OnTheBlack

Please FFS, no. Just find a Howard Green in FA and call it a day. That's not gonna fly in Pettine's defense. You could get by with a Howard Green if you had a good secondary and OLB'ers in Capers D, definitely not in Pettines. He uses his DL to get pressure. Howard Green was a guy who was not terrible for half a season. Building a NYJ like 2016 DL should be the goal. And we could do MUCH worse than grabbing Oliver or a guy like Wilkins at 12. If the Packers are going to have a good defense, they need to be dominant up front. Without a Mack like player, the best way to do that is by being able to rotate 8-9 really good players in that front 5 and put pressure on the QB from every different direction. A front of Clark, Daniels, Wilkerson, Lowry and then an Ed Oliver with the two Smiths, maybe Clay back, Kyler and a Jaylon Ferguson type in the 2nd would give us the potential at a dominant front for a long time.

The NFL doesn't really have a hard cap. I mean...technically is it, but there are so many ways to work around it, so many clear cut ways teams clear cap room by intentionally manipulating deals that you know they have no intention of honoring or with the sole intention of clearing up cap room that it's kinda a soft cap. Just go to Rodgers and ask him if he wants to add 3 years to his deal at 30 million per year, not guaranteed, give him a 15 million dollar signing bonus and clear a ton of cap room like the Cowboys did with Romo or like the Pats have done with Brady. It gives the player more money, and if the team is willing to spend like the Packers are, it gives him plenty of incentive to do that. Eventually you have to bite the bullet and have that cap clearing year, but as long as it doesn't come while Rodgers is here, who cares? It's highly unlikely that the Packers are going to go from a competitive team, have Rodgers retire and then remain competitive immediately after. [sarcasm]In fact, maybe they should be going all in this year and then tank next year in the Trevor Lawrence draft![/sarcasm]

I want Daniels back. Clark is obviously more important, and they should be looking to extend him in the near future even with 2 years left before FA. I think with the guys around him, he's about ready to really break out into a stud and if you could lock him up right now by adding 3 years and 30 million with a 15 million dollar signing bonus, ensuring he'd be around for the next 5 years, that'd be a good move IMO. It might be smarter to let Daniels leave via Free Agency after this year, but I just like his mentality and toughness and think his slip was in part because of injuries. I don't think though that Daniels situation either way should impact them potentially drafting a DL in this draft. If Oliver falls to 12 and Sweat and others are gone, take him.

I like that list, but I'd take the Mets out and put the Cards in. I don't really see the Mets as Media darlings. In fact, they seem to get small market treatment more than anything. All the rumors of them trading Degrom and Syndergaard(a guy who's 25 years old, has the stuff that people hoped Strausburg would have and is coming off a "disappointing" 4.0 WAR season). Can you imagine if the Cards had a couple guys who still had multiple years under team control talking about trading two talents like that? I actually think they get treated like the little brothers they are in NYC. Other than that, I am in 100 pct agreement with that list. I might add the Pats as I just hate watching them somehow win year after year.

I think those are viable examples. I don't think a guy with the resume that MadBum has and the mentality he approaches the game with makes his private text about them using an opener for him in that same category. I think if Jimmy Nelson said the same thing we'd be applauding his confidence and "bulldog" type persona. But because it's a guy we got into it with last year, we're putting WAAY too much into it. And we're also assuming he was serious. My guess is that he was half joking in that he'd walk out of the stadium or wouldn't do it, but 100 pct serious in that he hated the idea.

Eric Gange part two? Kimbrel hasn't had injury problems, he hasn't struggled or be anything other than one of the best 2-3 relievers in the game every year of his career save for last year when he has a career worst FIP of 3.13. There's always a risk that someone you sign is going to struggle, but we were taking a flier on Gange, hoping he could find the stuff that he had in the two truly dominant seasons he had. Kimbrel is dominant like Gagne was just about every year. As for pitchers signing this late, I think the main person people are referencing are Holland who struggled early, but then came back and was outstanding the 2nd half of last year. Of course the Cards started him on the 25 man when they probably should have kept him in extended spring training for a extra couple weeks. This is all moot though if he's still talking about stupid numbers. At this point, he's a 1 year 12 million, 2 year 25 million dollar type signing IMO. It might take him until May to figure that out. I would like to add another good reliever, OR just hope that Albers can bounce back and follow his career norm of good year, bad year, good year trend. I think Jeffress is going to see a major regression this year. Stearns obviously has confidence in our pen, and that's more important than what I think, but I don't have as much that they'll be able to duplicate last year. If Jeffress struggles for a while like Knebel and you take some of your young guys out of the pen, we could actually be a bit thin there. Just hope Guerra and his splitter can translate into a dominant BP arm for us this year. He could really be the X factor.

