JosephC

So if my math/estimate is correct, Josh Jacobs stands to lose approximately 3.85 million dollars (assuming 6 game suspension) for an offense that the legal system deems a 1000 dollar transgression (assuming he stays out of trouble the next 6 months...otherwise it's likely another small fine as the battery charge seems to be settled). Something seems very, very wrong with that. Either the NFLPA are idiots for making this sort of agreement, or the legal system is way too tolerant of criminal behavior. You be the judge.

I looked at the rosters for the NFC North, and I don't think any of those teams has a significantly better roster than Green Bay. Maybe somebody by a slight margin, but certainly nothing significant. Green Bay - I don't like the offensive line. I question much of the depth on the offensive side of the ball (again, offensive line). Lots of question marks at running back and not crazy about the depth at tight end. I do like the depth on defense, but nose tackle and cornerback could be worrisome spots. Chicago - They still have a left tackle problem. I also am not a fan of Jonah Jackson and have doubts about him. Garrett Bradbury is likely on his last legs, but at least they drafted a replacement so they have a decent enough in-house option. Their defensive line got pushed around a lot in the run game last year, and I don't think they fixed that. They also lost safety Jaquan Brisker who was an under-rated guy for them. Detroit - As much as I will cry-baby about the Packers depth on offense, that is nothing compared to the Lions depth on offense which is basically nothing. If I'm counting right, they only have 21 offensive players on the 53 man roster which I find really incredible. If the Sewell to left tackle thing works, they definitely have more than enough talent with the starting 11 to get it done. But with the way guys get injured, this could go south real quick. I do like the starters and the depth on the defensive side of the ball. Maybe the most complete offensive or defensive unit in the NFC North. Minnesota - Overall I think their roster is very under-rated, but they are still no better than Green Bay. Kyler Murray is nothing special, I'd probably rank him something like 21-24 as an NFL starting QB, so definitely below average. But he still could be a significant upgrade over McCarthy who really held that team back last year as he might not even be solid NFL backup material. He is awful. I like the rest of the offense. But CB is looking like a potential weak spot, and I really like some of those young guys on the DL...but at the same time those guys on the DL are pretty young. I'll go 10-7 for the Packers and 0-1 in the playoffs. The way you guys rip on LaFleur, I'll figure that even if they are the better team in the playoff matchup that the game will be close and he'll find some way to screw it up at the end.

You are forgetting the most important factor. Fickell's boss did not hire him. If there is one thing top-line administrators have in common, it's that they want "their guy" in what they deem important positions. Fickell very likely has this working against him in a big way. I think anything less than 8 wins is a guaranteed firing. Not even sure that 8 wins will save him, AD could use the weak schedule as justification. Next two games are easy wins. Then comes Penn State at Penn State, which if you believe the pollsters should be an automatic loss. Considering they lost a huge chunk of their team when Franklin left, I don't know how anyone could project Penn State. They might be very good, they might not be very good. But bottom line is that it's a road game against a ranked team, so project that as a loss. Then comes Michigan State at Wisconsin. Michigan State has been an even bigger mess than Wisconsin, so this is a must win game considering it's a home game. I'll predict that if the Badgers lose this game, and start 2-3, Eichorst will not wait and allow Fickell a chance to recover, he'll pull the trigger and fire him after this game. Do I think Wisconsin will lose both of those game...well definitely not the Michigan State game. But if it happens, I don't think Fickell is around for that trip to UCLA.

