BrewerFan

To me...this is something that happens with pretty much every very good program that doesn't win it all. Badgers, every coach since Barry has gotten a lot of...crap and some of them were very successful. People are already SOMEHOW complaining about Fickel...which blows my mind. But go through Wisconsin sports. Bucks-Win a title, people still want Bud fired. Badgers-already mentioned Brewers-Counsell was widly blamed for leaving Hader in when it was "obvious he didn't have it," vs the Nats and that was right after the '18 run. Or the Freddy Freeeman HR. Or even when he left and a lot of fans tried to justify it by saying they were better off anyway. MLF- He's in a slightly different place as is just about every Packer(sans Barry) after the '23 season with some grace, but plenty of people wanted him gone after Tampa, then SF, still questions about his ability to hire coordinators...but with that 2nd half, he'll enjoy half a season of people supporting him...and that'll stop unless they win the SB next year. Sometimes it's justified. Sometimes I think it's just fans with unrealistic expectations. Winning a title in pretty much every sports requires luck and everything to go right. For Wisconsin, it requires even more than luck.

It won't be cheap, but safety is one of the more undervalued positions(probably because the Vangio system has been popular). But such a deep class, it'll be interesting to see what they do get. Spotrac has McKinney at 5/53. That's low. But 5/65 would be very reasonable. NYG didn't even offer the transition tag which would have been ~13M for this year IIRC. Curl is projected to get the biggest deal and probably a little big of a better bet, but they're both outstanding. Curl is projected to get 4/57. Chris Jones is projected to get ~29M AAV. Wilkins is projected to get 4/80 I think both get 100M and Jones probably gets more over 4 years. It's just an undervalued position compared to pass rushers or OL. It's why I'd just keep taking the premium positions at the BPA early. DeJean is a unique player if they think he can cover and play the run like an elite safety(I'm not sure he isn't just a really good CB). Even if they go cheap, Fuller is projected to get 12M over 2 years. That's a very nice stopgap Safety at a really affordable price.

Ok...well, I'm more inclined to believe Boras and the recent trend.

Sure, but that's more coaching to me. I mean, Kobe would look like Jason Kidd on that team(of course adjusted for talent level). Storr can do this a little, same with Jones or whoever from Marquette, but they're usually moving the ball, even if their great PGs are out. But what the hell do I care! It's Rutgers! Maybe all the "Fire Gard," folks can watch a talented team with poor coaching and appreciate we have a pretty damn good coach.

Sure, the defense looked good...like the old Razorbacks at times. But I saw a couple of occasions where one guy dribbled, attack, went under the basket, pulled it back out, attacked again, and then threw up a contested ~15-footer as the shot clock wound down. And they just kinda switched off doing that for a few possessions. It was...lazy, ugly basketball. They just seemed talented, and aggressive, but not very disciplined.

Again, 2 Cy Youngs. One is an ACE, the other has never finished in the top 20 of Cy Young voting. And I don't think Montgomery is more insistent upon a long-term deal. They both seem open to shorter deals...which again, I think would strongly favor Snell. Finally, factor that Snell reportedly wants to sign with Seattle and is from the area...it'd be nice though.

Well...yeah, it always depends. Usually on money. It's March 7th. I'll bet on the reigning and two-time Cy Young being further out of our price range than the dependable...but unspectacular #2/3 starter left.

Rutgers looks like a pretty talented team...that plays with absolutely ZERO discipline offensively. They just dribble the ball in circles, very little movement, just trying to win off the dribble.

He just feels more plausible to me. Snell seems too unrealistic. I would think the Yanks or someone would give Snell 4-5 years at 35. I'd love to be wrong about that.

Right...I was making a point about Guerendo as a prospect. I think there's decent depth there as well.

You're also getting Ashby back, you have what appears to be a better, deeper pen with MeGill and Uribe appearing to have figured it out and more depth. One pitcher who is a good bet to give you 180+ innings at a sub 4 ERA would, IMO, make this team much better on paper than last year. Of course, those pitchers are expensive for a reason...but it'd be fun. I also don't think I can stomach watching the Cubs beat us in the near future. I want the Counsell move to have the opposite impact desired. Watch the Cubs win 70 games and the Brewers improve the year after he leaves. Prove that he doesn't actually make a big impact(though...I think he does).

