BrewerFan

Gable's was first and...shocking, but bigger? I don't know He was great and his legend only grew, but, he wasn't as good as THIS Gable(especially since it's two HWTs). Stevenson had won an Olympic Gold already was...so much more dominant. And then the thing I HATE about how NBC covers Wrestling, you had a bigger upset in that very tournament than Karelin vs Rulon. That's the match EVERYONE remembers. They made a huge deal out of it...and it was a HUGE deal...but I don't think it was the biggest one in that 2000 Olympics. Buvaisar Saitiev is widly recognized as the greatest Wrestler of all-time. He lost to Brandon Slay. Now...first of all, Freestyle is more difficult than Greco. It just is. You get a guy like Lopez(Cuba, just won his 5th) or Karelin and they're so big, it's just pushing...which also makes it boring. But what made this even worse was they used to have these really lame rules where if you just didn't score 3 points, you went to the "clinch." So Rulon beat Karelin...just because of a rule change where you couldn't adjust your hands. No scoring, he didn't get in and take the Russian Bear down, he just had that size 52 chest and Karelin re-adjusted his grip. Soo anti-climatic. Brandon Slay was never even a National Champion in College and here he is, beating the...greatest Wrestler ever in the very same Olympics and they didn't even show it. To be fair, it was also in the Semi-finals, not the finals, so...I guess that takes something away from it. But Stevenson losing to Greg Kerkvliet, the defending Champ who had only lost to Stevenson and Adam Coon(current Olympian) in the last 3 years, that would have been an all-time upset. Stevenson losing to Hendrickson who he'd tech-falled(beaten by 15 points or more) the only other time they Wrestled? That's bigger than Dan Gable or Rulon. **Also, there are myths about Karelin. They're fun, but it's stuff like, "he hadn't been scored upon in 13 years, he hadn't lost in 16. It was just Rulon's coach trying to hype the match up for NBC to help Rulon. In reality, he'd lost in the World Championships in '97 to a Bulgarian and then in '98 he'd been scored on. Not that I don't still think he's amazing, but...the myths made it seem better. Those are some crazy upsets though. Watch Darion Caldwell vs Brent Metcalf if you want to watch a great one also! Still, Barstool and some others were saying this was the BIGGEST of ALL-TIME.

With Pearce, it's not even so much his weight, he's just a finesse player. I think you can play Von Miller at DE or...to stay more current, Princely Umanmielen given how violent he is with his hands, but...they'll have to develop. You can get by with some of them...if you have a well enough rounded roster. The Eagles go with smaller DEs...but you can do that with Jordan Davis, Cater, Hargrove and Flexter Cox when you draft Nolan Smith and bring in Sweat. If it's Pearce or a DT like Grant or Nolen(I haven't watched Harmon enough to have an opinion there). I just saw it when I was looking at Pearce(and more one dimensional speed rushers), but they brought him in for a visit to talk about...a DUI or something(whatever it was) just like they did with Wyatt, but Gutey was talking about how badly he WANTS to add to the pass rush, but if you're going with a guy speed guy, they're specialists and then there's some "Roster Math," that has to go into that. And then, he started talking about what happens if you need them to step in and play 40 snaps a game. That doesn't seem like as big of a deal to me as...using a 1st rd pick. I don't know that I'd take Will McDonald. Maybe in a year it'll be obvious, but 10 QB hits, 10 sacks. That's batting 1.000. That's not likely to hold up and again, just brutal vs the run. If there was a guy I'd look at, it'd be the kid from Michigan. 6'1 250, he's a little more stout and he's just relentless and I think you could get him in the 4th. Josiah Stewart. Just go back and watching some of the Packers DL play from last year...I don't really know what Hafley is doing. He may be outsmarting himself. It seemed, particularly earlier in the year, he put a leesh on these guys. 1 gap is 1 gap. Let them beat their guy, get into the backfield. You have great safety play. The DEs shouldn't be responsible for setting the edge in the base. They're responsible for that C gap and then the Safeties come up and they or the LBs have outside contain. But they looked more like 3-4. Almost a 2 gap scheme, at least on the outside and then on passing downs they'd let them loose up front. Later when you saw Gary or even Mosby making some plays, they were just shooting the gap. So if you're going to play a hyrid type scheme, then it really takes Pearce out of it(though I don't even think he'd be very good in the 3-4 or 4-3 vs the run). So I'd even get on board for someone with that body style, but they have to be just more physical. Jaylon Walker is a guy who has REALLY grown on me. He's that type of guy who can play off-ball, but is definitely better as an edge, I could get behind that selection as he definitely plays more physically. Jihaad Campbell is the guy I love that I didn't want to. I don't like using a lot of capital on Off-Ball, but it's really fun to think about what COULD be with him in the middle, Cooper as the WLB and Quay as the SLB. I really don't envision a scenario we take him, but...that'd be a fun fit and I think he can rush the passes. After that, Williams from UGA would be the player I think a lot of people would hate. I think he could give you 5-6 sacks this year, but he's just raw and I think he'd be 4th on the depth chart as a rookie(but a whole lot of upside). I think he'll be gone. After that, there aren't many I like. Day2 Landon Jackson. His length and athleticism, he cn get into the body of the OTs pretty well. I'd like him in Rd2. Bunch from Oregon, I think he's really interesting. Rd 3 if he's there or maybe we move around. Kennard you're talking about a guy who will need a couple years IMO to surpass Enagbare, but...could be something there with an NFL training program. I don't like either Ohio State Edge. Ivey is not as athletic as LVN. He's stout and reliable, but not going to add too much pass rush. Day3-early David Walker. I just love watching his tape. He seems like he's got a non-stop motor and he could surprise people. Not exactly James Harrison, but I do try and remember, being 6' or 6'1 doesn't mean you can contribute. Ultimately, I think our pass rush will be better. I think Covington will help, but Wyatt is so explosive, I don't believe Clark is that bad or it'll take 3/4ths the year for Gary to start playing well. Brooks, Wooden, I think we should be better across the board. BUT...there's no magic fix or immediate impact player who's going to change this defense unless we cave to the pretty insane asking price of both the Bengals and Hendrickson.

