is really an upgrade...definitely a coordinator in name only.

Firing is easy, getting a better hire is hard.

And I’m on the side of firing.

@Pakrz posted:

I'd be okay with Gute signing Stokes to a new contract if it's reasonable.  Stokes played better this season.

5-6 million a year for an average veteran corner is fine. He's a decent #2 corner and a good #3.

I'm guessing someone will give him more than that and he'll be gone.

Good thing we got Tyron Hopper for the Rasul Douglas pick. I hope I can type that sentence without being sarcastic next year at this time.

It's the offseason so hope springs eternal.

The Packers have an ascending roster that was (again) the youngest in the NFL, a healthy Cap situation (with Rodgers now off the books) and signed two Pro Bowlers in free agency last year.
And, as I know well, an excellent scouting department.
It hurts now, but they'll be fine.

— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) January 13, 2025

First job for the organization is to fix the dysfunctional passing offense.

Ryan Wood always solid in his analysis...pro journo, not some fanboy.

Always ascending, never peaking isn’t exactly the recipe for winning it all. Always ascending is code for “we drafted slightly less shitty players to replace our previous shitty draft picks who weren’t worth a second contract.”

Wood sounds like he was reading my posts about Love not having a #1WR.  All the elite QB's have at least one.  Some have more than one.  Also on adding vets in the offseason.   

A lot of what they said you could have found on this board last week.  If it's that obvious to all of us one would think it's also obvious to Gute.

@The Heckler posted:

Love will get much better if he has receivers that don't drop the ball 3-4 times a game and can stay healthy.  IMHO I really don't think the issue is Love its the receiving group. Watson has had some unfortunate bad luck with injuries and Doubs has started to miss some time with the bad concussions.

Receiver has to be addressed in FA or the draft and if they can get a couple of guys who can get open and catch the ball Love will be just fine.

The issue with changing out the WRs is that it takes guys a lot of reps to get on the same page, and all of their WRs have been here about the same amount of time. They are also all relatively cheap. So, if you clear out the WR room to try to get better, you'll have a pretty steep learning curve.

Watson isn't going to be a factor, and Doubs should probably retire at this point. Reed was disappointing in many respects, but he has a role as a #3 or #4 WR. Wicks will probably stay. Heath and Melton showed why they were UDFAs last night. A great QB can make those guys look better, but Love was not great this year. Heath coming down out of bounds on that 4th down throw wouldn't have happened with a better pass from Love, but most starting caliber NFL WRs (or even #3 WRs) make that catch easily and we don't even notice that throw. The final interception was thrown into triple coverage, but they were under the 2 minute warning down two TDs and they had to take a risk (instead of dinking and dunking the ball for another 90 seconds to maybe score a TD with about 15 seconds left and then need an onside kick and another TD with no timeouts left). Melton was probably interfered with, but he really made a minimal attempt to come back for the ball and just allowed himself to be slow walked out of the play. If he fights back harder and the LB actually knocks him down, maybe they get a call. Doubs or even Watson (who has improved in that aspect) fight back harder to try for the ball. Jefferson, Chase, or D. Adams probably get their hands on that ball.

I don't think it was that Heath and Melton didn't know what to do, it's probably that they just aren't capable of it. They don't have the body control to tap their feet down inbounds or to chance direction and come back for the ball.

They need either need a QB that plays much better than Love did this year. If Love is only ever going to have average accuracy at best, then they need an entirely different WR room next year other than Reed (Watson would be fine too but he might not be back at all).

@Herschel posted:

Always ascending, never peaking isn’t exactly the recipe for winning it all. Always ascending is code for “we drafted slightly less shitty players to replace our previous shitty draft picks who weren’t worth a second contract.”

Even given the difference in the sports given the salary cap in baseball, the Packers are a lot like the Brewers. Both have put a premium on being competitive every year without ever selling out to win in a single year.

The Packers drafted their future QB (Love) using a 1st and a 4th round pick, a RB to replace their RBs that might leave the next year (Dillon - Jones/Williams), and used their 3rd rounder on a bust (DeGuara) in 2020 when they were one win away from the Super Bowl. They are better now with Love than they would have been with a castoff journeyman (Fields, Russell Wilson, Mariota, Winston) for 2 years, but Tee Higgins or Michael Pittman (who would have probably been their choices and they stayed put at 30th overall might have put them over the top in 2020 or 2021.

