The Green Bay Packers are 17 days and a handful of hours away from annual infusion of rookie talent.
Naturally, Packers fans are eager to see GM Ted Thompson try to top his 2014 masterpiece that produced Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, DaVante Adams and Corey Linsley, among others.
Even the 24-7, 365-day ‘round-the-year beast called the NFL pumps its brakes for the NCAA men’s basketball championship game. It was especially so for the Green Bay Packers, who had to look no further than Madison to admire the Badgers’ brilliance all season.
Fritz Shurmur, the Packers’ feisty but sage defensive coordinator in the 1990s, once said, “If you don’t have a defensive line, you don’t have a defense.” Shurmur had one of the NFL’s finest defensive lines of all-time with Reggie White, Santana Dotson and Sean Jones flanking Gilbert Brown, the Gravedigger, to torture opposing offenses. Today, the Packers took measures to field a D-Line and thus, a defense. Letroy Guion and B.J. Raji will return, according to numerous reports.
The NFL off-season’s initial flurry of free agent activity has quelled it is time to recap the key comings-and-goings, look to the Packers’ draft and bottom line the NFL’s owners meetings.
Randall Cobb? Check. Bryan Bulaga? Check. Now, it’s on to building the balance of the roster. The Packers have a need for at least two inside linebackers, a nose tackle, a tight end and a third-down back/return specialist.
Re-signing Randall Cobb at their price was a stroke of genius by the Packers. The four-year, $40 million deal highlighted by $17 million guaranteed also plays well for Cobb.
The deal is so good for both sides, in fact, that Packers GM Ted Thompson is the person most deserving of a raise.
The Packers held to form Monday by declining to use their franchise tag to protect Randall Cobb or Bryan Bulaga. It was the eighth time in 10 off-seasons Packers GM Ted Thompson chose to negotiate on his terms despite the risk of losing a key player…
The Packers have made several significant changes in the five weeks since their 28-22 overtime loss in the NFC Championship at Seattle. Most addressed Green Bay’s failures in the final five minutes. They included special teams’ gaffes, painfully conservative play-calling and poor communication in all three phases.
Now that head coach Mike McCarthy has finalized his coaching staff, the Packers’ offseason officially begins this week. With it come five big questions the team must answer if it hopes to be playing in Super Bowl 50 at Santa Clara next February.
Whatever change may come for Mike McCarthy’s coaching staff will be considered with an eye toward enabling the Packers’ head coach to better-manage game-day decisions. The final five-minute meltdown in the Packers’ 28-22 overtime loss at Seattle in the NFC Championship game demanded it. Whether McCarthy relinquishes all, some or none his play-calling duties is strictly his call. His offense’s sustained excellence gives him the resume to proceed as he sees fit.
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