OnTheBlack

Cobb is a FA, so he doesn't need to be cut. Not a bad guy to have around if they can get him for a very low cap number. Crosby, I agree. Funny, as I was watching kickers yesterday nail FGs at crunch time I was thinking "I feel no confidence if Crosby was kicking right now." Yea, that's not proof of anything but Crosby lost his confidence somewhere along the line. It's a gamble though, because there's a lot of bad kickers out there too. Also watching these games, just confirmed how badly the Packers need to upgrade the O Line. You can throw any stats you want at me, they need an above avg O line more than anything else. They have an above average OL. A big part of the problem is Rodgers who far too often looks to extend plays rather than take the 7-8 yard completion and scrambles which makes it exponentially more difficult for his linemen to maintain their blocks. OL play is down all around the NFL because of the CBA that limits the amount of time you can have contact or "thud" time I think they call it. The position most adversely impacted is the OL. But our OL is a very good pass blocking OL and we led the league in yard per carry(I know, you don't like the stats). We have the leagues top LT arguably, a rock at C, a very, very good RT when healthy and our guards have been up and down due to injury, but Lane Taylor's solid. I'd like to see us draft a good tackle who could push Bulaga inside to guard or move to guard himself while also backing up both Bahktari and Bulaga as a swing tackle because if either one of them goes down, then we're in real trouble. So I'm all for upgrading the OL, especially with Rodgers turning 35, but it has not been a big weakness. As for Crosby, the had a bad game. He went 29-32 on FG attempts if you take out the Detroit game. He's a very good bad weather kicker and went 5 for 7 from 50+ yards this year. I think wanting him cut is a little short sighted. I wouldn't be against drafting a guy in the 7th and bringing in some competition, but I think we have one of the better kickers in the league right now when you factor in that he has to play in GB. There's a reason why Longwell wanted to leave to kick in Tampa or in a dome. It's tough kicking in Lambeau. You can't just throw out the Detroit game, but I do think it's a bit of an outlier....a fluke. And 34 is hardly "old" for a kicker.

Hill had a terrific preseason, and there was a lot of talk at cutdown time that he'd likely be claimed if cut. He looked substantially better than Hundley and Callahan. I guess I should have prefaced my comment to say that McCarthy didn't see value in hanging onto a 27-year-old rookie on the active roster as his developmental QB. I know that hindsignt is 20/20, but given the dearth of solid backup QB talent in the NFL, that was a clear, clear miss. Again, you have to believe that Hill would be producing here in Green Bay and you also have to go back to that time and remember that Hundley looked like he was a very good backup and future starter based on the previous pre-season. I do remember one single play that year though...don't recall who it was against, but Hill looked really good running the ball as a QB, but it was a play where he scramble, bought himself some time, looked like he was taking off and then fired a 30 yard TD off his front foot. I'm sure it's easy enough to look up, but that play turned me around a bit from believing he was a Tebow type QB(very athletic, but not a good thrower) to a guy who had a chance. Of course we've had other QB's who've looked great in the pre-season and then flamed out. Callahan comes to mind and then of course Hundley has looked average to terrible in his limited time at QB in the regular season. But in hindsight, it was a miss.

Everyone gets the same amount from the TV contracts but any monies we get with the Titletown District is just for the Pack. We copied what NE did. They have Patriot Place with restaurants, shops, a Bass Pro Shop, a skating rink, a hotel and now a cinema. They also share all monies from the ticket sales(I think they keep 60pct and 40 pct goes into revenue sharing...but that is an older figure. It may be different now. You keep your revenue from luxury boxes. Which is why the ownes were pissed off at Jerry Jones when he tore out a bunch of seats in the old Cowboys stadium to add a lot of luxury boxes and then had to go to them, hat in hand and ask for more money for his bloated new stadium. Which the owners agreed to loan him, but not without making him squirm a bit first. Which...really had to be a blast.