I wouldn't even consider it if it were up to me. You have Jones, I like Wilson, there are a lot of good backs out there. 10M on top of whatever Jones will cost, it makes little sense. Using Free Agency to address more pressing needs opens the door up to be able to draft a RB in the 2nd rd if they want. If they think Wright is a good fit or...Brooks, whoever. On that note, Marshon Lattimore appears to be a trade candidate OR a FA candidate. He reminds me a little bit of Woodson. He's a physical CB. Very good cover corner. Not sure he's quite as good as his reputation, but he'd certainly be an upgrade. A deal would have to be worked out before a trade as he is also owed ~13M before the first week of the regular season...similar to Rodgers deal last year. Gutey has talked about potentially using draft picks to acquire vets. Not sure exactly what makes sense here. Maybe a 5th? It's hard for me to guess with these veteran players who are pro-bowlers, but past their peak. Or even sometimes still at their peak.

Bills cutting Tre'Davious White. Makes sense, kinda a no-brainer...would be a very interesting guy to take a flier on. 250K signing bonus with the veteran salary benefit...whatever. Tack on some incentives. ACL and then the real killer, the Achilles, but if he's back week 8 next year and playing well, that could be a game changer. ON that note, their once elite safety duo are both on the market in Poyer and Hyde. Byard also a FA. A few vets who could help during the transition, lets them draft a safety and provides some depth. Not play A, but a lot of safety's on this FA market who could help. Much fewer good corners as usual.

Isn't this pretty much every sport? The team has a mountain of information, the average fan, even the really hardcore fan who follows these prospects, they've got a fraction of that information... I certainly had opinions on who I wanted to see or what I wanted the Brewers to do, same goes with the Packers, Bucks, etc...but ultimately, your confidence in the players should be informed more by the confidence in the team. They seem to do more with less and see the upside in guys. Joe Ross is one guy I could see now that he's healthy being a really nice starter. Not expecting 200 innings, but 120?

I'd love Barkley on this team...and he fits what the Packers are trying to do, but I don't think it's a good idea to pay him the ~10M a year I think he'll get. If they spend on a RB...and I hope they don't, my guess is it'd be Derrick Henry based on Gutekunsts statements. Henry is also just a freak in his durability and he's stated his priority is to win a SB. He's also already gotten paid. I don't think that means you'd get him cheap, but it might mean you could get him for 1 year at a reasonable rate. It really doesn't make sense, but they aggressively went after Taylor last year(he would make sense this year). I really thought McKinney would get a transition tag, but they didn't even bother to do that. The start of Free Agency will be interesting. I think Gutekunst is going to be aggressive early like 2019, but...we'll see.

I wouldn't mind a couple hares, but I do think this group will perform better than they're currently projected...and I trust the Brewers to get guys like...Tyson Ross throw well. Couple that with what should be an outstanding defense and I don't think the run prevention takes as big of a hit as some expect.

I guess I'd focus the attention on the guys with high ceilings who are willing to sign. I'm not viewing it as an either-or. I think it makes sense to sign as many young players as you can(obviously if they appear to be high-ceiling young players, not Blake Perkin). I'd sign Contreras using the Sean Murphy deal as a starting point, adjusting as he's a year behind. Wiemer as I think he could be signed to a favorable contract and has massive upside. Uribe...obviously. I view it like picking stocks. Obviously if there's a...Microsoft, it make sense to buy that. But it also makes sense to invest in a smaller sector ETF. A smaller, select group. You may have a couple that are losers are don't grow a lot, but if you group them together, you'll most likely see returns on your investment. I understand the counterpoint though. Just agree to disagree.

Ok...it can be for less than Mis would get at a comparable point in their careers, but Mis isn't at that point. He's hopefully a year away from that point. I guess I just disagree. An Ashby or Peralta-type deal for Uribe is a relatively safe offer at this point. He's a reliever. We also weren't sure what Ashby was(still aren't) at the time of that extension. 6 years and ~25M for a guy with THAT type of stuff who's already shown how dominant he can be, I feel like you're buying early on a stock that's only going up. I guess I'm just not quite as risk adverse to giving a reliever an extension if I think they're unique type talents...

Well...we know a couple of pitchers the Brewers didn't offer contract extensions to(at least from 2020 through now). One of them is now in Baltimore at the moment. Just off the top of my head, along with the 10 players from the last two years, Austin Riley and Sean Murphy should also be on that list. Players like financial security. The question also is less who will accept one and more who should they TRY to sign next.