I hope Morgan pushes for that LT job. I'd be disappointed if he's not competing there. Walker is not good and it really shows up against good pass rushers. The idea that the OL held this team back and that Love wasn't getting pressured...he was. He had almost the identical bad throw % as Josh Allen, he had less time in the pocket on average and he was pressured 8% more often. On nearly 1 of 4 pass attempts, despite Love getting the ball out quickly in this offense, he was pressured. Walker is a guy who is almost certainly not going to have a long career given the knee issues he's had that caused him to miss his rookie year and fall to the 7th. Myers was one of the worst centers in the NFL(Gutey's biggest mistake is taking Myers over Humphrey). And if they think Morgan can be a really good guard and Simmons from OSU is available, I'd be perfectly fine with the Packers taking him. He was viewed as a top 10 pick before he tore his ACL at Ohio State. I think the OL has improved with Banks and Jenkins, but OL and DL are two areas you should aim for better than 'good enough.' You should try and find two elite tackles and a good OC. That's been the recipe for so many teams on offense and on defense it's getting home with 4 guys. And when you can do that, you can make the opposing QBs life hell by sending a 5th guy on occasion or just give them happy feet. The 49ers did that to us, the Seahawks did that when they had 6-7 good pass rushers rotating and Wagner, KJ Wright, Malcolm Smith or Tampa Bay with Vita Vea, Shaq Barrett, JPP and Devin White or Winfield. I want that elite pass rusher...but outside of Hendrickson which...I understand the appeal, I just don't agree with, they're mostly gone. Going back to the point I made to Adambr, don't you think finding a stud pass rusher is ALWAYS the goal? That's been the main thing he's talked about. It's REAL hard to find a stud rookie pass rusher at #23. Would you be happy with James Pierce Jr who is a situational pass rusher but can come in and use his speed to rush the passer, but is way too easily blocked by TEs much less OTs vs the run? As for the "if a player can't figure it out after two years, he's not going to figure it out at all," you should look at the top pass rushers in the league right now. Trey Hendrickson, 2.5, 0 sacks first 2 years. Rashan Gary 7 sacks his first two years. Dexter Lawrence took 3 years before he got 3 sacks and he wasn't a great run defender up until then either(and now he's the best DL in the NFL). Quinnen Williams didn't break out until year. Hasaan Reddick has 2.5,4, 1 sack his first 3 years...and 50.5 the next 4 Fletcher Cox, Greenard for the Vikings has 25 the last two years. He has 1 his first year and 1.5 in Yr3. Van Ginkel had 5.5 his first two years and was 2nd team AP last year Strahan had 5.5 his first two years... I think I could go on, but...it's not quite QB tough, but you have to be patient with DL. They can take a while.