Was Ha Ha that great? He wasn't all that wonderful in Washington either. Well, he didn't say great, he said good. And he was a GOOD safety for the Packers. Problem is, from what it sounds like(and we only get a tiny-tiny fraction of the behinds the scenes reasons for some of these moves) is he wanted to be paid like an elite safety. Look at what safeties are getting paid? You want to give HaHa 5 years and 40 million for example, or give the Honey Badger 3 years 27 million? I know he's small, but he's an impact player. There are a lot of other safeties who sign for even cheaper. As for Randall, he was a safety in the little time he played at ASU and his own position coach in GB said he was better suited to play safety. There seemed to be some issues in the locker room and some immaturity on the part of Randall. Some of it I would venture to guess was the frustration from playing the position that requires the most athleticism while dealing with some injuries that severely limit your change of direction abilities. He did look good as a rookie, but the Packers did get a pretty nice return for him. Swapped 4th and 5th round picks and we got back a young QB who'd have likely been a 1st had he not left ND early. Both are talented....but I wouldn't say their abscesses caused our defense to suffer too much. Give me prime Berry and Thomas and it's not going to mean much if you dont' have any edge rushers who can constantly win their matchup's(which technically means beating your man in less than 2.5 seconds according to PFF, something Donte Fowler did more than any other edge rusher at the time the Rams traded for him(he might be a nice, cheap FA target for us to build up our pass rushing rotation). And I REALLY hope they don't go into next off-season counting on Kyler Fackrell to be a legit 10 sack a year guy. He's not. I'd happily trade him for a 3rd or 4th if anyone would give it up. I have very little faith in him. Finally, I don't know how you could possibly blame MM for being thin skinned. Guys run their course and now too much blame is being laid at his feet. Andy Reid was more disliked when he left Philly than MM is now and yet Reid is considered one of the most innovative coaches in the game right now and really had KC winning right out of the gate. McCarthy dealt with big personalities, most importantly Charles Woodson, with whom he butted heads with early on before he earned Wood's respect. Capers, McCarthy and TT all needed to go...but the Packers can need a new direction while at the same time appreciating what those guys did for the franchise. I harbor no ill will. Things got stale, Arod may be a little difficult, but he's too good, too talented and too smart to NOT be playing for Super Bowls.

Why Keuchel would be prefect in Milwaukee. https://www.mlb.com/news/umpires-offer-career-insight-at-dream-series/c-302937522 I guess it makes sense.....but I just have an aversion to soft tossers. Especially soft tossers getting 20-25 million per year. But....the article does make some reasonable solid points. Of course I don't really think we need a starter so much as we need another good reliever...and even that can come from a lot of places, including Taylor Williams who in my opinion is just as likely to become the next dominant high leverage reliever as any FA option. Still, overblown or not, I do worry about DJ's departure and how it'll impact our staff.

Really? Because I seem to remember a whole lot of people being real excited about the possibility of Machado coming over here in free agency. I think it's a lot easier to say you don't want Machado when there's virtually zero chance it's going to happen. I don't really like the guy....but I like an elite power hitting SS/3B.

That's because that's exactly what it says. ONE of Long or Stephenson may be going.

We sure as hell swung from one extreme to the next now, didn't we? I mean...both great HOF QB's, but you're exactly right. I don't think he's worried about his stats(could be wrong), but he's so adverse to turnovers that he just doesn't throw those 50/50 balls. With Graham, Scantling, St. Brown....he can afford to take a few more chances. There's a pretty big chasm between Favre and Rodgers. I wouldn't hate it if the Packers took a QB with Saints pick if someone they really liked dropped that far. You get the 5th year option with a first rounder and with Rodgers questionable durability there is a good argument for having a legit starter as a backup. Of course you have to have a good team around them for it to matter, after seeing the team with Rodgers this year I am not so sure 2017 was as much on Hundley as we thought. I guess if there was a QB in the draft that the Packers really thought highly of I'd be alright with it. I don't really think there is, especially with Herbert going back to school, the chances a franchise QB drops to us at 30-32 is unlikely. And when we drafted Rodgers, Favre was roughly the same age, but he'd been talking about retirement for a while. I guess there's a chance Murray could potentially be there, but I don't like the idea of drafting a 5'9 QB to play in GB. If Herbert stayed in, I guess maybe Haskins would have been a guy who may have fallen. On a side note, looks like there's a pretty strong chance that Burnett will be a FA again. I wonder if the Packers will have any interest in him. Very solid, very smart player, and our safeties are absolute garbage. Given that he signed for 3/14.2 last year, he could be a very nice bridge to whomever ends up being our future at the position. I don't think Jones is that guy.

That thought makes me shudder. If they were going to blow that kind of money, I'd rather it be on Harper. Machado is probably more gifted, and plays a more valuable position, but he's such a tool. Oh I agree. No commentary on whether it's a good move or not, just curious what others thought because it seems like a Stearns move. Particularly if the price really is way down. It would be a Stearns type of move to come out of nowhere and pick up a player....not a Stearns type of move to invest roughly the same amount that Mark A spent to buy the franchise on one player. Though if he were a Brewer, I wouldn't mind his attitude as much(other than not running out Ground Balls when perfectly healthy). We'd be better off waiting 2-3 years until the White Sox realize they're stupid rebuilding plan didn't pan out, then trade him while they eat a massive chunk of his contract.

