JosephC

Fickell is a dead man walking. There was some hope that, with the weak schedule, the Badgers could be an 8 or maybe even 9 win team in 2026. After the spring practice reports, the same people are now thinking 6 wins and maybe push that to 7 if they get a weak bowl matchup. Even with a 7-6 record, that would bring Fickell's record at Wisconsin to a pitiful 24-27. A new AD will want to hire "their guy" anyway, and a 7-6, 24-27 record will not be nearly enough to save Fickell. Not to just dump on Fickell, as it is pretty obvious at this point that 75% of the problem was idiot Chris McIntosh and 25% Fickell. But that said, there has been nothing to indicate that Fickell is a Big 10 level coach. He looks like a mid-major coach that recruits mid-major players and hires mid-major assistant coaches. What do you know, the 6-7 record he had as Ohio State's head coach doesn't look like a fluke after all. And as far as celebrating high school commits in June, what a joke after what happened last year. Do the names Jayden Petit and Amari Latimer ring any bells? Even Latimer's "replacement," Qwantavius Wiggins, never made it to campus and will not be playing for the Badgers. I can see getting excited about some of the in-state players that commit, but a June verbal from anybody else is completely worthless.

If Garrett doesn't start crying about a new contract in a month, which he probably will, then IMO this is nearly a bargain trade for the Rams..and I really like Verse. Overthecap has Garrett counting 9.16 million against the Ram's cap in 2026, 16.05 million in 2027 and 21.4 million in 2028. 2029 has a 22 million dollar option, so the contract was set up where 2029 would be the new contract year if Garrett is still playing at a high level. But to have him that cheap for three years is a very, very positive aspect of the trade for the Rams. Too bad for them he will likely start crying that the 150 million he's already made just isn't enough, and they will lose one of the best aspects of this trade when they hand him a big, fat new contract.

Sorsby claiming he never bet against Indiana while he was on the team. Now it's come to light that he did bet on the under for Indiana passing yards in a game in 2022, and bet on the under for the first half in an Indiana game in September of 2023. Looks like he was playing in September 2023- https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/brendan-sorsby-1/gamelog/2023/ Texas Tech, talk about an institution with no integrity whatsoever. Absolutely none.

I think they are fine on defense, but agree that they are very thin at almost every spot on offense. I see significant depth issues at RB, TE, OLine and then they didn't backfill the hole at WR after the Wicks trade. They lost Rasheed Walker, Romeo Doubs, Elgton Jenkins, Malik Willis, Dontayvion Wicks and Emanuel Wilson on offense. They have added Tyrod Taylor, Jager Burton and Skyy Moore on offense...that's if you want to even count Moore, which I wouldn't since his addition was about 95% special teams and 5% offense.

https://lookup-inmate-jail.browncountywi.gov:8443/IML

I'm not even sure Red Auerbach in his prime could put together a .500+ team with a doofus extraordinaire owner like Jimmy Haslan being involved. This is old news by now, but if anyone wants to get really depressed- https://www.profootballrumors.com/2026/05/jimmy-haslam-played-active-role-in-browns-2022-deshaun-watson-trade

At this time last year, the QBs that were getting the most hype as top picks in the 2026 draft would have been ranked something like - LaNorris Sellers / Garrett Nussmeier / Nico Iamaleava / Cade Klubnik / Drew Allar / Carson Beck. Sellers a top 10 pick, and possible #1 overall pick. Nussmeier/Iamaleava likely mid to late first rounders. Klubnik a borderline first rounder. Allar a second rounder. Beck a late second/early third rounder. As it turns out, Sellers and Iamaleava not good enough to enter the 2026 draft. At least Sellers is still a name, Iamaleava seems to have dropped from the face of the planet. Beck and Allar got themselves into round three, Beck being the only guy on the list of 6 to get drafted where he was figured to be draft a year ahead, and give credit to Allar for being in the ballpark. Based on that very recent history, someone could put a 2nd round grade on Sorsby and someone else could put a undrafted grade on Sorsby...and I would not argue with either. Who knows? I don't know how easily the NFL will look past the gambling thing. I think most teams will probably look at the rehab aspect with much skepticism. It's been a long time, but it's a pretty safe bet that the name Art Schlichter has not been forgotten. Pretty decent chance that Sorsby is fighting so hard to regain eligiblity because the NFL has given him the "we are not all that interested" vibes. It's worth noting that the last Packers supplemental pick was Mike Wahle who was a big hit. That was all the way back in 1998. Since that time, there has only been 16 players picked in a supplemental draft. Last one was S-Jalen Thompson all the way back in 2019, and he's been an 87 game starter so far in his NFL career. As a 5th rounder, he's an obvious hit as well. Lots of names on the supplemental draft list that have gone nowhere, but there are a few keepers mixed in there.

I don't think it's as much about the 1 million dollars as it was about dumping McManus when they did. Once he's paid the 1 million dollars, why not keep him through training camp and make Smack earn his spot? Gutekunst has drafted 1 kicker previously. That player was a bust. Of the last five kickers the Packers have drafted, they've had 2 hits and 3 misses, a 40% success rate. Smack was the 216th player drafted. In the last 5 years, there have been 10 kickers that were drafted higher than #216. Of those 10 kickers, only 5 are still with the team that drafted them. The last draft that didn't have at least 1 kicker drafted higher than #216 was in 2015 (no kickers drafted at all that season). Smack is no lock to be a good NFL kicker. Why be so confident in a completely unproven player? Is 2024 so long ago that Gutekunst has completely forgotten what happened? What sense does it make to pay McManus an extra 1 million dollars, and then dump him months away from training camp before allowing him to compete for the job?