Everything Jon Heyman reports is done with the goal of helping Boras get money for his clients. Kimbrel getting a big deal would be money that could go to one of his clients, hence Boras is having his media mouthpiece leak this info. I think we're getting a little carried away now and pretty paranoid. Seems to me like he's simply reporting something that's pretty obvious to everyone as the leagues best closer over the last 6-7 years doesn't have a contract on March 17th. I highly doubt it's part of some nefarious plot to help Boras or one of his clients. Do you really think any front offices are reading Heyman's tweets and making these decisions based on those? Seems unlikely to me.

Do you think Moustakas would be better? Beyond the "click bait" part of my title, the main point was to put Arcia in a position to field a higher percentage of balls than anyone else on our infield. 90% of Arcia's value is in his defense. So I'm advocating that with an infield of Shaw, Arcia, Moose, and Aguilar/Thames, I'd put Arcia wherever the metrics say he will get the most balls. Among those 5 players, he is by far the best defender at SS/2B. And probably 3B/1B too. This makes sense. I fear it will lead to more Aguilar at 3B theories, though I tend to miss quite a bit and post here more in bursts...but this isn't actually a commonly suggested idea, is it? I'd honestly prefer just moving Braun to 3rd at that point....and even as I say that, I'm not sure if that should be in blue or not! Aguilar is a nice defender....FOR a 300 pound guy and IF the ball is hit right at him. He's certainly not a guy you want to see playing 3rd base unless it's an emergency.

Ok, the premise of this is to put Moose there JUST during shifts as you're asking the guy who's playing in shallow right to cover the most ground. Am I to understand that YOU'RE honestly suggesting that we just start Moose at SS instead of Arcia all together and NOT just on shifts? I think the OP's idea is logical and makes sense. I think starting with Moose at Short, Shaw at 3rd, Aguilar at 1st and I don't know, Hirura for instance at 2nd would be a worse idea than starting Kotsay in CF for a playoff game.

Yeah, speaking of the variation of mock drafts, I just saw one that had two Bama backs going in round 1. Anyway, I would imagine we'll run the ball more, but only because we'd be stupid not to. I don't know how many times Arod checked out of a run to throw the ball....you could see him doing it from time to time, but if there's ONE thing that I'd really like to see change on this offense, I'd like to see the Packers just being more steady. There's absolutely no reason we couldn't run an offense like the Pats. We have a more talented offense at every position sans TE than the Pats. But to Rodgers detriment, he likes to extend plays when his first read is open for a 6-7 yard gain and instead he likes to scramble, leave the pocket and look for the big play. That's partly what makes him great, but it also stops a lot of our drives. If we ran the ball about 8-10 pct more often, and Rodgers was throwing on rhythm more often, we'd cut WAY down on our 3 and outs and our defense wouldn't have to be on the field nearly as much as it is. Think back to some of the games Rodgers has been hurt, be it the calf or his knee from last year. He's been forced to throw from the pocket, and with his arm, and how accurate he is, you saw the offense moving the ball better in smaller chunks. I'd like to see us go back to being a team that focuses on YAC yards rather than Rodgers going for that big shot so often.

I'm good with that, though I don't think it's because Rodgers needs more time. I just think it's a smart, practical pick for both the future and Williams is a guy who could step in and start right away. If you do pick Williams this year...that Turner signing looks even worse. You'd likely move Williams to RG..where he could be a pro-bowler early on and he could be protection for Bulaga and Bahktari and then he could slide out to RT for the future and be a 10 year starter. Another Clifton/Tauscher combo(though Bahktari is clearly better than Clifton). As for WR'er...what we "need" is something we can pick up even after the draft. I would hope that St. Brown, Scantling and Moore(though I think little of the latter) would be ready to make a big jump this year, giving you two 6'4+ 4.4 40 WR'ers who can go up and get 50/50 balls along with a legit #1 in Adams. I'd definitely say that a TE is more important, even if it's Irv Smith with the 30th pick and we miss out on both Iowa guys. Jonah Williams and Irv Smith may not be a sexy draft, but it could really round out our team. Then take some big swings with the next 4 picks.