We sure as hell swung from one extreme to the next now, didn't we? I mean...both great HOF QB's, but you're exactly right. I don't think he's worried about his stats(could be wrong), but he's so adverse to turnovers that he just doesn't throw those 50/50 balls. With Graham, Scantling, St. Brown....he can afford to take a few more chances. There's a pretty big chasm between Favre and Rodgers.

I know what you're saying, I'm just thinking that the Mack trade was so big that had they traded him to the Packers, the draft slots may have been reversed. I do hate that the Raiders are being SO incredibly stupid right now as they've kinda been my AFC team. I'm sure that's the same for a lot of people my age, but growing up that was Bo's team...even if it was before I really watched him. Anyway, at least they're not my main team because it's gonna be rough to be a Raiders fan for a long time now.

I would doubt any GM would take this approach to the draft in baseball. Perhaps in the other major sports, but you never have a clue how good a draft is going to be aside of course from the top. Baseball's draft is so much more of a crapshoot and when you hear a draft class is talented or not, it almost is exclusively talking about the elite talent, not the rest of the guys. So I wouldn't have moved the 39th pick....unless of course he had an idea he was going to sign Grandal. That move made the pick we were giving up another round later and taking even more of the value away from it.

I didn't realize Ottavino was going to be 33 years old this year. Not that he can't be a great reliever, just doesn't seem like it's THAT long since I watched him pitching in the WBC for Italy. Anyway, there's a decent chance Wahl is a stud for us this year. He certainly has the stuff to be. I'd feel better if we'd been able to retain Johnson, but hopefully Hook can keep the staff humming and the young guys figure things out. But you can't have too many power arms in the pen, especially since we likely won't have Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta all working out of the pen this year.

It can be ignored and it really should be ignored. Also, they move guys like Wilson all over the place in the minors because they don't really have a spot. This is a guy who posted an OPS about 70 points lower than Hernan has over the last three years in the big leagues, while he was in AA. I'm kinda hoping our aim is to improve upon Hernan, not look for another guy like him, just worse in every single way. There were a couple guys on that list that were encouraging. But is that really all that different than when Melvin was here? Parra was a late round guy that looked like he could be a legitimate #2 starter, Gennett obviously was a great pick even before turning his big league career around in Cincy....

If it were up to me it'd be closer than I think it'd be to others. I think they'll find a way to retain all 3(including Bledsoe). But Brogdon just keeps improving. You're not going to get much improvement from the other two. Which is fine, they're both pretty good, but Brogdon is strong, physical, he's longer than people realize and he's shooting the lights out. And he's just a winner. He's not on the same level of Kawhi or anything, but there are some similarities there. Both second round picks who aren't freakish in their pure athleticism, but who have the size, strength, big hands and play smart and make it tough on the guy they're guarding and can get physical with them. Again, there's a substantial gap between the two, not saying they're equal by any means, but I think Brodgon still has some upside left. It's going to be a historically important off-season for the Bucks. I don't know if they're good enough to win it all as currently constructed, not sure who they have that can develop into another star level player(Wilson has looked really good as of late, but I've just about given up on Maker becoming a "star"). I know I should just be enjoying this team playing good basketball right now, but I want to see Giannis re-sign, and while everything he has said has pointed to that, they're going to have to make smart decisions this off-season in order to keep Giannis from having to completely carry the team(right now he's getting a lot of 4th quarters off and they're not abusing him too much...which is awesome) and entice him to stick around. I hope not locking him up for that 5th year doesn't come back and bite us. Also, a totally useless exercise, but can you imagine if the Bucks had taken the risk and gone with Embid 2nd in that draft? THAT'D be a team I'd be happy to see face the Warriors. Again, totally useless, but sometimes my mind wanders when I get paranoid that despite Giannis declarations of love for the city of Milwaukee, he could be gone like Kareem and have his HOF career for someone else. And obviously teams are already looking ahead to the AD, Giannis free agency sweepstakes in 2021....hope it never comes to that.