Just glancing through the list, Fickell had the following players in his one year as head coach at Ohio State (all of the following played, and none of them were suspended). QB-Braxton Miller, RB-Carlos Hyde, WR-Devin Smith (freshman), TE-Jake Stoneburner, OT-Jack Mewhort, OT-Andrew Norwell, C-Corey Linsley, DE-John Simon, DT-Jonathan Hankins, LB-Ryan Shazier (freshman), CB-Bradley Roby, S-Christian Bryant. Those are just the highlights, there are many more NFL'ers on the list. They had far better than 6 win, 7 loss talent. They had 5 players suspended, Terrelle Pryor, RB-Dan Herron (returned and played after 5 game suspension), OT-Mike Adams (more than adequate replacements in Mewhort and Norwell), DE-Solomon Thomas (not the same one that was a first round pick for the 49ers, this one had 27 tackles and 0 sacks in 4 college seasons) and WR-DeVier Posey (who returned and played after a 5 game suspension). Pollsters knew of the suspensions, still gave them a #18 ranking prior to the season. The ranked status lasted until week 3, when they got beat by a Miami, Fl team that had already lost to a pathetic Maryland team and ended with a 6-6 record (3-5 in the ACC). When the Badgers hired Fickell, I went into work and the Ohio State grad told me that, despite the media hype, the Badgers screwed up because Fickell is not a Big 10 head coach. Everything I've seen makes it look like that guy was right.

You sure got that part right.

Anything disingenuous about- Record as an American Conference head coach = 57-18 Record as a Big 10 head coach = 23-29 Fickell is not a big conference head coach. If you would rather blame Chris McIntosh, be my guest. He is really the idiot to blame for the program's downfall.

Fickell is not a big conference head coach. 2009 Ohio State = 11-2 2010 Ohio State = 12-1 2011 Ohio State = 6-7 (Fickell is head coach) 2012 Ohio State = 12-0 2013 Ohio State 12-2 Guy can't even with 50% of his games with Ohio State talent.

That can't be right. We've heard over and over and over that the Badgers are in the top third of the Big 10 in NIL spending.

Are Big 10 refs working the Notre Dame/Wisconsin game?

How much NIL money do the Badgers have left? How about giving Kyle McCord a 2 million NIL deal? After all, he's never appeared in an NFL regular season game. Why should he have to be irreparably harmed by being forced to play football in 2026 for $885,000 when a different entity would pay him $2,000,000 to do the same thing? As long as he's enrolled in classes, why should he be prevented from playing football if he is a student at the university? Wisconsin legislature better get together really quick and authorize another 30 million to pay dumb jocks to play football. Nothing is more important than to keep that state football team competitive.

That is pretty much the rule as it stands today. That doesn't stop anybody from suing next year making the argument that if they are enrolled in classes then they are a student, and an arbitrary 5 year rule causes them irreparable financial harm and should be illegal. As we see, it only takes one judge to change everything.

I'm surprised Lane "Sleeze" Kiffin hasn't been recruiting players off of NFL practice squads yet. Those practice squad guys make pretty good money these days, but still is less than a 2 million dollar NIL deal. I'm just wondering which SEC powerhouse Diego Pavia will be playing for next year? College football is completely ruined. I've no desire to watch any of it.

53 players are enough. Teams can easily keep three QBs if they elect to do so. Look at how many players at the bottom of the roster never amount to anything. How many times is that 10th defensive back actually a good player? How many times is that 4th tight end actually a good player? The Packers kept 7 interior defensive lineman on this roster. What are the chances that players #6 and #7 in that group ever amount to anything?

I haven't watched a baseball game since Lyin' Ryan got busted. Haven't bought any sport merchandise in over 10 years. The only reason I'm still here is that I have an interest in player transaction and roster building. If everything was like it was in the old days (no free agency, draft coverage non-existent), it's pretty much a guarantee that I would not be posting or even looking at any sports message forum.

I have to agree, if someone is really concerned about character, it's hard to believe they would pick the NFL as something to watch. Not only are an inordinate amount of players real scumbags (and I can guarantee you it's more than 1 or 2 per team), but the owners are no better with their raiding of taxpayer coffers and partnering with exploitative businesses. There is a reason I stopped watching their product years ago.

If the video is that bad, someone should ask the DA what happened to the strangulation and suffocation felony charge? Why were four other charges reduced to two misdemeanors? If she really got beat up so badly, why is it a misdemeanor battery charge, and not a felony substantial battery charge? Maybe he beat the hell out of her? Maybe it was two adults with an average IQ of 75 wrestling over a cell phone, and in the end she took a tumble and that's why he gets charged and she didn't get charged? Who knows at this point? But one thing is for certain, if it's bad, this video will get played over and over and over and over when it's released and the DA will have set himself up for massive public outcry and potential job loss. The fact that it ended up as two misdemeanor charges says something.

