Packers' 2016 Offseason Notes

@WesHod:  The #Packers finish 17th in DMN Special Teams rankings. Had best punt coverage in the league.

Rick Gosselin's NFL special teams rankings, 2015:

http://sportsday.dallasnews.co...best-player-improved

Peppers unsure about his future.

Under contract 1 more year. At 8.5 mil. One of these situations Ted will be earning his money if he gets Peppers to restructure. It's a lot of coin for a part-time player. Then again, his numbers/production don't lie.

MM and coordinators scheduled to do press conferences this evening beginning at 5:00 pm LFT. Will be streamed at packers.com.

thanks cuqui!

@WesHod

Mitchell Henry said he signed a futures deal with #Packers. He'll be one to watch going into this offseason

cuqui posted:

@WesHod:  The #Packers finish 17th in DMN Special Teams rankings. Had best punt coverage in the league.

Rick Gosselin's NFL special teams rankings, 2015:

http://sportsday.dallasnews.co...best-player-improved

Zooked!

Crap, I actually agree with Peter King....

"Green Bay: I’ll probably disagree with the common green-and-gold wisdom here, but I don’t think Green Bay has a crying need at receiver. How do you not like the competitive zeal of Jeff Janis, the 2014 seventh-rounder who came up so big in the playoff game at Arizona? With Jordy Nelson back and the pressure off Randall Cobb, Janis (strong and unafraid on balls he has to fight for) and Ty Montgomery and Davante Adams are certainly capable of filling out a wideout depth chart … James Jones is a free agent and might be a luxury Thompson decides he can’t afford … Someone’s got to get to Eddie Lacy. His long run against Arizona was more something to cringe at than to celebrate. Lacy is overweight, slow and unfocused. If I were Ted Thompson, I’d draft his replacement, sign James Starks in free agency, and make Lacy come back and earn his playing time … Green Bay needs to invest in a pass-rusher. Julius Peppers turns 36 today."

I'm not quite as high on Janis as he is but he's right about WR; I don't think bringing in more guys helps.  Getting Nelson and Montgomery back is huge.  I think it'll come out that Adams and Cobb were more hurt the entire season than the team let on.  Janis and Abbrederis are developing and showed they can play last weekend (and they can return kicks and punts).  

Good article. Packers have experienced a worse set of playoff losses over the last 15 years than any other team. (Yeah, we know!)

NFL Winners and Losers: Oh, those poor Green Bay Packers fans
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/...-fans-043643190.html
 

@TomSilverstein: TE Mitchell Henry and LB Carl Bradford have signed reserve/future contracts with the #Packers. OG Matt Rotheram and DT Christian Ringo also.

IMO Henry, Rotheram and Ringo make the 53 next season.

I for one am high on Janis.  Fast, big, and durable.  When he gets his routes down, OH BOY will that be fun to watch.   I think we are set at receivers as well.   I am hoping the Packers keep 6 on the roster.  Insurance.  

@TonyPauline: More than an hour before the first Shrine practice and Ted Thompson of the Green Bay Packers is already at the practice field.

packerboi posted:

Peppers unsure about his future.

Under contract 1 more year. At 8.5 mil. One of these situations Ted will be earning his money if he gets Peppers to restructure. It's a lot of coin for a part-time player. Then again, his numbers/production don't lie.

 

They need to use Peppers the same way the Cardinals use Freeney. 

He turns 36 today. (Happy Birthday Julius) His body can't take the grind of starting in the NFL.

sschumer posted:

Good article. Packers have experienced a worse set of playoff losses over the last 15 years than any other team. (Yeah, we know!)

NFL Winners and Losers: Oh, those poor Green Bay Packers fans
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/...-fans-043643190.html
 

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

CUPackFan posted:

Crap, I actually agree with Peter King....

"Green Bay: I’ll probably disagree with the common green-and-gold wisdom here, but I don’t think Green Bay has a crying need at receiver. How do you not like the competitive zeal of Jeff Janis, the 2014 seventh-rounder who came up so big in the playoff game at Arizona? With Jordy Nelson back and the pressure off Randall Cobb, Janis (strong and unafraid on balls he has to fight for) and Ty Montgomery and Davante Adams are certainly capable of filling out a wideout depth chart … James Jones is a free agent and might be a luxury Thompson decides he can’t afford … Someone’s got to get to Eddie Lacy. His long run against Arizona was more something to cringe at than to celebrate. Lacy is overweight, slow and unfocused. If I were Ted Thompson, I’d draft his replacement, sign James Starks in free agency, and make Lacy come back and earn his playing time … Green Bay needs to invest in a pass-rusher. Julius Peppers turns 36 today."