I believe we basically offered the same thing as the Bears. Raiders thought their draft picks would be better.....they chose poorly. Did they though? I think everyone would have picked the Bears draft picks over ours heading into the season. People were still talking about us as a legit SB contender and Rodgers bouncing back and winning the MVP. And I do believe if you throw Mack into the mix the Packers woulda been a playoff team. Where they choose poorly(if it was even a decision as the rumors are the Davis family simply didn't have the cash to pay for his signing bonus up front) was legging a transcendent player like Mack go in the first place. QB's, edge rushers, LT's and DB's are the positions where if you get a great player, you don't let him go. If you get a HOF player, you REALLY don't let him go. Gruden seems completely lost in Oakland. The worst decision Oakland made was hiring him in the first place. I like him as a commentator(in smaller doses at least) but he's bad as a HC and then they compounding that mistake by letting go the guy who turned the Raiders around in the first place in Reggie and handing over all decision making to Gruden. That team's going back to being a joke for the next 4-5 years. Especially if they now dump Carr because Gruden falls in and out of love with QB's like a middle school girl.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't like Moore at all. He just does not have good hands. He catches almost everything with his body. It looks like they hit on Scantling and St. Brown though. Its quite possible they miss on him (not a shock to miss on a 4th round WR). But I see a LOT of similarities with Adams. I was ready to cut Adams after his second year because he couldn't catch anything. Doesn't many anything for Moore, but ... You're absolutely right. And people forget before Adams, there was Jones who seemingly dropped a dozen easy long TD's in that SB season(in reality it was only a couple, but they were huge drops) and Nelson also had issues with drops. Even in the 2010 Super Bowl he had some drops on plays where he got wide open over the Middle. He obviously made up for it having a huge game, but he could have had a 200 yard game without the drops. Obviously both players AND Adams had more drops than just the ones that stick out. The only difference I can see is that at least with them, they caught the ball with their hands. I also have only seen a little bit of Moore and knew nothing about him coming out other than what I saw written, so maybe he adjusts and gets better, or maybe he's not just a body catcher like I say this year. I certainly hope that's the case. Missing on 4th rounders isn't going to cripple a franchise, but you do need to get contributors there. Our last two are Moore and Biegal who incidentally is playing in the NFCCG right now, but looked bad here.

Remember the thread asking who the Brewers would want starting a Game One that season? I agree, I'd like to see Chase back in the rotation and hopefully performing well again. I don't think it's wise to move on from him.

I do wonder if that'll end up being the Bears Reggie White move. They have a talented young QB at the same time....Mack is probably as valuable as Reggie was when we acquired him as he has to be at least 2-3 years younger than Reggie was. That one really stung. Amazing how great Akeem Hicks was this year, and Roquan Smith and how Kyle Fuller busted out and had 7 picks and on and on. Reggie did that for that Packers defense. They had some big names, but they only had one other true Pro Bowl caliber player in Butler. Sean Jones and Santana were both older and not in their primes, but with Reggie on that line they couldn't double everyone. I feel like that's the type of impact Mack could have had for us here. No WR'er could do that for the Packers...but Brown would also create a pretty significant ripple offensively. Teams have to roll coverage to him...it you have a guy like Xavier Rhodes, he can only cover one guy, Adams benefits greatly as do your other skill players.

I thought this was a pretty interesting article on the Brewer and the signing of Grandal in particular. It also addresses some things that have been mentioned in this thread without getting too far in the weeds. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/during-slow-offseasons-the-brewers-keep-finding-deals/?addata=espn:mlb:teams

Doesn't every region of the country THINK they're polite? Southern Hospitality, Northwest is kinda known for being hippy-ish and real polite, the Mid-West(which is really about 2/3rds of the states depending on where you're from). I feel like the only people NOT concerned with being polite come from a small cluster in the Philly, NYC region. Not that they're rude, they just don't really care if you think they're polite.

Now I'm bugged there aren't any new episodes to watch...

Yes, exactly. I had forgotten about Ramczyk. I know he's been a starter and hasn't been bad, but I really haven't followed the Saints close enough to know just how good he's been. Can you give me an idea? Those drafts are rare, but...what the heck, if the Packers are gonna win another SB, they're gonna need some good luck. Quick turnarounds though are hardly a rare thing in the NFL. How many years was it that the NFC East had a team go worst to 1st? The Saints went through pretty much the same type of relatively "lean years" when Brees was the age Rodgers is now. The Taysom Hill move sucks for the Packers, but man...he's been amazing for the Saints. 3 4th down fakes he's converted, he nearly had a 46 yard TD catch(Brees missed him) and then came back and hit Kamara on a 46 yarder that would have been a TD had it not been called back. Plus the punt blocks he's had. Not sure he'd have been really used as a Packer though... There's a long way to go, but there is more to look forward to on this team than I think most believe.

So you'd get rid of him just to dump him? I don't think it'd be hard finding a team to just take him. I also doubt we'd be able to find a much better offensive option, even if we neglected defense than what Pina has produced for us. .264/.320/.409 slash since he's been in Milwaukee is hardly as poor as you're suggesting, and that's ignoring the defense he brings.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't like Moore at all. He just does not have good hands. He catches almost everything with his body. It looks like they hit on Scantling and St. Brown though.