Not a single person on here watches enough of NCAA Football to really form opinions about these guys! We all just read a bunch of stuff, look at the Packers defense and then pick our favorites with a fraction of the information that the team has! There are only a few examples of guys that I've seen in college Football that I KNEW I really wanted and they're the same that most people would look at. Bosa from how he ran past our OL like it was a drill, Hockenson from playing vs us in '18, and then the other guy who really stands out is a 'Bama DT who dominated the last two years in the playoffs. I'm pretty sure it's not Williams, I thought the guy was a True Frosh last year. Anyway, if there are any real scouts out there, I apologize, but for the most part, we're taking very little info and forming opinions and are largely ignorant about most of these guys, same as you. But I would like to see another edge rusher picked early...hopefully a guy who can become a elite young Clay type player.

I think Sweat is now a top 15 pick at worst, and I'm seeing him gone before the Packers pick on most mock drafts. I tend to look at ESPN and NFL.com or the NFL Network shows more often. Not that they're the best, just the shows that I tend to have on while doing other things and I don't think I've seen Greedy Williams in the first in a mock draft in any of those sites for a while now. I would be interested in a study by 538, but even then, even if they found the best sites for predicting mock drafts, you're still going to have guys that we as fans see as top 15 picks going in the 3rd or 4th rounds and other guys shooting up draft boards. A friend of mine is always mocking Mel Kiper...who I think is as good as just about anyone else at doing this by picking some of his worst projections. But everyone has them. For what it's worth, the latest one I just saw on ESPN.com had Hockenson going 12th and Burns going 30th...and again, no Greedy Williams. Maybe we get lucky and get a guy like Williams in the 2nd round. He's too talented to slip too far, right? And I just can't help but salivate at a King-Greedy combo with Alexander in the slot and then maybe Amos as the Strong Safety rather than the Free and Josh Jackson as a Free Safety?

Shaw is the next closest in my opinion. A really good year defensively last year, a little bit under the radar offensively, but he basically matched his production from '17 with worse luck. Given how the list was created, I was a little surprised to not see Jeffress on there or even Knebel...not that I believe either are top 100 players, but they ranked a few elite relievers up there and those two were as good as just about anyone last year. Moving forward I'm hoping Jesus does solidify his place among the arbitrary top 100 as well as Shaw and Hirura puts himself in a position to be in consideration coming into next year, but I think the Brewers are more than the sum of their parts, so these rankings don't mean a whole lot to me.

I think the issue people are having is that you're going to be overpaying Middleton. Even people who fully understand that it's not like the Brewers where you are talking about giving a fringe all star player 25 million per year, you're backed into a corner. It just seems unnatural to advocate signing a player for more than you believe he's worth, especially when the extra 5 million per year could end up costing them an extra 15 million a year with the luxury tax in the future.

So the Browns pull off another HUGE move and just a year removed from going win-less and having one of the worst two year stretches ever, they may now be one of the 2-3 best teams in terms of pure talent with potential superstars all over the place from Garrett, Ward, OBJ, Landry may not be a superstar, but he's one of the most reliable possession recievers. Baker looks like he's a legit stud, they have a TE with elite speed and field stretching talent and the one position they'd actually been building up in previous years was the OL. Meanwhile...the Giants are pushing the Raiders for worst run teams. Oh, and after sitting out and passing up 14.5 million, Bell ends up signing for "just" 4 years and 52 million, not getting close to the Gurley deal he was seeking. Former Packer executives have really turned the Browns around and in a hurry. Just as Dorsey did in KC where he went and drafted probably the single most valuable player in the NFL at this point in Mahomes and surrounded him with talent before inexplicably being forced out as the team was peaking(they were a Dee Ford off-sides away from going to the Super Bowl last year). The Packers spend 150 million in free agency, Antonio Brown gets traded for a 3rd and a 5th....the Browns are a legit contender..up is down, down is up...in the words of the greatest coach of all time, "What the hell is going on out here."