I'm not quite as high on Janis as he is but he's right about WR; I don't think bringing in more guys helps.  Getting Nelson and Montgomery back is huge.  I think it'll come out that Adams and Cobb were more hurt the entire season than the team let on.  Janis and Abbrederis are developing and showed they can play last weekend (and they can return kicks and punts).  

I agree.  The Packers have too many other holes (TE, LT, LB) to draft another WR high.

Unless they are able to get a guy who can return punts and kicks, as well as be WR, I don't see them taking one...but you would have to get a guy that would be an absolute game changer at those positions...and I don't see many right now available. Best KR/PR guys in college this year were DB's and I don't think any are coming out early.

To me, positions of need are OL (as we saw this year, our depth is paper thin...Bulaga and Sitton are not getting younger)

TE...yes RR has shown flashes, but he is not, nor ever will be Finley...he's not that kind of athlete. If you were to pair him up with a 6'6" guy who could run a 4.65 40, you might have a real nice tandem.

ILB...IMHO, if Jake Ryan is your starting ILB instead of a relief pitcher, that's an issue. He may develop, but if you have the chance to get a guy with the atleticism of a Desmond Bishop, you can't pass it up.

DT is a position of strength, especially if they can get Guion and Raji back. Pennel has shown flashes, Daniels obviously is a star they valued and showed him the coin. But if you can get a developmental guy, that's not a bad thing.

I think Kuhn comes back one more year...Rip isn't ready yet to be that role and ST demon. 

LaDarius Gunter impressed the hell out of me at times last season...I could see him sneaking up on some people and becoming a Sam Shields type guy.

I agree on Gunter

Ryans biggest issue is that he's a rookie. Not many rookies don't look a little  rough starting out.  I say give the kid a chance to develop before we start looking for his replacement.

And I'm not saying don't pick a good ILB if one is there in the draft or FA or wherever.

Agree. I'd like to see more Gunter too.

PackFoo posted:

Unless they are able to get a guy who can return punts and kicks, as well as be WR, I don't see them taking one...but you would have to get a guy that would be an absolute game changer at those positions...and I don't see many right now available. Best KR/PR guys in college this year were DB's and I don't think any are coming out early.

 

Wasn't Montgomery drafted for that reason? I look forward to seeing him healthy and producing next season.

cuqui posted:

@WesHod:  The #Packers finish 17th in DMN Special Teams rankings. Had best punt coverage in the league.

Rick Gosselin's NFL special teams rankings, 2015:

http://sportsday.dallasnews.co...best-player-improved

Janis the Manis.  He was phenomenal as a gunner the 2nd half of the season.  

The reason Janis and Abby will make the roster, beyond their skills at WR, is the fact that they have carved out niches for themselves. Janis is a strong ST contributor and Abby helps on ST, but is also the only other true Slot receiver on the roster. Obviously they could replace both, but why would then when both guys have already shown they can contribute. Before hailing both as future stud WR, keep in mind that Arizona had almost no film on either aside from college, so defenses will play them different now that they have some film. 

Pennell is a star in the making. His jump from year 1 to year 2 was big. If he takes the next step, with his size and athleticism, he will be a solid starter. 

Heres a question for the group: does Datone Jones need to go the Mike Neal route? Meaning would he benefit from losing weight, improve his speed and quickness, and switch to OLB? He looked dominant at times at DE, but only at 5-tech...he wasn't nearly as effective sliding down to 3-tech. Much like Neal, I'm not sure his style is suited to constantly battle interior OL who can get under his pads and turn him. To me if he dropped down to 270/280, got rid of some fat, he could be really good coming off the edge. We might already have our replacement for Peppers on the roster. 

Didn't Jones play outside some on passing downs & look pretty good? I think your line of thinking makes sense.

Jones actually played quite a bit at OLB this season. He didn't do much, but maybe losing some weight and spending the entire offseason there would make a difference. It's worth a shot. He's been mediocre at best at defensive end.

Would be nice if they had someone who could coach Jones on this type of move. #itistime

Handy lists just posted at the JSO blog:

Green Bay Packers 2016 free agents

With the Green Bay Packers 2015 season finished, attention now turns to the 2016 roster.

The Packers have 18 free agents, including 14 unrestricted. We'll be writing plenty about these players, and the decisions the Packers face, in the coming days and weeks. For now, here's the list:

Unrestricted free agents

Don Barclay, T
Mason Crosby, K
Brett Goode, LS
Letroy Guion, DT
Casey Hayward, CB
James Jones, WR
John Kuhn, FB
Mike Neal, OLB
Nick Perry, OLB
Andrew Quarless, TE
B.J. Raji, NT
Sean Richardson, S
James Starks, RB
Scott Tolzien, QB

Restricted free agents

Lane Taylor, G
Andy Mulumba, OLB

Exclusive rights free agents

Justin Perillo, TE
Chris Banjo, S

Free agency opens March 9. Teams have until March 1 to designate franchise or transition players in an attempt to keep them off the free agent market.

