FrankRizzo
Cheesehead
CAUTION:
You are about to enter the SPIN ZONE.
HYPOTHETICALLY deviating from TT's plan often causes wars, and hurt feelings.
I may be the only one, so this could be a lonely, short-lived thread.
I want to see what some other fans would have done differently THIS OFF-SEASON if they were in charge of the team.
We haven't seen any results so it's not totally hindsight at this time. Some of these guys might flop, some might spark their teams.
We now know price tags as far as FA contracts, and trade value, etc.
We all are on board with the GM Ted Thompson, and we all hope his draftees put us over the top this year. I want nothing more than a Super Bowl. I'd sell half the crap I own for a Super Bowl. And I love the nucleus we have, mostly thanks to TT. However, Driver and Woodson are two of our best, and they're running out of time.
OK, here are some things that you would have seen happen if I was the GM. Now I don't know how to handle the draft, that can come later on here.
But as for free agency and trades, I wanted and called for these 2 key moves, and would have made them.
TRADE ACQUISITIONS:
CB Antonio Cromartie:
It only took a late 3rd rounder for the Jets to add him to pair with Darrelle Revis. I would have, without hesitiation, traded our 3rd rounder for Cromartie in a heartbeat.
Now I don't like the fact that he's a male *****, etc. And I really hate the fact that he's a soft tackler, to say the least.
But we don't have anyone other than Woodson who can cover as well as AC can.
This guy was a top-20 pick in the same draft that AJ Hawk was the #5 overall pick. He's got a history of covering Reggie Wayne well, and has picked off Peyton Manning a few times. I think he's the perfect guy to cover the taller WR's like Sidney Rice. He's 6'2", and he just turned 26 years old. I think he'll be a staple for years for us, and Woodson will toughen this kid up with the tackling.
KR Ted Ginn:
It only took a 5th round pick to obtain the 2007 #9-overall pick.
I wanted him badly, and would have given our 5th and a 7th next year for his services.
Back in 1995, Ron Wolf added another former top-10 WR "Bust" out of the Big Ten in Desmond Howard. Desmond never turned into the WR star some expected, but his worth just as a kick returner was well worth the price tag. Our special teams units are worse now than they were in 1994-95. Nobody can tell me they think that Jordy Nelson is a good KR, or that we have anyone on the current roster who's even close to as good as Ginn is as a KR.
Ted Ginn is a proven kick return stud, as NY Jets fans will attest to. Ginn single-handedly beat the AFC runner-ups last year with 2 KR Touchdowns in the same game.
He also, in the other game, torched Darrelle Revis for a 55-yard TD. He's already accomplished more as a WR than Howard ever did.
Regardless, he's good enough and young enough to be worth the 5th round pick for just his kick return ability.
Plus I look at him as a Willie Gault/Bernard Berrian type of pure deep threat. He opens up the middle of the field a little bit because he's so fast.
But on our team, he'd be the #5 WR and would have no pressure on him, unlike in Miami when they took him #9 overall and the fans hated him from the beginning because they wanted Brady Quinn so damn much with that pick!
OLB Joey Porter:
He's got 2 fewer years of mileage on him than Jason Taylor does. He's played both sides of a 3-4 as OLB. He led the Dolphins in sacks this past year with 9 (just 1 fewer than Clay Matthews had), and in 2008 he led the team with 17.5, which I think would be a Packers record. If that's washed up, then I'm buying, but I think he would have been the perfect OLB for Brad Jones to be behind, and Porter's nastiness would have giuven us an edge and spark against teams like the Vikings and Favre. The intimidation factor is worth something against skittish QBs.
Anyway, he didn't want to come to Green Bay, most likely, and his cost was too high. So cross Porter off, but I would have tried hard to get him. Who knows, maybe Ted did.
OLB Adalius Thomas:
He's got a year less on his tires than Porter has, and he's still ranked an 80 by the ESPN Insider Scouts Inc., which is ahead of Porter actually.