Exactly how many immediate impact players do you think are available at the bottom 3rd of the 1st rd? If you're drafting a DL, they're ALMOST always going to take time to develop. Dallas Turner, the #1 rated edge last year, he didn't exactly light the world on fire. Oh, and Minnesota traded #23 to move up to...I think 16th and gave up a 3rd, 5 and then a 3rd and a 4th this year IIRC. Chop Robinson had the most sacks among 1st rd picks with 7. He also had 7 QB hits. That's similar to when Kyler Fackrell had 10.5 sacks and 12 QB hits. You usually get a sack for every 2-2.5 QB hits, so that was a lot of luck, but fine. And he was terrible vs the run. Both gone before the Packers pick but...even if they weren't. James Pierce is probably the most realistic options to bring in someone in the 1st who can get 6+ sacks, but he's going to get washed out in the run game(and I'm not sure the Packers want a situational pass rusher in Rd1). And he also will likely be gone. The idea that the Packers are looking at the draft board and thinking, "well, he could give us 10 sacks this year, but we'd rather take this player who is bigger and more athletic and HOPE he can develop into a 10 sack a year player in a few years? It’s not “an approach,” it’s kinda silly. Take the BEST defensive linemen in the NFL or edge rushers in the NFL. Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. Neither played a ton as rookies(Carter was at 50%, but he was also considered a top 3-4 talent with the character issues. Neither were great right out of the gate Quinnen Williams, Dexter Lawrence, Jeffery Simmons, the BEST players in the NFL, top 10 picks, they weren't immediate impact players. JJ Watt? Wasn’t getting 20 sacks as a rookie. It’s the rare top 5-ish picks normally like Bosa, Mack, Donald, players of that ilk who come in and have huge impacts right away. Do you think Gutey isn't trying to find year one impact players? Or do you think he's prioritizing finding franchise cornerstones like those players who can who also have as much of an impact immediately as possible? He took LVN. Who had a bigger impact that year? He had the 3rd highest pass rush grade and he was good vs the run. LAST year when he broke his thumb, like the rest of the DL, he struggled. But he was better than McDonald as a rookie. So…I’m not quite sure what you’re looking for. Even the guys we’re talking about. Garrett was the 1st overall pick and the Browns weren’t going to trade him. Crosby was a fluke like Zach Tom in Rd 4. And then Trey Hendrickson, not even sure when he was drafted, but HIS first 3 years, he had like 2.5, 0 and 3.5 sacks before he broke out. I don’t know which players you think we should go after that we’re not, but it feels like it’s usually the result of mock drafts and then people don’t like them. Rashan Gary, he was the guy we’re talking about. Limited playing time, about the same production as LVN his first two years, then broke out in the 3rd year. But expecting an every down DL at ALL I the draft is asking a lot, asking for one later #23 in the first, you’re talking about getting lucky. I don’t see this as some “approach” of “philosophy” that Gutekunst has. If there were EVER a scenario in which drafting a guy to develop him has proven to be WILDLY successful…it’d be Aaron Rodgers and then after that, Jordan Love. And your claim of what the entire NFL knew runs totally contrary to pretty much EVERYTHING we heard, but you’re stating it like it didn’t work out great for us. We went from Rodgers, 8-9, salary cap hell, Love came in and we got BETTER, we have eaten like…what, 130 in dead cap space the last couple years(with maybe 20M more left this year). I can't think of a worse example of trying to use "this approach" as an example of why it's bad…and I’d rather have paid him last year when we did…than to have to offer him a new contract now this year when you don’t have a cheap year on his deal to roll into Jordan Love was top 10 in several advanced metrics last year despite a lot of things not going great. The WRing core was last in dropped passes EPA(or whatever it is that measures the number of 3rd down, 4th down, TD passes dropped) and he had the 2nd most dropped balls in the NFL by %. Love had injuries that limited him the first 1/3rd of the season. Love had a BETTER QBR, better QB rating, we went 11-6 and his losses were 2X to a 14-3 Philly team that won the SB, 2X to a 15-2 Det team, 2X to a 14-3 Minnesota team and then ONE loss to the Bears. But perhaps give me a list of players you DON'T want taken taken this year vs players you do. So if...again, James Pierce Jr is available and ends up giving you 7 sacks while playing 20 snaps a game vs a guy like Stewart who isn't as refined, but has far more upside, we can see which one was the better option in a few years. Or a Landon Jackson...who is also probably not going to put up the sack numbers this year as someone like Pearce may.

