BrewerFan

I'd be absolutely thrilled if Jacobs GTD money was just 13(or say 13 SB and then the first two years are GTD at 3 and 5M). I like the signing...to a point. I have to think if they were going to go and give a guy 20M+ GTD, Barkley would have been a target as well...despite the fact he was likely always going back to PA to play.

Jones and Dillon are similar backs? I read that as Jacobs and Dillon. I don't think Dillon and Jones are similar at all. Dillon has poor vision and patience. Jones was an elite back. Very much like Blake Corum for example(a guy I'd take a look at in rd4). I really hope they do add a HR threat in this draft. A guy like Bucky Irvin perhaps. Wright may go too high(Brooks would be a really interesting option if they wanted to move up from #88 to ~65 if he's still on the board).

He also showed up to camp late as he was holding out due to the franchise tag. Jones went out with a bang...but he's 30 and was due 12M. I'd love to have him back...but I don't think anyone would be clamoring to sign him at 12M a year. I loved Aaron Jones and again, he brought intangibles to this offense. We're also trying to build for this next window that is just opening right now. It makes sense to get younger, especially at that position.

17M cap hit, but that's with a void year. He was due 10+M in cash this year and would have had carried a dead cap next year as well. So it's not just the 5M dollar difference, it's a 10M+ savings. I don't think they needed to do this to get McKinney in. They'd cleared a lot of cap room with Bakh and Campbell being a post June1 release. With what Jacobs will likely get in a SB, they'd have been paying 25M+ on just the RB position this year. That'd be a lot. Sucks to lose a Packers legend like Jones though...

No, he's not. At BEST you could argue when healthy Jones and Jacobs are both pretty good and give a slight edge to Jones, but he is 30 and was declining...as RBs do at 30. Not the best guy to add years to. I'll wait to see how much Jacobs got GTD before...grading this deal, but definitely not a big downgrade.

17M GTD? The Giants doing Giants things. I am curious what Connor Williams would cost? Probably a signing for later in FA(maybe Sept). To give JRJ a little benefit of the doubt, he was reportedly injured late last year and that was the reason behind the split snaps with Rhyan(at least that' what Peter "We're not the same," Bukowski said).

I like Jacobs and Wilson...not sure I love Jacobs at 4/48, and I get why they had to let Jones go. 12M in cash to a 30-year-old back is a lot...but he carried this team down the stretch last year. He was a leader and a lot of what he did was hard to quantify as we heard in Love's interview with Parsons(which is still a bit weird). Really hope the Packers can add a smaller, more elusive back or they can improve their IOL run blocking. Also, I've been on the OT in Rd1 bandwagon for a while, but IF they do draft Cooper DeJean, this secondary could look REALLY good for Hafley. OL is going to be key regardless of what they do at LT.

I wouldn't be surprised to see them go and get another FA safety. He's just about the perfect fit. They still have to find another safety who is capable of playing that single high as well though. Jordan Whitehead? Justin Simmons? Still think it'd be a good idea to double up on this position, but it's HUGE that they got their primary target.

I think the outcome would have been...nothing. We'd have heard nothing about it. It probably wouldn't have leaked. Yeah...I remember that quote. And yup. Can't think of one guy who can play 3rd base. Ortiz definitely can't. Oliver Dunn, never seen 3B in his life, Owen Miller... Black is likely just never going to get called up because...I don't know, something. There's a reason, I'll make it up and put it into quotes later. They just moved Frelick there on a whim several months ago because they couldn't be bothered to put a 3B on the roster🙄 The one thing I'm missing here. How does this end then with trading Willy Adames? Since the Brewers shrugged and said, 'well, guess you'll have to play 3rd' out of nowhere, how does trading the SS mean Frelick WON'T play 3B?

No...and I'd much rather keep Luke Adams in that exchange anyway. So the trade then skews more for the Giants anyway. It's the years of limited 1B/3B production that has people irrationally targeting mediocre 1B/3B who've just hit...NEAR 20 HRs I guess?

