The NFL is about to enter a very unique offseason and as usual the Packers will likely be quiet, especially in free agency. Here is my take on the Packers Dirty Dozen Thirteen free agents.
Chad Clifton – The 33-year old Clifton is still the Packers best option at left tackle. Cliffy stayed relatively healthy last year but did not start 16 games and at times the Packers missed him dearly, especially when Daryn Colledge was his replacement. Clifton won’t command a big salary so the Packers should be able to re-sign him if they want to, and I would think they would want to.
Mark Tauscher - A year younger than Clifton Tauscher proved to be a savior last year when he joined the team mid-season and stabilized the offensive line after taking over for colossal failure Allen Barbre. Unlike Clifton, however, the Packers might have a better option at right tackle in 2nd year man T.J. Lang, who played left and right tackle but is better suited for right tackle. I hope Tauscher will come accept a similar one-year deal or something to come back and battle Lang for the job. My guess is Tausch wins. Lang can spell him during the season and replace him in 2011.
Aaron Kampman - The Packers don’t really know what they have in Kampman anymore. It is clear he was special in a 4-3 defense but by getting hurt halfway through the season, Kampman never got to really develop in the new defense. He may have been missed late in the year when the Packers struggled against the Steelers and Cardinals when the Packers couldn’t even sniff the quarterback. I would like to see the Packers keep him if only for the intangibles he brings to the locker room.
Ryan Pickett - Pickett is one of Ted Thompson’s few free agent signings and Thompson would be wise to sign him again. You can never have too much depth on the d-line and Pickett is a perfect role model for B.J. Raji. Pickett needs to be signed and it appears the Packers feel the same way as they have begun talks with Pickett’s agent.
Nick Collins - At the beginning of last year I was with the Packers in not jumping in and giving Collins big money, but after another solid year and another Pro Bowl appearance it is time for the Packers to anti-up. Because of the uncertainty of the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players Collins will be a restricted free agent, however, the Packers cannot afford to send the wrong message here and need to get this deal done and done soon.
Johnny Jolly – The only thing stopping the Packers from paying Jolly may be his legal troubles. We’ll have to see how that plays out, but Jolly is a solid player and the Packers really need to keep him. A couple of bonehead penalties have raised some eyebrows about him and he may be as good as he is going to get, but either way he adds much need depth to the d-line.
Daryn Colledge - This is the one guy the Packers should pay NOT to come back. How he lasted four years mostly in the starting lineup is a testament to how bad Thompson has been at drafting/finding offensive lineman. Colledge is not starting material at left guard and was absolutely horrible in replacing Clifton at left tackle. Colledge’s holding penalty in overtime against the Cardinals was enough to get him fired on the spot if you ask me. He followed that up by getting burned on the game-winning play two plays later. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Jason Spitz - If Spitz is healthy and the Packers aren’t worried about his future availability they should definitely bring him back. Spitz should replace Colledge at left guard and let Scott Wells stay at center. A line of Clifton, Spitz, Wells, Josh Sitton and Tauscher would be just fine with me. Spitz is versatile and the Packers will almost assuredly bring him back if healthy.
Atari Bigby, Ahman Green, Will Blackmon, John Kuhn, Derrick Martin - All of these players will come cheap but only ones I like are Bigby and Green and maybe Kuhn. Blackmon is an injury waiting to happen and not even that good, he won’t help the secondary any, that is for sure. Martin never showed up after coming in with high hopes having played in a 3-4 defense before. Didn’t happen.
I like Green for his leadership and change of pace to Ryan Grant. Green is a short-yardage specialist and can catch the ball and run the screen pass. Bigby is a starter but an average one at best. The Packers secondary needs a major overhaul but I would at least bring Bigby to camp. Ditto Kuhn, who is a beast on special teams and can catch the ball for a fullback that brings back memories of William Henderson If only he could block like Henderson.
I’ve got my list of potential NFL free agents and I’ll go over that Wednesday. The CBA is throwing a wrench into everything and I can’t believe the NFL players are going crazy about losing two years of free agency. Six years for free agency is a return to the seventies and eighties. Most players’ careers are lucky to be six years, not having a chance at the big payday has to be pissing a lot of guys off. It’s going to be interesting.
More to come…
Gbp, I believe the owners have a deal with tv to get paid whether the players are there or not. I think the last strike the owners actually made more money with the scabs because of that tv deal.
I’m not certain I buy into the dilution of talent argument. The extra five players would probably be of the “developmental” variety and would likely see time on special teams in place of other veterans. As an illustration, the Packers wouldn’t be keeping fullback John Kuhn “because he plays multiple special teams”. I also think you’d see more specialists; take New Orleans for example. Garrett Hartley is their placekicker but he doesn’t do kick-offs. The Packers could keep Crosby for kickoffs and long FG attempts and sign uber-accurate 48 y/o John Carney for the pesky 35-40 yarders!