The NFL draft is April 28-30.

Green Bay - The following is a summary of Packers coach Mike McCarthy's season-ending press conference Monday evening:

• (On Randall Cobb) My understanding he is en route to Green Bay. How scary? Anytime have to take a player and transport to a hospital you're concerned.
• (On long-term) No, I would say not without getting specifics.
• (On this week)  We’re still in the exit interview process. Today we had opportunity to speak to 25 of the veterans. Tomorrow we’ll complete the rest of the team. Wednesday, we’ll start with our coaching staff.
• (On going for 2) You always consider all your options. It was definitely an option. Not the right option. I understand how analytics plays in game management. You also have to look at the flow. The way our defense was playing, I had great confidence in them stopping the Cardinals. With our receivers and the 2-point plays we had I wasn't sure about that.
• (On play-calling) Those are conversations that will start Wednesday. I’ll tell you I will be calling the plays from here on in. How we structure our staff that’s really what lies ahead.
• (On changing play-calling) I think anytime you make change, you look at it every year. The things you change and adjust, that obviously was a big change. It was a big type of change with the structure we put forth offensively. What I was trying to accomplish with being a balanced team, I felt that was accomplished with defense and special teams. Obviously, we didn’t get it done on offense. The structure was obviously a part of the failure on offense. That will be closely evaluated.
• (On Clements) I really don't agree there's pride (there). I'm not going to go into details. It really wasn't about Tom or Tom calling plays. Tom's a valued assistant coach. I fully expect him being back. We have a structure under evaluation.
• (On Zook) I thought Ron Zook did a great job. Jason Simmons also was outstanding. Getting in during the spring and going through the entire playbook, and throwing out as much as we could. I enjoyed that process and they did a great job coaching. Ron has a ton of energy. The fact of the matter is we’re units are always going to be very young. I thought we did a really good job of staying true to the fundamentals. Ron did a great job with the scheme to make sure we were challenging our opponents schematically. We needed to have an emphasis on coverage teams and we did that.
• (On close losses in playoffs) The fact of the matter is each season is different. Each team is different. The 2015 season much different than 2014 regardless how the season ended. We put ourselves in position to win. We were prepared for this game and we played well. Our team understands big plays are as important as tackling and fundamentals. They made big plays. I don't lump them together. They're all different cases on those losses happened. Our football team will sleep well because they put everything into that game.
• (On regular season) Have to win home games.
• (On close losses) I don't understand why I have to answer those questions. Fact of the matter that is how the game is. It's the most competitive environment I've been in. We're not scared about winning championships here.
• (On Eddie Lacy) Eddie Lacy has a lot of work to do. I’m stating the obvious. His offseason last year was not good enough and he never recovered from it. I talked to Eddie today and that was pretty much the majority of our conversation. He cannot play the way he did this year.
• (On any offensive changes) I think you have to look at everything. We will change. There will be changes. I don’t have them here today. There definitely will be a lot of adjustments whether it’s offense, defense, special teams, the way we practice. The nutrition in the training room. We can improve in a number of different areas.
• (On core of team)  My focus is on with the players. I like where we are as far as the people under contract. I can’t sit here and go through that. I’m not ready to sit here and talk about the personnel position that we’re in. This week my focus in on players. Ted went to the East-West game last night. Frankly, Ted and I won’t sit down and go through the whole board for another two weeks.
• (On not having Jordy) I would say from a coaching standpoint we did a lot of good things. I thought things you felt really good about, the game plans, etc... We didn't handle the injuries, let alone Jordy, left tackle. You have to help people. When we had uphill matches, we didn't do a good enough of job.
• (On Jeff Janis being on field earlier) I think Jeff Janis is one of those examples you look for. You look for players to take a jump in their second year and some guys do it at a different point in the season. Jared Abbrederis and Jeff Janis need to earn their opportunities. I thought Jeff struggled in the preseason. I had him in my office for a film session and I thought he picked it up on special teams. He did some big-time things for us. Really as a receiver, he was inconsistent. He had some chances, up-and-down. What’s really impressive performance about Jeff as a receiver in Arizona is we didn’t take him off special teams.
• (On Matthews) My goal with Clay is to play outside linebacker. I think it shows the type of player Clay is to go inside and play as much as he did really full time there. The matchup part of it was really always my goal. Gives you a chance to match him up. There’s things he does at that position that he’ll continue to do. He’s an outside linebacker and we need to get back to him playing there and just playing inside when needed.
• (On no deep ball) Everybody wants to talk about passing game, speedy receivers. To have a successful passing game, you have to have big targets that can move through the middle of the field. You look at the production of Jordy and Jermichael inside. When you don’t have that element, you see what we saw this year. Our run game was clearly better in 2013 and 2014 than in my time here, our front. It was probably the best potential for a defense to load up against our run. If they don’t feel the big-time threat on the outsides, you’re going to see three deep, three-shell coverage. We’re going to add a person to the box very quickly.
• (On Nelson being back) I think Jordy will come back better than ever. I had a chance to sit down and talk with him. He’s so far ahead with the rehab. He looks great. There’s no reason to think he won’t be as good as new.
• (On Aaron Rodgers) This is most adversity he's had to play through. In the big picture, I thought he did a heck of a job dealing with it.  Aaron is that great player who plays at such a high level that the competition is usually with himself. I think he was really challenged this year more than ever with what he had to pick up with Jordy. I think way we came together at the end, I thought that's why we were going to make a great run here at the end of the season.
• (On R. Rodgers and Adams) Both of those guys need to make a jump. What happens on our coaching side of that, you sit down and rank the players and then we'll go through cut-ups and then we go back and rank them again. Coaches are human. When you take the emotion out of it, you adjust it. I would say those two need to step up.