Hobbs has also said that Jaire was the first player to call him and he was excited to play with him. I didn't hear the comment, but I would suspect it was asking if he could play outside or something about how well he knows Nixon from his Raiders days. Almost all the reporting about Jaire absolutely being gone has come from Demovsky and his job is to sensationalize.

I see nobody mentioned this. Just got back from the NCAA tournament and witnessed what MIGHT have been the biggest upset in the history of sports. Not hyperbole. It's arguably up there with the Miracle on Ice and almost certainly the biggest in NCAA History. Gable Stevenson, coming back after 2 years off due to the Covid rule and some finessing of the system, he took a RS and then being a reigning Olympic Champ was eligible for and Olympic RS. He has been the greatest HWT Wrestler in College History. He'd spent those two years in WWE, got a tryout with the Buffalo Bills hoping he could be an Aaron Donald(Though at 5'11 265, despite Donald's quickness, he was already 24 and had never actually played Football, even in HS, but impressed during camp). Youngest American to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the 2020 Olympic games in 2021. Dominated the field in both '21 and '22. Had two close losses as a Freshmen and then came back and the expected match-up, returning National Champ from Penn State, the 6'4 260LB Greg Kerkvvliet. But then in the Semi-Finals, former Air Force Wrestler Wyatt Hendrickson upset Kerkvliet 7-2(the later was injured, but still, big upset). And that set the stage for Gable to win his 3rd National Title having missed the 2020 Tournament. Wyatt Hendrickson who will be a commissioned officer and serve his 5 years in the Air Force was expected to go out and compete, but at best, keep it close. NOBODY expected Hendrickson to win. He did a bit more; Gable telling "Captain America," who was allowed to transfer to Oklahoma State to Wrestle the 5th year from 2021(obviously Military Academies you can only get 4 years, no injury red-shirt or anything else)...he and Gable had an interesting exchange pre-match as Gable used his Pro-Wrestling persona to let Hendrickson know "this is my mat." But, by the end of the night, it was Wyatt Hendrickson's!

Totally forgot about Maye. He could easily be a...I don't know, Eason of that group. Good solid starter. Sanders, I didn't watch closely enough to see what type of schemes gave him trouble, but I think he is good enough that if he plays in the right system, one that doesn't ask him to carry a team, he could be very good. The touch and anticipation are obvious. The positives I've seen have been he understands the game and seems to be pretty NFL ready, but he doesn't have the arm to fit a ball in between two defenders. He and Ward seem...fairly similar to me. Ewers and Dart have a ton of upside, but those guys rarely hit. On the Packers front, I wonder, if they were to trade back and pick up an extra pick and one of those QBs is available in the late 4th/early 5th, they add one...probably unlikely given how weak this class is. Tenn would be wise to move back if a team is willing to trade up for a Cam Ward and hope they can be in position to draft one of those two as projects(Which...is tougher with Clements gone again). If ever there were a year for a team to try and take a flier on Willis, it'd be this class. McCarthy, IMO, is better than anyone in this group. More athletic and again, Minnesota has all the pieces in place for a QB(they could use IOL help).

Ward and Sanders have to go to good teams or I think they're both going to be in trouble. They're accurate, good anticipation but just not elite. Certainly not like last years class. That one could end up being a historic class. Bo Nix was the most surprising out of it...but McCarthy's biggest issue is he wasn't asked to do much at Michigan. He's tough, he seems like a good leader, he's got a big arm, he can make some great throws from different angles and he can run. Caleb, Daniels, Pennix, McCarthy and Nix. 3 of them were good year 1, great for rookies and Pennix showed some promise and McCarthy, he'll be stepping into a talented offense.

Maybe people thought they'd want to keep Darnold and they could send a 1st for McCarthy. I think McCarthy is a really good fit for the Vikings in that system. A more athletic version of Brock Purdy.