No, of course not...but I think there could be some value from Dame being "the guy," for a couple of games. He's seemed just a bit too tentative all year. His big game tonight was huge. I want Giannis back if he's healthy, but I think this could be a 5-7 day stretch that it MIGHT be good for the team to play without him(though I suspect he'll be back tomorrow).

If Guerendo is a top-10 back, then this is a bad RB class...especially over a guy like Ray Davis who you didn't have listed. I DO see that Benson is just a few spots ahead of him at 134, so I wouldn't put much stock in that. That's also the site that didn't have a draftable grade on Dillon. And Wright was 54th going into the combine on PFF?

Anyone watch the Badgers close enough to have a strong opinion on him? An athlete like is what we need at Center, but I don't know how good he really is. I thought he looked pretty good at times last year, but I probably watched him specifically for 10 snaps. See a nice hole, rewind, and see the blocking.

I thought it was kinda a running joke. If the Packers interviewed them, they weren't going to take them. Then I think '22 they interviewed Wyatt, Watson, guys like Pickens and...I don't recall exactly who else, but it was more top 60 talent and then players they drafted than they previously had. Now they might just be trying to keep you guessing! Well...Hafley said he'd coach up whoever was out there. I'd love to see the Packers take Fuaga, then trade back up and take Worthy in the first round...if for no other reason than I wouldn't have to hear what the Packers WON'T do. Though taking a WR when they really don't need one would be about the most Packers pick yet. Suamatia does seem like a "Packers pick." Extremely athletic, versatile. He and Morgan are pretty similar in that regard. Suamatia was in some of the "way too early" mocks in the top 5-10. Draft crushes and predicting the Packers are both mostly fools errands, but if they were to get a defensive player in Rd1(Cooper, DeJean...trade up maybe for Mitchell)...there are 3-4 guys who are obvious Packers-type picks in Rd2. Barton, Morgan...again, Suamatia. We're also all looking at this through a pre-free agency lens.

I was talking about BEFORE the combine. There's no world I take anyone seriously who had Guerendo top 10 before(and I'm still not sure I'd take them seriously after). And nobody had Jaylen Wright near 54 before this past weekend. He was ~115 with a 4th-grade grade on most sites. I also forgot about Benson. Even Estime is ~100th on most rankings. So the point is the top of the class was always perceived to be weak which, IMO, then makes people say the RB class is weak.

It's still Alt for me. I watched Walker, so while PFF is a decent source, he had so much help that it took Aaron Jones out of the passing game too often(though it worked in Dallas). Of course, the only position you give up 2 1sts PLUS your 2nds for would be a QB. But in this exercise, Joe Alt is still my favorite player in this class...that I think the Packers actually need. If I'm proven wrong and the issues that plagued Walker at PSU don't crop back up and he continues to ascend, then you could move Tom to Center and three most important positions on the OL would be set. I've also said I believe MLF and Rodgers, now Love, really help the OL out. They get the ball out so quickly and their PA game is so good, the other teams edges are seldom just pinning their ears back. So that, the double teams, I just don't put a lot of stock in that ranking. He(and the OL as a whole) really improved from Oct...and they're just not giving up that draft capital anyway. I don't think he was ever you HOPED Alt could become though. I think if you put in there straight off the draft, he'd be an immediate and significant upgrade...and that's not even addressing the run which is a weakness with Walker. You hope Alt is going to be an All-Pro. Walker was graded as an above-average OT for half the season...with help and a lot of quick throws(though again, he clearly did improve). On to more realistic moves though, A 3rd to move up to ~20 though could be interesting. DeJean may end up being there at 25 if he doesn't workout though...and he's that physical ball-hawk we need. Mitchell impressed at his Sr Bowl appearance. One more OL. Tyler Guyton, according to scouts/draft experts, has the highest upside of any OT in this draft AFTER Alt. It's a year later and Brooks surpassed all expectations, but he's another guy who might really benefit from playing more 1-gap. I don't recall the source, but it talked about how Brooks was a much more effective pass rusher and run defender when he played outside. I think that Niche role you talked about could grow. Line him up more as a 6 tech in some odd fronts and he may not be a true edge, but there could be more production yet to come. Meanwhile Wooden, the guy who looks like an edge, he performed better playing inside. Both had really nice rookie seasons(especially for going in rds 6 and 4 respectively) but hopefully with a DC who's more willing to play to his personell's strengths, there's more to their game yet.