I know there's an all-encompassing off-season thread, but hopefully, there will be some good news in the next ~12 hours on here, so I made a thread specific to Free Agency. A couple of indications the Packers plan to be aggressive(aside from Gutekunsts first couple of years until the Packers' cap situation got flipped upside down by Covid) he was aggressive in addressing weaknesses via free agency. -Kyle Fuller-4/55 offer Sheed -Allan Robinson -3/42 offer(choose the Bears instead in what invariably turns out to be a GREAT decision for both QBs and WRs). -Jimmy Graham-3/39...didn't say they were all bangers, but he was a pretty good player for 2 years...albeit significantly overpaid. Next year Za'Darius, Preston, Adrian, Billy Turner, Veldheer Since then it's been lower-cost additions like Campbell, Nixon or re-signing players like the two mentioned and then Rasul. Another indication is that Campbell is being cut with a post-June1 designation. That, Gutey, the Preston restructure and then the top 51 leaves them with about 45M in cap space not counting the draft, a Jordan Love extension, but certainly leaves them with a lot of money to sign. Finally, He's also been very clear about his belief that this team is a very real SB contender this next year...and given the youth and how they looked the last half of the season, with a new defense, a couple impact FAs and then 5 top 100 picks, you should be aggressive(not stupid, just aggressive). Obvious targets are Safeties. LBer-There are not many who seem to fit. Jerome Baker being the obvious. Eric Wilson is a priority to bring back, so I'd guess he'd come back as I don't imagine his agent's phone is ringing off the hook. https://packerswire.usatoday.com/lists/picking-a-pair-of-realistic-free-agents-for-packers-to-sign/?itm_source=parsely-api The marquee FAs listed here are Kamren Curl in one and then Kenny Moore, a very good slot in another. The price for Packers fans seems to be Xavier McKinney(though again, I think Curl would be a huge coup). My prediction is one of the top FA safeties at least. McKinney/Curl plus a guy like Fuller, Whitehead, Blackmon. I think Kenny Moore is going to be very expensive, but he'd be a big upgrade. Prediction -We re-sign Nixon Sign Xavier McKinney and Fuller, to solve the safety issue. And then a big box safety/LB Drue Tranquil would qualify IMO. 3rd-A wild card. A DT, an Edge, a position nobody thought we'd go after....maybe an edge like Huff? It's certainly exciting to have a reasonably high degree of confidence that Gutey will go out and make this team better in free agency though. The one missing ingredient from the Ted Thompson era. The one VASTLY underrated player in the Packers world is Kamren Curl. A big, physical safety who can play CF. He does not generate a lot of turnovers, but he'd just be reliable and a little more explosive than Adrian Amos when we signed him. 4/60 would be a good signing to get the production we got out of Amos IMO. I also believe Savage will be back if he's not signed in the first couple weeks. This defense should showcase his skill set much better.

Move down from ~134 to 168 by a very small amount(not sure what it was, but they qualified for a 4th, but the total AAV ranked 33rd and had to rank inside the top 32(I guess, I'm trying to paraphrase). Eh, if Free Agency goes as we hope it will and as it appears as though it'll go with the Packers being aggressive, by the time the draft comes, we should have fewer "needs."