He's 265-270 pounds, so I think he's a fine compliment to Clay Matthews who's smaller and quicker. Thomas is a bull.
However, Thomas sucked last year, missed more % of tackles than about any LB, so I won't overspend for this guy. That might have been, like Randy Moss in Oakland, all about attitude and scheme than it was a decline in ability.
He's yet to sign with anybody so I don't know the price tag. Whatever it is, we can afford it. Still, if this guy is demanding a ton, then I'll pass. But if he's eager to play, hungry for a Super Bowl (as Santana Dotson, Eugene Robinson, Keith Jackson, Don Beebe were back in the 90's for us), then I make a play for Adalius.
He's 32, so is right there in age with Driver, Woodson, Clifton, Tauscher... younger than Al Harris. Thomas' birthday is actually the same as mine, so that's a good thing.
Again, to summarize, I 'd only bring Adalius in if the price is right. I don't think he's getting bombarded with big offers, so I'm thinking reasonably here, with some additional incentive-laced bonuses he can earn with bigger sack #'s and team success.
I think Dom Capers & Kevin Greene can get the best out of Adailus opposite Clay. To be honest, I suspect Ted Thompson has not personally crossed off Thomas from his list.
Now the above list is not exactly the same as the types of players Wolf brought in, but it's pretty similar in the fact that these guys add depth and upgrade positional weaknesses for us.
And they don't cost us too much. We'd still have all/most of our premium draft picks like Bulaga and Neal or Burnett, etc. We had 7 draft picks last month. After this, we'd be down to 6.
Remember, the Vikings have won back-to-back division titles from us, and with Favre, they're still going to be a slight favorite on us, although it's close. And they've taken a lot of big swings in free agency and trades.
Think Favre, Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson, Pat Williams, Bernard Berrian, Longwell, Antoine Winfield also was a FA addition. Sharper helped them too. :viksux:
A
s Ron Wolf did, sometimes it takes some big swings to get to the top.
He didn't always connect, but he went for it and the 2 Super Bowls (1 title) were well worth the occasional whiffs.
You are about to enter the SPIN ZONE.
HYPOTHETICALLY deviating from TT's plan often causes wars, and hurt feelings.
I may be the only one, so this could be a lonely, short-lived thread.
I want to see what some other fans would have done differently THIS OFF-SEASON if they were in charge of the team.
We haven't seen any results so it's not totally hindsight at this time. Some of these guys might flop, some might spark their teams.
We now know price tags as far as FA contracts, and trade value, etc.
We all are on board with the GM Ted Thompson, and we all hope his draftees put us over the top this year. I want nothing more than a Super Bowl. I'd sell half the crap I own for a Super Bowl. And I love the nucleus we have, mostly thanks to TT. However, Driver and Woodson are two of our best, and they're running out of time.
OK, here are some things that you would have seen happen if I was the GM. Now I don't know how to handle the draft, that can come later on here.
But as for free agency and trades, I wanted and called for these 2 key moves, and would have made them.
TRADE ACQUISITIONS:
CB Antonio Cromartie:
It only took a late 3rd rounder for the Jets to add him to pair with Darrelle Revis. I would have, without hesitiation, traded our 3rd rounder for Cromartie in a heartbeat.
Now I don't like the fact that he's a male *****, etc. And I really hate the fact that he's a soft tackler, to say the least.
But we don't have anyone other than Woodson who can cover as well as AC can.
This guy was a top-20 pick in the same draft that AJ Hawk was the #5 overall pick. He's got a history of covering Reggie Wayne well, and has picked off Peyton Manning a few times. I think he's the perfect guy to cover the taller WR's like Sidney Rice. He's 6'2", and he just turned 26 years old. I think he'll be a staple for years for us, and Woodson will toughen this kid up with the tackling.
KR Ted Ginn:
It only took a 5th round pick to obtain the 2007 #9-overall pick.
I wanted him badly, and would have given our 5th and a 7th next year for his services.