We added McKinney and Jacobs last year and had probably the best safety duo in the NFL when Williams was healthy...which is a fairly big caveat, but McKinney was certainly doing something. This year we added Banks which is more significant in that it allows Jenkins to move to Center and shore up a more important position on the OL while still having a pretty good LG. Zach Tom. That's going to be a pretty big contract extension. I hope Wicks becomes one, but I don't think we're earmarking him for one. Tucker Kraft would be another who I'd certainly hope we're discussing. I think the Packers have done a pretty good job of balancing expecting improvement from within with adding players. The expectations are...pretty high. We went from Rodgers, Adams, competing for Super Bowls, everyone in here thought we were going back to the 70s and 80s...there were a lot of posts suggesting as much. Now two years after a complete rebuild while we've had a ton of dead cap, we came out of it and we were a game away from the NFCCG and lost to the NFC Champions in '23...a year we probably should have been picking in the top 5-10 and then we came back in probably the best division in the league and we won 11 games. I don't think Hobbs was all that obscure of a name. He did have a similar grade to Stokes and I wish they'd have brought Stokes back for 4M....but maybe he wasn't willing to. In just man coverage, I think Stokes is more of a sure thing and has more upside given he lost a chunk of his rookie deal to the lisfranc and then surgery on his knee. I think it's obvious the Packers are looking for more physical corners though as the big difference in their grades was Hobbs grade vs the run. Stokes was never a physical corner. That said, the fact that he "blew his projections out of the water," isn't all that telling. Most players tend to do that. Especially with the Cap rising at about 10% per year. They guaranteed Hobbs 16M. They're not exactly tied to him very long with that and it's not going to stop them from trying to address the position(I'd guess it has very little impact other than they don't feel the NEED to double down at CB like they did last year with Safety and LB, generally positions that aren't as valuable.

CBs in particular seem like they've been running fewer and fewer agility drills. Maybe that's because it can usually only hurt your draft prospects. Mitchell, Arnold, DeJean, McKinstry, I don't think any of the top CBs participated. Of those that do, most seem to just do the shuttle and not the 3-cone...which is more valuable in evaluations(at least the Packers use it more). Jabbar Muhammad...I don't know if he gets drafted, but I love the way he plays. May not translate and doesn't seem to check any of the boxes the Packers look for in terms of frame of testing, but he's tough and competitive. If he's a UDFA, he'd be one of the priority UDFA's I'd look at. He reminds me a lot of Gary(or LVN for that matter)...not that I expect him to be the same player, but he played a lot of 5 technique in College, he's a bigger DE who is pretty agile for his size, carries his weight well.

You weren't expecting a Luke Musgrave rebuttal? Dude, you're comparing him to Tyler Davis and talking about how the Packers have held on to the 42nd pick of the draft longer than normal... And yes, it was a joke because he tripped and fell. That's happened to anyone who's played football at ANY level and you see the hole or you get behind the defense and you get a little over excited. That doesn't mean he's not a fluid athlete. That was by far, objectively, his strongest trait coming out. His athleticism. He grew up skiing, nearly EVERY scouting report made reference to how he "glides" out there, how "loose" he is. And he showed that. I don't think breaking arm tackles as a TE has really anything to do with that. I'd say that you could probably go back and find thousands of Running Backs who were more fluid than Derek Henry or Mike Alstott who didn't break as many tackles. That has to do with power. The 33rd team https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10048402-luke-musgrave-nfl-draft-2023-scouting-report-for-oregon-state-te https://packerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/2023/04/28/what-draft-experts-said-about-new-packers-tight-end-luke-musgrave/79655200007/ Dane Brugler Lance Zierlien The Draft Network Pro Football Network Front office scouting; I could go on, but the "tight hips," or him being stiff just don't show up when he plays or in any aspect of his game. He's long legged and he's not as physical a runner as Kraft...and he hasn't been able to stay healthy, so it may all be moot, but I don't know how you watch Luke Musgrave and come away with stiff athlete. I've checked out Terrance Ferguson. He's a poor man's Musgrave. You watch him and see a more fluid athlete who breaks arm tackles? I'd be fine seeing the Packers take another TE as Musgrave HAS been hurt and they love running that 12 personnel, though I suspect if they do, they're going to look for a TE who can play more of an H-Back. Warren would be great, but he'll be gone too early.