I don't know why they'd designate Bakh a post June-1 cut. It doesn't matter either way. Campbell, that makes more sense as they save another ~7M against the cap by doing so. I liked the idea of just cutting Campbell now and moving on with a clean-er cap next year, but if they want to be active in free agency and then extend Love in May when he's eligible, it gives them more money available right now. Bakh -cut ~21M Campbell post-June 1-10.5M Before addressing Jones or Clark, that leaves the Packers at ~45M in cap space. Pushing some dead cap into the future...but you roll over the excess, so I guess it doesn't really matter, just makes for a cleaner cap. Seems like Xavier McKinney or Kamren Curl will be receiving significant contract offers from the Packers. Maybe Hafley goes and talks to former OSU DB Fuller? Curl is projected to get 4/58 McKinney 5/52 Fuller 2/12(that seems low). Justin Simmons-2/22 Jordan Whitehead is a very under-the-radar target. Big hitter, and good in coverage. Blackmon is another versatile safety. Both are very nice consolation prizes if you miss out on the top of the market. Nixon is someone the Packers are apparently trying to re-sign before FA. I think he's better suited to play safety, as he's stiff, but fast and physical. It seems like spotrac is generally low on projected FA dollars,...though there are a lot of safeties. I'd guess McKinney beats his AAV by 2-3M, Curl is close. Fuller is low. Simmons It'd be a HUGE coup to come out of Free Agency with two starting safeties, preferably one on a shorter deal so drafting a guy like Bishop, Bullock or whomever...is not a priority, but someone who can get on the field early and then step in right away and take over after their rookie year. Jerome Baker-Off-Ball Miami-Another former OSU player. OL-Connor Williams would be a great signing...one a shorter, incentive-laden deal. He likely wouldn't factor in until Nov. Doubt he'll be early to sign unless it's a one year deal to return to Miami. Tyron Smith-I think it's more likely Bakh is back next year...and I've already got him cut in this exercise. But he'd be a really good short-term answer, and we'd have protection if(when) he missed time to injury. But like Bakh, he's still elite when he plays. Mike Owenu-NE Projected salary 4/60. He's a very Packer like player in that he can play LT, RT, both Guards, play them at a high level. But, this is why you draft OL and you use FA to build in around positions like RB, LB and Safety. That's very expensive for a good OL. If you pay him that type of money, you're likely not going to just figure it out in camp. He'll probably want to play RT. Which is fine, you can slide Tom over to LT...but he'd be best used as a RG(where he happened to grade out the worst). Lloyd Cushenberry-He'd be a big upgrade over Myers, but...4/32? The Packers don't seem to agree that Josh Myers is a player who needs to be upgraded...or so they say. I think the fact that they tried both JRJ and Rhyan there early last year with little success would suggest they simply don't have a better option and can't quite admit one of the few glaring mistakes Gutey has made in taking Myers over one of the top 2-3 Centers in the league in Creed Humprehy. The Panthers also cut Bradley Bozeman for some...reason. 7.3M dead cap, ~350K cap savings. For a team with a QB who was not only sacked the most this year and whose biggest question was how he could hold up given his diminutive frame, seems strange to move on from quality OL for minimal savings, but...the Panthers aren't exactly the model franchise.

If that's what happened, then I might be with you. It's not. When the BREWERS approach Frelick(so not the other way around), one of the top 20-30 prospects in the game when promoted last year and ask him to try 3B/2B to see if he can handle it, THEN after watching him play there, the manager says that it'll be one of the biggest stories in baseball, that seems like a bit more than coach speak. This wasn't Frelick "realizing it's time to learn a new position," this was the Brewers. And again, he's played the IF in the not relatively recent past. Feels like we're forgetting Frelick was the top prospect in that logjam other than Chourio. He's arguably made the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time with a WAR of ~4.0(adjusted for a full-season). Well...that shouldn't have any impact on Frelick if they're not actually planning on playing him there. Ok...maybe. If Wilken, who has a handful of games in AA can handle 3rd or if Black can(and is a better player than Frelick, which...seems like a complete guess at this point). But sure, he doesn't have to be a 3B for the next decade for this to be a big story this year.

It would strike me as a bit odd for the manager to talk about it being one of the best stories in baseball only to see him play there in emergency situations...

I'm still optimistic. I hope he's a little more aggressive this year as his ABs were so ridiculously defensive last year...but I still think he can hit more than enough to play SS, especially with his defense(or 2B). But he can earn his ABs this year.

We're writing the guy off because he struggled at age 23?

I hate this...ideology and I know I'm in the minority, but I don't care where the power comes from. We have a catcher that can hit for power, a 1B/DH, a SS. Hopefully Yelly will continue to and our young CF prospect is projected to be a big-time power hitter. Hopefully Wiemer is also a power hitter(I don't see how he stays in MLB unless he's a power hitter). So if Frelick is a .280/.340/.380 hitter who hits 30 doubles, steals 30 bases and can play good defense...who cares that his SLG isn't ideal for the position? We're looking for cumulative improvements. Also, who on this roster is going to be the prototypical 3B? Speed, OBP skills, defense. Squeeze as much of that into the lineup as possible. They'll score runs.

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.