The following is a summary defensive coordinator Dom Capers' Monday evening press conference:

• (Opening remarks) We had good pressure. We had two interceptions. The other thing is we had the ball in our hands three other times and we didn't take the ball away. We were able to make teh game one-dimensional. I thought we were in control. And then we go out the first play of overtime. They had play-action on first down and so we blitzed. We didn't cover the receiver across the field. And then we had the receiver leveraged. We had three guys over there and we couldn't get him down. Three obvious breakdowns on that play.
• (On composure after Hail Mary) Every step you're playing good teams. You give them a chance to reload. If come after them with pressure and Palmer rolled off them.
• (On Peppers) Peppers was looking for the back, he was zoning the middle. When Palmer extends outside, he was coming to make sure he would not run away. If the guy he's playing three-receiver hook on he was just doing his job.
• (On communication) It was communicated on the sideline. We had communicated that we wanted to blitz on first down.
• (On Randall) He has to watch the route. If it goes underneath then he can let it go to the drop guy. But if it goes over the top, he has to go with it.
• (On Matthews playing outside) As we move forward hopefully move him around and take advantage of him making plays. Who knows? We'll just try to get the best guys on the field.
• (On shovel pass) That's a good call. We hadn't seen them run that. It's a play you need to work on. We were in a defense that could have played it better, but you have to give them credit.
• (On Rollins) I like our young guys, especially our young guys in the secondary. Randall played more than three-quarters of the play. Those guys will be much better prepared. Feel better about both of those guys. It was nice to have Sam back and I think you saw Sam was tight in his coverage. We played this.
• (On rookies next year) Have to be careful not to overload them. I thought both DBs really made strides and adjusted to what we did. I like their futures. As we know, we went four or five weeks with Sam, Morgan got hurt, guys have to play multiple positions. You saw with Micah down.
• (On whether you'll be back) If they want me back I'll be back.
• (On next step with defense) We play a lot of young guys and I felt we were playing our best defense. Minnesota had 201 yards against us. Washington we responded. Against Arizona, and all the explosive people, we were able to play them the way we like to play with mixing coverages. I think their long run was 8 yards.
• (On Datone Jones) We had seen him make some plays. We said how can we increase his reps. We thought he could play inside or outside. When you see Mike Neal and Peppers and Datone, those guys can move around. They can rush inside and outside. I'd like to see Datone play inside and outside.
• (On Peppers' future) He brings so much to the team. You have a lot of young guys, easy to point to him this is the way you do it. He's really played his best at the end of the season the last two years. I thought he really rushed and played well Saturday night. You don't see signs at end of season that the arrow is not pointing up. We've been able to control his reps.

Comments from OC Edgar Bennett's press conference:

Bennett on Janis: It all starts with what we do in preparation. Going back, starting point is what we do there. Need to be more consistent.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 18, 2016

Edgar Bennett on Lacy: As a team we're disappointed we didn't accomplish our goal. He plays an important part. How do we get him back? We ….

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 18, 2016

…educate. We demand, we support. I think that's a big part of it."

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 18, 2016

Bennett on WRs: When put together you see tremendous competition. Raises the level of that room. That a big part of it.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 18, 2016

Bennett on Adams: It comes down to being consistent. Not trying to repeat self, but emphasis is on practice. That's starting point. Expect ..