Yes. Look around for the rumor that connects Hornibrook, Edwards, and Hornibrook's first concussion. I'm betting against that. Here are combine numbers for two well-known guys around here: David Edwards: 5.28 40-yard, 25.5 vertical, 99 broad, 7.69 3-cone, 4.77 20-yard shuttle, passed on bench Jason Spriggs: 4.94 40-yard, 31.5 vertical, 115 broad, 7.70 3-cone, 4.44 20-yard shuttle, 31 reps Spriggs actually was a 2nd round pick. Add to that a lot of bad tape on Edwards this year. I have Edwards going in the 5th round, and that's about what NFL.com has him graded as. The only reason he has a chance to go higher than the 5th is because this is a weak draft class for OTs, but I'd bet that he isn't drafted until day 3. Well, maybe I should have said Edwards WAS a guy who had a chance to be a 2nd round pick. He's been hyped as a potential future 1st rounder for the last couple years at Wisconsin. As I said, I never saw that type of talent from him, but I was just responding to why Edwards would have opted to go pro. As for Spriggs, his combine results were an aberration. Now quite on par with a guy like Lane Johnson, but he was a unique athlete for a tackle, but his lower body strength was always a question. I'd hoped he'd have developed by now. Hopefully this year things will click for him. We can't afford to trade up in the 2nd and miss on guys as badly as we've missed on Spriggs thus far.

Did the Lakers even make an effort to sign him to a one year deal? He'd have been a good fit with them. I understand if they didn't want to give him a multi year deal and I understand them letting Randle walk as well, but I'm with you, I don't understand Lopez signing for so cheap with the Bucks. It's not like the Bucks were coming off a season like the current one. Love that we have him though and while I like Ersan, I wish we could find someone to take him off our hands and slide Brook into that MLE. That's probably fair for him at this point in his career. And maybe after the Nets gave him a max deal, he's more interested in playing for a winner for the next few years, playing reduced minutes and extending his career? The situation the Bucks are in, they need a guy like Lopez who wants to stay on a cheaper deal and they need to get lucky and hopefully find an athletic big that can develop with what will hopefully be the final pick of the first round....as unlikely as that may be. Was hoping Thon would go the Giannis route and add bulk and develop, but that obviously didn't happen.

Homer mentioned max deals. That post had nothing to do with you. I would not give him a max deal. Even so, long-term financial health is just money in the owners' pockets. If you really understand the CBA, you understand that. It has almost nothing to do with payroll flexibility. You have the right to spend a lot of money on Khris or not spend it at all. There's no "I'd rather spend it on someone else", and there probably won't be for many years. It would be a question of letting Khris walk on principle and starting a much worse player instead. I don't think you have to give him more than 4/$100m, which is fair. I'd probably explore other options if it gets around 4/$120m. And to be clear, if I'm starting a team from scratch, no way I'd give him either of those contracts, but the context could not be more diametrically opposed to starting from scratch right now. Right, the only alternative is to save money, but not money that's going to end up going to another player, just money that will save the owners with regard to the luxury tax. Giannis is HOPEFULLY going to get a 5 year 250 million dollar deal(somewhere in that range unless for some reason the best young talent the Bucks have had since the early 70's decides he loves Milwaukee so much he'll take a discount). Even if we were able to unload the Snell and Ersan deals, we won't have money to sign someone as talented as Middleton in the near future and we have traded away most of our draft picks for the foreseeable future. I think all those circumstances kinda force the Bucks to do what it takes to sign Middleton. There is definitely a risk that we end up in a Cavs like situation where they had high paid players who had little trade value, but the risk I'm MORE worried about is that we lose our 2nd best player as of now and risk losing the franchise player in Giannis. Of course using your logic, I'd also sign Brogdon for 4 years and up to 50 million per year as I think that's a contract you could trade in the future as well. Given how Horst stole Mirotic, maybe he'll be able to package Snell and Ersan this off-season for some more back court depth. Edit-I didn't realize Ersan's 3rd year was not guaranteed. He may actually have some value to the Bucks next year at the deadline or even this off-season.