This is a bad QB class, but Sanders should be a rd1 pick. He's mobile, but more importantly, he throws the ball with such good anticipation and has good accuracy. If this was a class with 2-3 elite QBs like last year, he'd be more of a Jalen Hurts type to me, but I don't see the Willis comp. Willis didn't face high end competition. The one thing that could impact this is Deion could meddle and try and steer him to a team that develops QBs better. The Giants shouldn't be in that conversation...nor should most top 10-15 teams, but one team that makes a lot of sense are the Dolphins. I feel like we're watching a guy who is going to just have a miserable life by the time he's 35 in Tua if he keeps playing, nonetheless, it looks like they're going to stick with him at least one more year. AT that point...they could save a ton of money if they could find a trade partner. A team that's set up and just needs a QB...or hopefully he just retires. That's the case with most QBs though. Willis was so bad, the Titans gave up on him, he comes to GB and he looks like a really good QB(in a limited and constrained game plan). I think Sanders future will be no different, it's going to depend on where he goes, he's obviously not like Caleb or Daniels, but I think he's a lot better than Willis. As for the WRs, none of the top guys do much for me outside of McMillan and he's not go. TCU has a couple guys who are interesting to be an option in Rd3 or 4 perhaps. Egbuka is a good looking WR who seems like a savvy WR. Similar-ish to a JSN. A good slot without elite speed or athletic ability. I think we need more of a Xavier Worthy type and I don't see one that's worth a 1st rd pick. Jayden Higgins would be a good fit. Bond from UT maybe in Rd3. Higgins has the size we like. Bond has that deep speed that opens up the middle of the field. Blech the kid from TCU seems really well rounded and a potential steal. I think the biggest improvements will come from within though. The young WRs were good as far as drops two years ago and they were awful last year. If they can get back to where they were, great. The one move that'd terrify me is Pickens from the Steelers. He seems like a diva but he's also extremely talented. That one would be a tough call if he was made available for trade as rumored.

He's definitely had injury concerns, but looking at Musgraves and saying he's not "fluid," is like looking at Jackson Chourio and saying, 'I just don't see the bat speed.' He's about as fluid as you could find in a TE.

I don't agree this will lead to a better "playing field," for the US. -We're starting trade wars with allies. -Tariffs, across the board tariffs and trade wars do not work. We're going back to 1870 for our outline. WE also had REAL cheap labor just a decade before that. We now live in a global economy now. The EU, Canada and Mexico. Those are our targets(as of now, April 2nd could get a whole helluva lot worse). Trump signed the damn deal with Canada and Mexico after tweaking NAFTA and declared it the greatest trade deal ever....and now because we import lot of energy from Canada...oh, and all those Canadian Cartels up there, we're starting a trade war with them? As for the markets bouncing back...yeah, they always do eventually. A Bear market lasts on average 8 months. We're USUALLY in a bull market. Maybe it'll be a year(market gets MUCH more important with the mid-terms coming up) or maybe it's 3 years, 5. I don't know, tariff wars make this a LOT more complicated...which is why I was talking about Smoot-Hawley previously(at LEAST when congress passed that Months BEFORE the '29 crash, it was congress, not just Hoover). This is causing real pain for people right now. Personally, I think I'll come out of this better. I sold a lot during the "Trump bump," and I'm about 80% back in as of this week and my income doesn't rely on an employer. I do think the people who've called 90 of the last 2 recessions are going to be right this time...

So they waited too long to raise rates. Ok...lets grant that's the case. You're going back years not months. As of last quarter, we were growing the GDP at over 3%, the CPI was down to 2.7% and unemployment has been VERY low for a while now. The bubble you're talking about...I don't agree. That's what happens when you have great growth. The economy was in a great place...and particularly in a great place relative to the rest of the world. This is not a correction or a dip(it's getting close to the definition of a crash according to some indexes...Russell -19% is nearly there). And it didn't happen organically. It happened deliberately. With a...foolish plan for blanket tariffs and a cowardly congress that ceded it's authority. That's just another thing we've ignored. Tariffs are meant to be for emergencies or passed through congress. They ceded that power and they also included language to state this session of congress is ONE calendar day so they couldn't actually have a vote or a debate on it. This wasn't a bubble, the multiples of these companies weren't getting ridiculous(as a whole). Obviously you had some, but you always do. But these companies are growing double digits each quarter, the ones driving the market and the fundamentals of the US Economy aside from the Market were strong. I heard so many times 'This is the worst inflation we've ever seen, nobody has seen inflation this bad.' We had 10% unemployment and 10% inflation, actual stagflation from Nixon when he froze prices(and wages) and it stayed that way under Ford, Carter and into Reagans years when we started cranking up the deficit spending. The "Recession is coming," people are yelling that constantly and perhaps it would have come. I don't know why we're actively steering into one though. THAT is my issue....