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 18, 2016

… high level. We used to say practice was difficult so the game seemed easy."

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 18, 2016

Bennett on being OC: Haven't had a chance to step back. Now it's talking to players and getting feedback. I'm sure coach and I will talk."

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 19, 2016

I'd like to see the Packers be able to re-sign all of their FA's this year with the exception of:
Barclay-you never know when a guy can turn it around, but he's limited at the positions he can play, and he's not too good at the ones he can.
Hayward and Richardson-good depth I suppose, but neither need to be starting.
Quarless-we're a mess at TE and it's time to find a guy there. 
Kuhn, Starks, Tolzien-they're all 50/50. I'd just as soon keep them if deals can be worked out, but won't be heartbroken if they can't.
Taylor and Mulumba-see above. These guys are inactive most games and likely have limited value, at best.
Perillo-see Quarless.

Comments from ST Coordinator Ron Zook's press conference:

Ron Zook on special teams: Biggest thing our players bought into it. We all believe in what we're doing and our players believed in it.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 19, 2016

Zook on Janis: He normally didn't make same mistake twice. After game, he was gassed. I said, "This is what you want to do.' We needed him.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 19, 2016

Zook on Janis as a gunner: He's big, strong and physical. Most people aren't able to run with him. It's a lot of carryover from WR.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 19, 2016

Zook: I had a great time. It's a bummer that it couldn't continue. One reason our FB team handled adversity was coach McCarthy.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 19, 2016

Zook on future of special teams: We grade everything. We want to make sure we build a foundation and base with our guys.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 19, 2016

Ron Zook said long-snapper Brett Goode had his ACL reconstruction three weeks ago. Hopes he returns next season.

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) January 19, 2016

On Masthay: He wants to please. He needs to keep worrying what i say or anyone else. Just do what you can do. He's proven he can do it.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 19, 2016

Zook on returns: We probably left at least 3 TDs on the table. Jeff got better and better. Ty Montgomery will do the same thing.

— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) January 19, 2016

(On Eddie Lacy) Eddie Lacy has a lot of work to do. I’m stating the obvious. His offseason last year was not good enough and he never recovered from it. I talked to Eddie today and that was pretty much the majority of our conversation. He cannot play the way he did this year.

Couple these comments along with Bennett (who used to also coach the RB's), they are clearly not fu**ing around with Lacy. I'm sure the convo went something to the affect of,' you come in at 235 and maintain it or you don't play'. It's that simple.

Also interesting comments on Adams. I think a lot of us put the responsibility on his injury(s). But it looks like practice habits/preparation also played a role.

cuqui posted:

The following is a summary defensive coordinator Dom Capers' Monday evening press conference:

• (On Randall) He has to watch the route. If it goes underneath then he can let it go to the drop guy. But if it goes over the top, he has to go with it.

So from that it appears Randall blew the coverage on the big Fitzgerald catch and run.

Adams was hanging out with Eddie. 

I'll bet they both just kind of shrugged off the season & went through the motions. Adams at least was eating properly & seemed to be working out even if his practice habits sucked ass

We knew a lot of the bull$hit would come out. Well here it comes.

Way to waste 1 of Rodgers years guys. Good job!

(On Matthews) My goal with Clay is to play outside linebacker. I think it shows the type of player Clay is to go inside and play as much as he did really full time there. The matchup part of it was really always my goal. Gives you a chance to match him up. There’s things he does at that position that he’ll continue to do. He’s an outside linebacker and we need to get back to him playing there and just playing inside when needed.

Go sign one Ted.

I was surprised to find myself impressed with Capers' presser.
He handles the mic & ?'s very well.
(but why was I wondering if it's a rug? eh?)

Meanwhile Phatty McStupidFace was his usual belligerent self. imho 

Getting back to Janis, Abby and Adams.  It has been said it takes about 3 years for a WR to understand the Packers playbook and the way to do it right. So why would you want to get rid of any of them when each will begin their 3rd season with the Packers.  Do we really want to get rid of any of them and start a new 3 year development with even 1 new WR? 

sschumer posted:

Good article. Packers have experienced a worse set of playoff losses over the last 15 years than any other team. (Yeah, we know!)

NFL Winners and Losers: Oh, those poor Green Bay Packers fans
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/...-fans-043643190.html
 

Yet they kept Adams out there, and Rodgers kept feeding him throws. Makes sense, right? 

Five straight Championship games, ten total, for the Brady Patriots. Belichick knows that he must do whatever it takes to keep riding a great QB, and not waste his career.