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
Yeah, icy, from eithet hash too!
either,egads!
did someone in this thread actually mention justin harrell? i thought everyone woke up and gave up on this guy.
so the Packers are 31st in special teams and he still has his job? This after last season too?
LarryTex, you hit on a good argument with the economy.
I forgot the NFL strike of 1982 occurred while unemployment was skyrocketing. July 1981, unemployment was at 7.2% and started soaring. By the fall of 1982, people were pissed. Unemployment finally peaked at 10.8% December 1982.
If unemployment isn’t on it’s way down, fans are going to want to burn the owners and the players at the stake. Fans will be pissed about millionaire players wanting more money and they’ll be pissed about owners wanting more money after having taxpayers build them shiny new stadiums the last 20 years. But don’t worry, we’ll hear owners like Jerry Jones say they would have built their own stadiums if the players didn’t want more money. (Jones also has magic beans for anyone who believes this).
2011 is going to be an ugly offseason unless something changes.
Wish you people would actually analyse Crosby’s numbers before making snide comments about the dude …………. Carney was 13/17 for 76.5% under 50 yards ……………. Crosby was 25/30 for 83.3% under 50 yards ……….
Crosby tied for 6th in the NFL for FGs made in 2009 with 27 ……….. Three years in the NFL he has been 1st, 7th & 4th in scoring ………… Although kicking stats are greatly affected by how potent your offense is ……. I doubt Tom Birney would have Crosby numbers under the same situations ……..
Crosby has one of ……….. if not the strongest legs in the NFL ………. He’s only 25 years old & entering his 4th season as a pro …………. Run Crosby out of town & you’ll have yearly kicker try-outs in GB for the next several years …………..
Well, if you were referring to me Rocky, I was speaking of the coach!! Even so, Crosby’s scoring IS a product of the offense, not only getting there, but their widely known lack of success inside the red zone. Crosby should be putting up great numbers. Sure he has a great leg, but if he doesn’t ever hit from past 40..whats the F@#ing point! Now I am not neccessarily saying I want him gone, but I would like some competition brought in this offseason. As for your yearly kicker tryouts comment…thats what they said when Longwell was taken over Conway. If the media is asking questions after each game about the job safety of the kicker on an 11 win team then there is something not going right with it. You can’t tell me that by game 11 you weren’t expecting him to miss every time took the field.
I still want to know why the ST coach changed the way Crosby kicked during the last offseason?
5 more yards on kickoffs and FG attempts isn’t worth it when you lose accuracy. Crosby was one of the deepest kickers before, so why did they mess with him?
I think the Pack just wants the status quo on coaches maybe the Labor agreement is part of it. Slocum, and Campen funny how no one asks for permission to interview them or anything. On STeams Nelson doesnt look comfortable back there, and I believe is ST duties negatively affect him as a WR. On Crosby they have tinkered with him and we see the results. He used to get near a touchback and was far more reliable. MM also seems to believe that Crosby from 50+ is a legitimate option. I dont know that the Packers plan is but ST have struggled since the Sherman days and it is real old now.
Crosby kicks the ball to hard and pushes it right just like a lot of us driving a golf ball off the tee. Nobody messed with his kicking Dan.
If anything he just needs to losen up and kick the dang ball hard but not kill it. He was a great high school kicker, great college kicker and he has the big leg and compact kicking motion you want as a NFL kicker.
Mentally a kicking specialitst should be hired to allow him to just focus on his basic kicking motion again this offseason and tell everyone else to shush up to him. Otherwise we will have to carry a punter/kicker on the roster too.
Punting and return coverage are my issues with special teams this year.
Rocky – The Crosby comment wasn’t something I’m suggesting should happen; I’ve liked the guy since he kicked a near sixty yarder to beat my beloved ISU Cyclones when he was a Colorado Buffalo.
In actuality, I disagree with your suggestion that NFL game quality would be diluted if rosters were expanded in conjunction with a longer schedule. We’d see those extra roster spots taken by “specialists”, for example more teams carrying two place-kickers. I used an unfortunate tongue-in-cheek (48 y/o John Carney) illustration for that point. I notice you didn’t take me to task for John Kuhn, so I think you knew what I was saying…
In closing, I hope Mason Crosby is our PK for years to come and truly believe his relatively short-yardage misses this season were an anomaly…
This is just me, but I’ve heard that the mistakes made by Crosby are the result of one problem. Hopefully, he and the coaches are working on it over the offseason.
Go Pack Go!