I'm a bit worried it's going to be our undoing as well. There are area's to be optimistic. Again, people forget that when Nelson went down, people were debating who we should start in a one game playoff or a game one, Anderson or Nelson. The answer was fairly obvious, but the point is that Anderson isn't long removed from being a really effective pitcher. Hopefully Nelson can be back by May, Chacin can produce like he has the previous two years. But this division has just gotten so much better this off-season and if the Reds get lucky with their rotation, one that has quite a bit of upside and the Brewers under performs, a 4th place finish is as likely as a 1st place finish. Ender, any optimism on your part that we get anything out of the farm system this year? Could Brown make a jump this year and end up playing a role in the pen as a multi-inning reliever similar to some of the young guys last year did? I'd guess he's a year away, but I thought the same about Peralta going into last year...and to a lesser degree Burnes.

I'm particularly excited about Amos and Za'Darius Smith. The more I read about Preston Smith, the more it sounds like he's a really nice player as well. The Billy Turner signing seems like a massive overpay however as he's bounced around and really has only had a 11 game sample size where he was solid and it sounds like he's more of a guard from the little I've read and not a guy you'd want playing tackle. The thing that most people are saying is that the Packers have really overpaid...even on Amos, though 9 million or so per year for him sounds like a good deal. But they gave Za'Darius Smith a deal on par with what Trey Flowers will get per year. Without the guarantees, it's hard to really compare. But over 100 million on two OLB'ers, neither of which has had a 9 sack season yet, though both still have a lot of upside and almost 30 million on a utility offensive linemen? Again, I realize that the numbers that matter are guaranteed dollars, but man, what a 180 from TT. We just signed a backup OL for more than Bulaga is going to get per year. Taking on Perry's cap hit this year helps the cap in the future if any of these deals don't work out and it would appear all are pretty front loaded, and I agree with you that it's great that we can now do whatever we want in the draft and don't have to. I'm still hoping for the same two guys in the first round, Sweat at 12 and Fant at 30, but maybe the Packers think Allen is going to be a elite edge rusher and they move up for Allen, or Fant's stock keeps rising and they can't afford to wait until 30 to take him. Either way, I'm fine with future cap problems as you can almost always kick the can down the road and we have a 36 year old all time great QB right now and getting a defense that's younger, more physical and more versatile was absolutely essential. But anyone else questioning the money we spent? Or just happy we added a couple guys who seem to be able to stay healthy and can rush the passer(I read in one article that Preston Smith has like 110 QB pressures that last 4 years, more than guys like Clowney and other elite pass rushers)? The Packers are definitely a lot more talented today(or they will be once these deals are officially signed) than they were before and they addressed their biggest need. I just hope the backers play up to their deals, Amos takes one more small step and becomes a bit more of a playmaker and Turner is as good as he showed in limited action last year. Now just a Saints-like Lattimore-Ramzcyk-Williams-Kamara draft and maybe we'll get Arod another Super Bowl or 4 during the rest of his time here in Green Bay.

Will Cobb become an UFA this spring? Cobb's a UFA as of right now.

Yeah, I don't know when he'll be out of football and I'm not going to predict that, but looking at the two other slot WR'ers who signed for 8-10 million and while they're a couple years younger, they haven't been as productive as Cobb. I'm fine if you believe they have more value than Cobb, but Cobb definitely has more value than a vets minimum. I think he'll get 6-8 million per year.

It gave them the leverage to trade him on their terms unlike the Steelers. Also, coming into this past season they were just one year removed from an 11 win team and a division title...so they apparently thought they had one more run with Eli and then the addition of the biggest impact rookie in Barkley. Didn't work out so they get to hold OBJ out there and say they don't need to trade him unless they get value back. They can eat the cap hit because they're not going to be competitive now anyway. At least that'd be my thinking. I don't understand why they didn't franchise Collins and then work out a trade. You would think they'd have likely gotten a 2nd for him like the Chiefs did for Dee Ford.

Just guessing? It does seem like the only team he's being connected to is the Braves. But the Braves are also notoriously cheap, so I could see the Brewers jumping in and surprising everyone. I'm sure Stearns and Attanasio are certainly not afraid to make a splash ... again. Massive injuries to braves pitchers just got worse with Closer A.J. Minter Leaving game today after only facing one batter with arm injury. Braves Beat writer speculating them signing kimbrel now. As Joey m bombs already pointed out how cheap braves are, don’t think they’d sign both Now. Would love Keuchel but don’t see him getting past Phillies or Padres. I'm hoping for the Phills. Then when they've got Harper and Trout in that OF, they've got less money to build a super-team.....come Philly, give him 6/150! He deserves it!