The incentives for Gute and MLF are the same for most other coaches. A team that will probably win between 7 and 11 games every year gives you job security. A team that may win 13 or 14 for 1-2 years and then bottoms out with 4-6 wins for 2-3 years after that generally gets you fired in Year 5.

A lot of solid takes today.  In short, they need better players at several positions.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

The issue with changing out the WRs is that it takes guys a lot of reps to get on the same page, and all of their WRs have been here about the same amount of time. They are also all relatively cheap. So, if you clear out the WR room to try to get better, you'll have a pretty steep learning curve.

They're not going to clear out the WR room.  It made sense after 2022 considering what they had on that roster but there is too much draft capital invested there now.

I think they need 2 guys; an upper tier FA, which will be costly, and another reliable vet #2/3 WR.  The remaining guys can fill out the rest and probably do well if the new guys can draw more attention.

I don't think anyone at 1265 believes Love's accuracy isn't or won't be better than what it was last night.  They are kind of stuck having to believe he can be as good as he showed late last year.  Task #1 is getting him back there and keeping him there.

But Silverstein had a really good point.  They need to figure out what they want to be on offense.  They need to find a legit passing attack and they need to figure out how to fit that passing attack with Josh Jacobs's role.  I'm not sure what that means for the WR room but his suggestion to look at BAL as a precedent was interesting.

Silverstein made a point that I have been thinking about. MLF seems to be conflicted as to what he wants the offense to be. Last year it was spread people out and then when you saw a light box, run Jones. This year it has been more condensed formations and establish Jacobs. I just don't know if that is the best approach for MLF's offense. I think back to his year as OC at the Titans with Derrick Henry, something like 28th in the league in offense. Logic says we should be a smash-mouth team with Jacobs, but we really don't have that type of offensive line.

@FLPACKER posted:

Silverstein made a point that I have been thinking about. MLF seems to be conflicted as to what he wants the offense to be. Last year it was spread people out and then when you saw a light box, run Jones. This year it has been more condensed formations and establish Jacobs. I just don't know if that is the best approach for MLF's offense. I think back to his year as OC at the Titans with Derrick Henry, something like 28th in the league in offense. Logic says we should be a smash-mouth team with Jacobs, but we really don't have that type of offensive line.

@MichiganPacker2 posted:

The issue with changing out the WRs is that it takes guys a lot of reps to get on the same page, and........

Your full post was pretty good, solid points. But the snippet above is the first sentence in your post, and I don't really agree with it at all.  At least not regarding really good WRs/WR 1. And that's what the Packers need - a veteran, really good WR.  Love has shown he's good enough to play QB in the NFL at a high level (IMO). He would need training camp and preseason reps "to get on the same page" with a really solid WR. I don't see why it would (automatically) take longer.  Plenty of WRs and TEs go to new teams and have immediate impacts.

I think Gute's #1 priority in the offseason would be targeting a true #1 via FA or trade.

Adios Key..

Keisean Nixon after a season with the new kickoff:

"I don’t really want to do it no more. There’s going to be talks with the coaching staff and stuff like that, but I think it’s over with for me."

"I want to be CB1. CB1 is not doing kick returns. That’s just what it is."

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) January 13, 2025

Doubs, man, hang 'em up.  the brain can only take so much.

Talk radio ripped on Jalen Hurts for holding the ball too long.  I think that is bullshit, GB left him alone all day, why not hold the ball.  I think the corners did a good job so it was mostly dink and dunk, but no pass rush with all that investment on the DL is embarrassing.  Need Dean Lowry back. 

As for GB not having an identity on offence... I also think that is bullshit.  Jacobs can be my RB any day.  Great offenses have great passing and great running.  Build for that. 

Agree we need to throw to the TE more.  And more rushing attempts. 

I think GB spends some money this offseason

@Chongo posted:

Adios Key..

Horrible take.  I see him as CB1 and WR 2 next year

Can't argue with him not wanting to do KOs; it should be a younger, speedier guy. (and I wonder if they'll even keep the new KO rules) But, I'd also argue that Jaire is your CB1 when healthy and Nixon is 2. But if this is how Nixon handles business -- through the press -- that's not good either. What he said is something you talk to the coaches about privately first, not by opening your yap in public.