Ron Robinsons Beard

I totally get that. I had hoped that he would have made more of an impact by now as well. I just think that declaring the guy a bust 10 games into his career is hilariously short-sighted at best, and downright ludicrous at worst. As I mentioned earlier, the Packers have gotten very lucky so far when it comes to health at that position, with the Smiths and Fackrell staying healthy for the most part. But if any of those guys goes down for any length of time, I would expect that Gary would play a huge role at an extremely important position. Again, you can never have enough guys who can rush the passer. I don't really have an opinion of him yet. It's not really common to have rookies be very productive at that position. He is a drafted edge rusher and that hasn't been an issue for their defense. There are limited snaps for him at this point. I think it is a combination of not thinking he's ready and not really needing him. He was drafted with everyone knowing he was raw, sparse PT may not be the worst thing for him in year one. That's basically my view as well. There just hasn't been enough to make any sort of determination yet. Is that Gary's fault? perhaps ... as if he was showing game-changing ability, you'd think they'd be finding a way to get him on the field. But he's got two high-priced free agents who are playing at at All Pro level ahead of him, along with a guy in Fackrell who, while no world beater, is probably good enough to start as an edge rusher for the majority of teams in the league. I would expect that we'll start seeing Gary's playing time increase over the next month as a mechanism to help keep those guys ahead of him on the depth chart fresher.

Well, if you were going to announce a new brand/logo, would you use that logo on the hype announcement? Would kinda defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? Right, but I wouldn't use the old one either. Doesn't exactly convey that a new logo/brand is being unveiled. I guess my point is that if there weren't any leaks, would any of us expect a rebrand announcement tonight? Seems odd how little they've done to hype the announcement. Pretty sure that is what they are going for. They want it to come as a surprise and shock to the casual fans - hence continuing to use the "current" logo to throw people off the scent. It is no coincidence that this is happening roughly a week and a half from Black Friday, and two weeks from Cyber Monday as well. It's all about maximizing the almighty buck. Or perhaps the livestream is simply to announce that Jordan Lyles has been resigned

I totally get that. I had hoped that he would have made more of an impact by now as well. I just think that declaring the guy a bust 10 games into his career is hilariously short-sighted at best, and downright ludicrous at worst. As I mentioned earlier, the Packers have gotten very lucky so far when it comes to health at that position, with the Smiths and Fackrell staying healthy for the most part. But if any of those guys goes down for any length of time, I would expect that Gary would play a huge role at an extremely important position. Again, you can never have enough guys who can rush the passer.

Umm, what? This whole explanation makes utterly no sense.

Well, if you were going to announce a new brand/logo, would you use that logo on the hype announcement? Would kinda defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?

It doesn't matter one iota whether we as fans think Gary is that guy or not. But I think it's a pretty safe assumption that the Packers front office feels he's that type of guy. It's important to note that edge rusher has become arguably the most important and impactful position on the defense, and it's also a spot where you see a lot of injuries, due to the fact that you have high-end athletes ramming into 325-lb offensive tackles repeatedly. The Packers have had a golden horseshoe so far when it comes to health at that position, as the Smiths and Fackrell have stayed healthy for the most part. But if any of those guys goes down for any length of time, Gary would be playing a huge role. You can never have enough guys who can rush the passer.

Wonder how the game would have played out. If he had made that FG, hes kicking that FG on 4th&6 with over 1min left. Oh, hmm Noah Fant was the go to 3straight endzone attempts there. So glad we drafted Gary. Dalton Risner playing at 1st rd level. Is there going to be any worse 1st rd draft pick? Isn’t 10 games into his career a little early to essentially call Gary a bust? Yes. Yes it is. Not directly calling that a terrible take, but yeah ...

Agreed. My use of the term "fossil" is a little deeper than just saying he's old. He's also about as "old school" as you are going to get as a coach. A Buddy Ryan type.

This post is basically saying "61 year old guys dont know how to talk to people." I think that this is a vic fangio problem. Not an old guy problem. He's never been known as a great communicator. It was a choice that was sort of doomed to fail from the beginning.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/broncos-vic-fangio-struggling-to-connect-with-players-and-coaches-in-first-season-in-denver/ All I have to say is "DUH!" when you hire a fossil, you have to expect a communication disconnect.

LOL ... you are that guy that verbalizes every worst case scenario, aren't you? Hey.....it worked didn't it.

LOL ... you are that guy that verbalizes every worst case scenario, aren't you?

The 2018 team did not have Grandal, and had Moose for only a small portion of the season. Thames was also pretty bad that season. They were fine. Good even.

Exactly. This team is not in the position where they aren't going to have to take a few leaps of faith.

I love that he believes that part of Arcia can be unlocked. I think this also is a strong indication that they will be bringing Arcia back for 2020, and not be looking to deal or non-tender him. Obviously things change, but it looks to me like he has already been in discussion among the staff as a piece for next year. I don't know wether Arcia can ever be a + hitter, but I love the optimism that he is far from a lost cause.

He's Chris Davis part 2. Other than, you know, the 23 million/year salary and 4 years in age difference. Also, Davis' numbers were declining, even before he fell off the cliff. It's much more plausible for the organization to believe that Shaw's 2019 was an anomaly rather than a permanent cliffing. The sheer amount of fans that are 100% willing to write off a potential rebound from Shaw after a poor season is simply astonishing to me. The guy was a legit middle-of-the-order bat in a good offense for two full seasons previously, and isn't at the age where drastic regression should be expected. But yeah, this is what he is. Terrible. Not the 30+ HR solid batting average corner infield bat he proved to be two years in a row. Sheesh.

Could be a guy they try to sneak through to the minors later on, but his numbers are really good. Interested in seeing what he's got. Brewers have gotten plenty out of guys with stuff that fans deem "not even remotely outstanding". Stearns definitely deserves the benefit of the doubt on these types.

I think if Yelich doesn't go down with an injury during the stretch run, he wins going away. He was on pace for an incredible 50-40 type season. Bellinger wasn't great the last month of the season, and if Yelich would have been the centerpiece of the big run, he would have cemented it. Alas ...

Austin did some nice things in his limited playing time at the end of the year, but IMO his skill set is easily replaceable. Still, he was a contributor to the Brewers' September playoff push. Best of luck to him overseas.

Howard holds the single season NFL record for punt return yardage with 875 yards in 1996. He was terrific that year ... truly electric. To put that number in perspective, the 2019 Packers currently have 1 (!!!) punt return yard.

Abreu was never a possibility. Certainly not at the qualifying offer price. There was no way he was going to see anything close to that on the open market. I saw him as a $2 year/$20 million guy max.

I would imagine that both would have been possible Brewers targets. Makes sense for both those guys, though, as I don't think there is any way either would have gotten close to that per year average on the open market.

Abreu accepting the qualifying offer from the White Sox takes one 1B possibility away from the Brewers.

I find it a little frustrating how slowly MLB free agency seems to move compared to the other professional sports leagues. It seems like 90% of the top NFL free agents are signed less than a week after the league year begins, and the NBA isn't far behind that. With MLB, though, small signings like Adam Wainwright trickle in as you approach December, but things don't ever seem to pick up until after the new year. I would think that these players would like to know what their futures look like as early as possible in the process, instead of waiting until the eve of Spring Training, or even after it begins, to get their next contract. I wonder if this delay can be blamed more on the teams or on the players and their representation?

Agreed, on all accounts. The only way to rid yourself of an albatross-type longterm deal is to either offload it with a package of prospects for basically nothing in return, or send a dumptruck of money to the acquiring team. On Healy, I believe the Brewers can, and will, do much, much better. He's a "signs a minor league deal in February" type.