This is all great, but if we were having a poor spring I'd feel the same. I'm happy to see guys healthy and throwing the ball well. Woody throwing in the mid 90s(touching mid 90s) Hoskins swinging the bat and moving well...I thought he looked a bit lighter, but hard to tell. Yelich looks like he's loose and swinging free. Haven't seen Uribe, but I think he is a VERY important player to this team in 2025. Chourio is going to break out(even more) and if Dunn does as well? That'd certainly fill out the lineup. I also really expect Turang to take another step. A FULL season of hitting the ball, getting on base a little better plus his defense. I think he can be a .270/.360/400 type hitter who steals 40 bases and plays Gold...or Platinum level defense at 2nd.

I think Musgrave can definitely make an impact, but I think Wicks and Lloyd can as well. Wicks had his drop rate increase by 5X last year. His rookie year he was very good on 3rd down. Both years 39 receptions...rookie year 58 targets, last year 76. He's had an every other year thing going back to UVA, but if he's good this year, I think that keeps the chains moving and he's a good #2 WR. And Lloyd, I think he brings a new dimension to the offense. LaFleur was pretty excited about him. I think the plan was for him to be the #2 back, run that outside zone that they went away from last year and he's good in pass protection. He just had a miserable rookie season last year. Injury and then he was expected back and he had Appendicitis and they petitioned the league for an exemption for him. I don't think we need any of them to be big game changers though, just each of them contributing and staying on the field. Musgrave is going to that same Madison training...thing that Watson and Stokes did where they determined Stokes right leg was 18% stronger which left his left leg more susceptible to injury or whatever it was exactly. Makes me think maybe we should be proactive and send guys there before they get hurt(or maybe hire them and bring them up to GB and put them on staff). Outside an impact WR I don't think any one player is going to push us over the top. It'll have to be Love playing a little sharper. Hopefully Morgan being healthy. A big shift in the OL with a competent Center. We led the league in drops last year, just middle of the pack would be huge. Lloyd just getting 5-7 touches would give a different look. It would have been great to get DK and fill out the WR core, but this offense was on fire in '23.

This is the last time I've seen Contreras actually comment on it. https://reviewingthebrew.com/posts/brewers-william-contreras-reportedly-open-to-extension-talks Yes, he'd be expensive. That doesn't mean he's not open to one. 3 years remaining, he has a long way to make it to Free Agency. You could easily put together a 5 year deal that buys out arby, 2 years of FA for ~23-25 and lock him up long term(and increase his trade value). It's got a whole lot to do with it. Without wanting to, without actually offering, there is zero chance. We said Yelich was gone(and in hindsight...)...I'm sure there were people who were skeptical of Chourio taking a deal. when he could have hit FA by ~26-27 years old. Wanting to do it means you...could do it. Not wanting to and not offering means there's 0 chance it will get done. I don't know what his offers were, so I can't say he took the most money. I can say he said he was willing to take less money to stay in Milwaukee. Both Will Sammon and Katie Woo reported Adames came right out and said he'd take less to stay here and we didn't make a serious offer. And that's fine. I'm not even complaining about it. I'm saying just resigning outselves to the fact that we can't sign anyone who has had MLB success...especially when these guys play a demanding position and are 3-4 years away from FA(unlike Adames who was on the precipice of FA...as was Burnes in Baltimore). As for Burnes, doesn't seem to matter who his agent was. He took less to play near his home. He also said he was open but nobody had approached him in Milwaukee(this after his Cy Young season and was with 4 years left). Signing an extension months away from being a FA vs being 3-4 years away and in your final year are, again two VERY different things. You've bet on yourself for 6 years, it's easier to do so for one more year. Had we approached Burnes a year before arbitration, maybe he's 2 years of team control. And maybe we still trade him. Tampa does this a bit. Extending doesn't mean you can't still move him, it means when you do, you're not trading a rental...and of course you're assuming far more risk. That's our downside. We also could have approached Woodruff and signed him. We always beat around the bush on this and pretend these players don't want to sign or are unwilling. Hard to know when you don't offer them. We made no offer to Woodruff until he was injured(at least none since 2020). None to Burnes, we reportedly made an offer to Adames of 5/100 on top of his last year(so 6/112.5). He got 7/185. This "not interested," in signing an extension was also applied to Burnes, but Burnes basically said Milwaukee couldn't or wouldn't pay him what he was worth...and then he may have said after his last year here he wasn't interested in an extension(but not when people were saying as much). But we've been acting like we just can't sign Contreras since he got here. Sean Murphy was the best catcher in that deal. He signed at the same point Contreras is now. 6/73M. 4/9/15/15/15/15 and a TO for 15. JT Realmuto signed a 5/115 deal as a FA and he'd been a better catcher(high paid catcher in baseball)...and he'd been a better catcher than Contreras. You could go to Contreras with a deal offering deal for 5 years, 80M 6/10/14/20/20+2 TO at 25/25 with an 8M SB. That'd likely improve his value in a trade...presuming you could get him to agree to a NTC and if Quero does come back, you can deal Contreras and the team is getting team control of a catcher still in his prime years. He could set himself up for life, be one of the higher paid catchers and a center piece when all of our young prospects who are making the league minimum are coming up. Just say it's not a good move for the Brewers with a top 50 prospect in the system. Or that you think they want to maintain financial flexibility...or whatever. But to say he reportedly won't sign when we haven't offered and we have him on record at least one time talking about how this is home? It's like people don't believe in what the Brewers are doing. Yes, we're financially constrained. We do get a good chunk of money in revenue sharing and we should be able to spend over 105M, but...not the point. As long as they're run well and keep cycling in talent, I don't care. It's just these talking points over and over that seems like others feel like there's something more to defend.