Back in 1995, Ron Wolf added another former top-10 WR "Bust" out of the Big Ten in Desmond Howard. Desmond never turned into the WR star some expected, but his worth just as a kick returner was well worth the price tag. Our special teams units are worse now than they were in 1994-95. Nobody can tell me they think that Jordy Nelson is a good KR, or that we have anyone on the current roster who's even close to as good as Ginn is as a KR.
Ted Ginn is a proven kick return stud, as NY Jets fans will attest to. Ginn single-handedly beat the AFC runner-ups last year with 2 KR Touchdowns in the same game.
He also, in the other game, torched Darrelle Revis for a 55-yard TD. He's already accomplished more as a WR than Howard ever did.
Regardless, he's good enough and young enough to be worth the 5th round pick for just his kick return ability.
Plus I look at him as a Willie Gault/Bernard Berrian type of pure deep threat. He opens up the middle of the field a little bit because he's so fast.
But on our team, he'd be the #5 WR and would have no pressure on him, unlike in Miami when they took him #9 overall and the fans hated him from the beginning because they wanted Brady Quinn so damn much with that pick!
OLB Joey Porter:
He's got 2 fewer years of mileage on him than Jason Taylor does. He's played both sides of a 3-4 as OLB. He led the Dolphins in sacks this past year with 9 (just 1 fewer than Clay Matthews had), and in 2008 he led the team with 17.5, which I think would be a Packers record. If that's washed up, then I'm buying, but I think he would have been the perfect OLB for Brad Jones to be behind, and Porter's nastiness would have giuven us an edge and spark against teams like the Vikings and Favre. The intimidation factor is worth something against skittish QBs.
Anyway, he didn't want to come to Green Bay, most likely, and his cost was too high. So cross Porter off, but I would have tried hard to get him. Who knows, maybe Ted did.
OLB Adalius Thomas:
He's got a year less on his tires than Porter has, and he's still ranked an 80 by the ESPN Insider Scouts Inc., which is ahead of Porter actually.
He's 265-270 pounds, so I think he's a fine compliment to Clay Matthews who's smaller and quicker. Thomas is a bull.
However, Thomas sucked last year, missed more % of tackles than about any LB, so I won't overspend for this guy. That might have been, like Randy Moss in Oakland, all about attitude and scheme than it was a decline in ability.
He's yet to sign with anybody so I don't know the price tag. Whatever it is, we can afford it. Still, if this guy is demanding a ton, then I'll pass. But if he's eager to play, hungry for a Super Bowl (as Santana Dotson, Eugene Robinson, Keith Jackson, Don Beebe were back in the 90's for us), then I make a play for Adalius.
He's 32, so is right there in age with Driver, Woodson, Clifton, Tauscher... younger than Al Harris. Thomas' birthday is actually the same as mine, so that's a good thing.
Again, to summarize, I 'd only bring Adalius in if the price is right. I don't think he's getting bombarded with big offers, so I'm thinking reasonably here, with some additional incentive-laced bonuses he can earn with bigger sack #'s and team success.
I think Dom Capers & Kevin Greene can get the best out of Adailus opposite Clay. To be honest, I suspect Ted Thompson has not personally crossed off Thomas from his list.
Now the above list is not exactly the same as the types of players Wolf brought in, but it's pretty similar in the fact that these guys add depth and upgrade positional weaknesses for us.
And they don't cost us too much. We'd still have all/most of our premium draft picks like Bulaga and Neal or Burnett, etc. We had 7 draft picks last month. After this, we'd be down to 6.
Remember, the Vikings have won back-to-back division titles from us, and with Favre, they're still going to be a slight favorite on us, although it's close. And they've taken a lot of big swings in free agency and trades.
Think Favre, Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson, Pat Williams, Bernard Berrian, Longwell, Antoine Winfield also was a FA addition. Sharper helped them too. :viksux:
A
s Ron Wolf did, sometimes it takes some big swings to get to the top.
He didn't always connect, but he went for it and the 2 Super Bowls (1 title) were well worth the occasional whiffs.