The savings might only be 2.6 million for this year. Over the cap had him with a $5,278,431 cap number for 2026. A pre-June 1 release would have been a $4,333,334 cap charge in 2026, and a $0 cap charge in 2027. A roughly 945k cap savings in 2026. Over the cap has the post-June 1 release as carrying a $2,666,666 cap charge in 2026 (a roughly 2.611 million dollar cap savings) and a $1,666,668 cap charge in 2027. It all depend on, by rule, if that 1 million roster bonus goes on this year's cap or next year's cap, and I don't know exactly how that works. The only other dead money on the 2027 cap is Nate Hobbs 8 million.

The bigger favor was giving him 1 million dollars for nothing.

Looks like I was wrong on my kicker prediction already. McManus cut. LOL, pay him a roster bonus and then release him months before the season.

Best guess at 53-man roster with current players under contract/drafted- QB (2) - Jordan Love, Tyrod Taylor I don't see them keeping three. RB (3) - Josh Jacobs, MarShawn Lloyd, Chris Brooks Pretty thin at RB considering Lloyd's injury history. WR (6) - Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Matthew Golden, Savion Williams, Bo Melton, Skyy Moore Another thin group. Melton is a clubhouse guy/coaches favorite, so it's hard to think he'll get kicked off the roster. I'd feel better if I had faith in Williams, but I do not. Another injury to Watson really sinks this group unless Golden really emerges and turns out to be a 1200+ yard, 8+ touchdown player. TE (3) - Tucker Kraft, Luke Musgrave, Josh Whyle NFL standard is now four tight ends on the roster, but I can't find any more than three. Absolute prove-it year for Musgrave, and I'm not sure if Whyle is really anything more than practice squad material. I'm definitely anticipating at least one more player will be added to this group. OL (9) - Jordan Morgan, Aaron Banks, Sean Rhyan, Anthony Belton, Zach Tom, Darian Kinnard, Jacob Monk, Jager Burton, Travis Glover I would think Monk would be one of the first guys off, but Gutekunst mentioned him during a recent press conference, so that is an indicator they still believe in him and he could stick. Glover/Jennings/Williams, it could be any of them, but since Glover has the most NFL game experience, I'll guess he sticks. Like TE, I think this is a group where they will probably add another player. EDGE (6) - Micah Parsons, Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, Dani Dennis-Sutton, Brenton Cox Jr,, Collin Oliver Hopefully they can pull a second really legitimate starter out of this group. But in terms of numbers, this may be the deepest group on the team. DL (5) - Devonte Wyatt, Javon Hargrave, Chris McClellan, Karl Brooks, Warren Brinson Another deep group. LB (5) - Edgerrin Cooper, Zaire Franklin, Isaiah McDuffie, Ty'Ron Hopper, Nick Neimann Swap Franklin in for Walker, overall I would anticipate about the same performance out of this group as they got last year. CB (6) - Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine, Benjamin St-Juste, Brandon Cisse, Domani Jackson, Kamal Hadden S (4) - Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams, Javon Bullard, Kitan Oladapo Maybe safety Johnathan Baldwin beats out Kamal Haden for the 10th DB spot, but for now I'd guess Hadden sticks. K (2) - Brandon McManus, Trey Smack Best guess is both look about equal at the end of the pre-season, and the Packers chicken out and don't just go with Smack, but instead keep both. P (1) - Daniel Whelan LS (1) - Matt Orzech Defensive side of the ball looking alright. I really dislike the depth on the offensive side of the ball though. NFL standard seems to have evolved to 25 offense, 25 defense, 3 special teams, and I only included 23 offensive players and many of those I do not have much confidence in.

McClellan was the definite, no doubt about it tendency-breaker pick for Gutekunst in the draft. McClellan's athletic testing just wasn't very good. His agility testing was poor, resulting in a RAS of 6.00. Going into this draft, the leaguewide average RAS for a drafted DL is 7.73, Gutekunst's average drafted DL was 8.49. The only below average RAS DLman drafted by Gutekunst prior to this draft was Karl Brooks (5.87). I am not a fan of RAS (see Shemar Stewart ridiculousness from last year), but it is worth noting that NextGen put a bottom 6 athleticism rating (includes combine invited DLmen) on McClellan. So from the athletic testing perspective, which history shows Gutekunst HEAVILY relies on, McClellan just isn't that good. I basically thought what Fabianich said above. Gutekunst just isn't going to invest a higher pick in a guy with no pass-rush upside. I would have been very surprised if he would have picked someone like Hunter or Orange with a high pick. A Tim Keenan or Dontay Corleone in round six or seven would not have surprised me, but spending a late round pick on a guy that a team would likely have on the field for about 30% of the downs is much different than spending a high pick. The question becomes, will McClellan be a good/at-least-above-average pass rusher in the NFL? I honestly think Gutekunst looked at that senior season, saw that McClellan had 6 sacks (which is a high total for an college interior defensive lineman) and is betting on that translating to the NFL. In the 3 seasons prior to that, McClellan had totaled 4.5 sacks. So there is a production number that indicates he can do it, even though the athleticism numbers say it is probably unlikely. They sent Milt Hendrickson out to talk about the pick, so Hendrickson must believe that McClellan definitely will not end up being a run-down only player.

When talking Enagbare and Van Ness, take a look at 2024. 2024 is year #2 for Van Ness, he was picked in the top half of round one. He played in 17 games in 2024, so was at least relatively healthy the entire year. In 2024, Enagbare played in 46.92% of the team's defensive snaps, Van Ness played in 39.30% of the team's snaps. Fast forward to 2025... In the playoff game against the Bears, Enagbare played in 68% of the defensive stats, Van Ness in 60%. Previous game was the meaningless game against the Vikings. Previous game was the Ravens game: Enagbare = 79%, Van Ness = 62%. Game before that was against the Bears: Enagbare = 67%, Van Ness = 41%.