It just means he's guaranteed 100K next year. The Brewers signed the same thing with Devin Williams and then opted out of that before trading him.

I don't really think it matters because....they're not going to spend the money he'll get and he's still got 3 years left, but this feels more like the rationale used for not extending him. The only time I've seen that he's talked about an extension or a possible extension, he was reportedly open to one and said Milwaukee "felt like home." Doesn't mean he's going to sign one or that we should offer him one, but there always seems to be there "rumors," where...'well, we didn't want to sign him anyway.

It felt like when Favre went to the Vikings, he went there JUST to spite the Packers. Rodgers, if he did it...I'd understand. He wants to go out a winner, they have Jones, a back he's familiar with, the same general offensive scheme, a good OL and of course the best WR, one o f the better #2 WRs and TJ Hockenson along with a good Def.

He cited a few players sacks, but if you can get Hendrickson for a 2nd...I think you have to do that. 15 sacks is DPOY caliber. We don't need that. The biggest off-season acquisition in Packers history...arguably is Reggie(certainly the best defensive player) and he was 32. If you knew Hendrickson would get 10 sacks, ~70 pressures and 20-30 QB hits a season for the next 2-3 years...of course you'd do that. You'd take TJ Watt right now for a 2nd... I think Gute does that in a heartbeat. I just can't imagine Cincy giving him up for "just" a 2nd...even as valuable as a 2nd is. I think he'll age like Calais Campbell did through ~33-34. That's worth a 2nd and a 4/100M deal. I just don't believe either of those, the compensation to the Bengals or Hendrickson is close to what he'd cost. If it was, I'd be with @HarryDoyleon this. You'd also have to consider how much better Rashan Gary could produce in this scenario. It's just like the OL that has to slide to the left to help Walker because Tom is so good. If you have Hendrickson, they're sliding to his side and now a 4 man pass rush can get home and if you're sending Cooper or a slot, you could have that overwhelming type defense. Speaking of Calais Campbell...he's still playing and at a high level. I'd definitely sign him for one year. 1/6.5M?

I don't think there's any chance you're getting Hendrickson for a "one year and lets talk" type deal. He's 30 and looking to cash in. I think you'd be paying closer to 4/130 with 85M GTD. Something in that range. Otherwise the Bengals would have just paid him. I also think it'll cost more than one 1st as it's been reported the Bengals asking price is "insane." I don't know what he'll end up going for and I'd be excited to get a guy like that...it just feels like a more desperate move than we need right now. A team like Buffalo make more sense to me. If you end up being right and it's "just" a 1st and a 1 year deal, I'd completely agree with you.

I thought he'd get closer to Jon Runyan Jr money. Not as much, but 3/24. 3.5M...to be a backup? Or maybe they'll move him to OG.