Looking great on paper is one thing. Performing is another. But looking at that Steelers defense on paper, that group looks like it could be really, really good.

I would imagine LaFleur loves Rodgers. 4 years of Rodgers/LaFleur = 11.75 wins per season. 3 years LaFleur - Rodgers = 9.67 wins per season. The first three years with Rodgers still makes LaFleur's overall record look really, really good.

Hard for the Packers. Now they will have to add at least 3 more high paying jobs. #1 - Sideline Instant Replay Specialist. #2 - Instant Replay Coordinator. #3 - Instant Replay QC. As the smallest market team in football, without a billion dollar owner that can just sell off part of the team for a quick cashflow that would be north of 100 million, I see this as potentially putting the Packers at a huge competitive disadvantage. Policy will really have to do his job and find more streams of revenue in order to keep the franchise afloat.

The post wasn't meant to cast doom-and-gloom over the Packers cap situation. They are not in bad shape. The post was meant to explain that adding a player like Vita Vea at this time is pretty unlikely and the cap plays a big factor in that.

This one looks promising-

Packers just signed some no-name kicker. He's a German guy that played in the European League of Football. Very interesting.

The Packers are already in a situation where they will likely have to cut Jacobs, Banks (post June 1 designation), Hargrave and Franklin in order to make the 2027 cap work...and that is prior to a potential Kraft extension. I think they are done looking for any high priced players from outside of the organization this off-season. Just for kicks, I went to OvertheCap and plugged in guess numbers for the Wyatt contract (they don't have the details yet), and then put in a new 3 year, 72 million dollar deal for Vea (25 million dollar signing bonus). Note that Vea has a 17 million dollar base salary for 2026 which would not work for Green Bay, so this would be a new contract that would run from 2026-2028. After doing that, the Packers would be 8.8 million under the cap for 2026, and approximately 18.8 million over the cap for 2027. Cutting Jacobs (post June 1), Banks, Hargrave and Franklin after this year would take them from 18.8 million over to 29.2 under...and generally I would like to think they would prefer to roll into an off-season with at least 40 million to work with. Kraft is probably the last "larger" deal we are looking at over the next few months. What will really complicate matters more is if they decide they need to do a Love extension this next off-season. His 2027 cap number does not demand it, but they might feel the need to do it anyway. And unlike most extensions, where the first year of the deal has a lower base salary and give the team some short term cap relief, I would not expect that with a Love extension, just because I think the numbers of the deal will be staggering.

The Packers had a stock sale in 2022 that reportedly raised 65.8 million. The "rainy day fund" stood at 474 million in the 2023 financials. https://thebusinessnews.com/northeast/packers-report-another-solid-financial-year/ Three years later, the rainy day fund is over 700 million. Did they really need to do that stock sale in 2022? Where did all that money come from in the last 3 years? This team does not need more money from stock sales or free government handouts. The NFL and the Packers are swimming in money.

Policy is an ass. Packers get 432 million in national shared revenue. So they pay all the player salaries and misc expenses, and still have roughly 100 million left over. That does not even include "local revenue," which was reported to be just a shade under 300 million. So as you already said, when all is said and done for the year, they wound up +132.5 million. The rainy day fund is now 700+ million. And despite all of this, Policy is whining about how difficult it will be to stay competitive in the current environment. Get ready for the big swindle. Get ready for the state to kick them a free 30+ million per season for no reason at all. Hey, if the University of Wisconsin can get 14 million per year to pay football players, why shouldn't the Packers get a 30 million dollar "need this to be competitive" donation every year. Big-time sport owners/CEO/athletic directors, nothing more than pigs to the trough when it comes time to grab some taxpayer money. Can I say "ass" on this board? Whoops, I guess I already did. Policy is an ass.