Ranking the Packer Improvements for 2024 season

[OldSchool101]

I like your #1 reason. Should have included in my list.

Don't stop at 4! I want to see where Hafley comes in on your list.

Thanks
That’s the part I have absolutely no clue. I almost don’t want to jinx the poor guy

 

[Thirteen Below]

What a kick in da biscuits. Pay a guy 90 some mill for 25 games over 4 yrs then your nemesis is able to sign him for peanuts. i’d give him 5 million a year just to drive you guys crazy.

That seems like a really strange way of thinking. What do you think, we're a bunch of petty 12 year olds? Why should we care? We all love Bak; if he catches on with another team, we'll be happy if it works out.

I'm skeprtical that it will. The man has played fewer than a third of the Packers' games since he was injured in 2020, he's had at least 5 surgeries on that knee, and as far as I know still has not been medically cleared to play from the last operation 9 montths ago (which we still don't even know was - nobody's told us what this latest miracle surgery was even supposed tio fix this time). And even if he does play this season, he'll be 33 years old and has not played regularly since he was 29. That's old for a tackle, especially with his injury history.

I'm pulling for the guy, like most other cheeseheads are, and I hope he does still have another year or two left in the tank. As far as who he plays for, it's none of our business - we made a deliberate decision to cut him loose because we just can't afford to pay the man another $40M to watch the games on TV. Keeping him was assessed to be an unacceptable risk.

I wish him success wherever he goes. The only reason we would have for not wanting him to play for the Bears is because we love the guy too much - we'd rather he go to Kansas City or Baltimore, and not that poorly managed circus in Chicago. He deserves to end his career on a team he can be proud of.

Let’s get this shiite started.

*****? What"*****"?

Tell ya what - no. Let's not. Leave the "*****" on your Bear boards.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

I dont follow the LT reference. Did the Bears try to sign him as a FA?

It’s a well known rumor, but accepted as truth bc teddy only cared about money, that we could’ve traded with San Diego to take LT. The pay scale increase to that pick in round one was rumored to be several hundred thousand dollars and our old President, Ted “sweaty teddy” Philips didn’t feel LT was worth the money. Our new management is much better.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

That seems like a really strange way of thinking. What do you think, we're a bunch of petty 12 year olds? Why should we care? We all love Bak; if he catches on with another team, we'll be happy if it works out.

I'm skeprtical that it will. The man has played fewer than a third of the Packers' games since he was injured in 2020, he's had at least 5 surgeries on that knee, and as far as I know still has not been medically cleared to play from the last operation 9 montths ago (which we still don't even know was - nobody's told us what this latest miracle surgery was even supposed tio fix this time). And even if he does play this season, he'll be 33 years old and has not played regularly since he was 29. That's old for a tackle, especially with his injury history.

I'm pulling for the guy, like most other cheeseheads are, and I hope he does still have another year or two left in the tank. As far as who he plays for, it's none of our business - we made a deliberate decision to cut him loose because we just can't afford to pay the man another $40M to watch the games on TV. Keeping him was assessed to be an unacceptable risk.

I wish him success wherever he goes. The only reason we would have for not wanting him to play for the Bears is because we love the guy too much - we'd rather he go to Kansas City or Baltimore, and not that poorly managed circus in Chicago. He deserves to end his career on a team he can be proud of.



*****? What"*****"?

Tell ya what - no. Let's not. Leave the "*****" on your Bear boards.

Just a little playful banter my guy. I don’t come here to pick fights or be buster brown.

We’d be lucky to sign him for 2 solid reasons. One: he’s a very smart and seasoned all pro T who still has some in the tank I think. Two: he has so much knowledge and experience that could/would help our guys that are still very young. Nate Davis is a complete mystery but our starting tackles are going into years 4 and 2. Another rookie T drafted this year so I believe he can fill in when needed for a stretch. Nobodies going to give him starting money and I’d love him here.
I have no delusions that he would give us inside information or write down what Green Bay’s playbook is. He’s got too much loyalty. He would play his part, but do I ever think that he would have really bad feelings towards Green Bay or want to get them back for anything….not at all the guy seems like a class act.

And call me petty but if it made one Packer fan upset he signed with us….. it’s just another mark in the positives column.

 

[Thirteen Below]

It’s a well known rumor, but accepted as truth bc teddy only cared about money, that we could’ve traded with San Diego to take LT. The pay scale increase to that pick in round one was rumored to be several hundred thousand dollars and our old President, Ted “sweaty teddy” Philips didn’t feel LT was worth the money. Our new management is much better.

I wonder what you could get him for. Are there any reasonably credble rumors what kind of price it would take?

Part of the problem may be that as I understand it, he's not interested in being a depth player - he wants a starting job, not a backup. If that's true, he'll probably be wanting starter money. I honestly have no clue what to suggest as his value.

EDIT:

We crossposted a few minutes ago.... maybe it will be easier if I just edit my reply to that post right into this one, or we may be going back and forth like this until breakfast.

=============================

Just a little playful banter my guy.

Sorry if I misread.... other Bears fans have made a poor impression on Packer boards in the past, I guess I'm sometimes too quick with the "ah, here we go again." I promise to work harder on giving you the benefit of the doubt.

I have no delusions that he would give us inside information or write down what Green Bay’s playbook is. He’s got too much loyalty.

I don't know. If he goes to the Bears, he's a Bear now. That's his team at that point. I wouldn't hold it against him; he may very well have some hard feelings over our letting him go.

It did cost him about $20M, after all. On the one hand, yes, he understands it's all just a business - but that goes both ways. His primary loyalty may now be to Chicago.

I guess I always assumed that it was common for free agents who signed with new clubs to spill the beans on their old team, but maybe not. I'll bet posters like @tynimiller could answer that.

And call me petty but if it made one Packer fan upset he signed with us….. it’s just another mark in the positives column.

Understood.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

We could offer 7 mill a year or around that. I think it’s the best he could do. Offer more in playtime bonus and incentives etc. If he’s healthy take the money on a 1 year deal and beat out 5th rnd pick, 3 yr vet entering yr 4 J. Webb. If not be a back up and teach.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

I’d rather have Bahk than a DE for that money. Caleb must be protected at all cost.

 

[Calebs Revenge]

We could offer 7 mill a year or around that. I think it’s the best he could do. Offer more in playtime bonus and incentives etc. If he’s healthy take the money on a 1 year deal and beat out 5th rnd pick, 3 yr vet entering yr 4 J. Webb. If not be a back up and teach.

Had a brain hiccup. B. Jones is our LT.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

I’m hearing ol’ Bahktiari (sp?) maybe headed to Chi to mentor our young Bucks and be a swing T bc let’s face it….everyone uses a swing T at some point during the season.

You fell for that clickbait too?

I would imagine that there are probably 30 other articles similar to the one you are seeing, each captioned for a different fan base to click on:

"(fill in Name of team here) contemplating signing Pro Bowl Left Tackle David Bakhtiari."

Bakh was once a ProBowl LT, after all the surgeries who knows if he will be what he once was or can even stay on the field for more than a game.

I hope your Bears lock him in for $10M! Feels like a Bear move, sign an old Packer and get burned.

 

[OldSchool101]

You fell for that clickbait too?

I would imagine that there are probably 30 other articles similar to the one you are seeing, each captioned for a different fan base to click on:

"(fill in Name of team here) contemplating signing Pro Bowl Left Tackle David Bakhtiari."

Bakh was once a ProBowl LT, after all the surgeries who knows if he will be what he once was or can even stay on the field for more than a game.

I hope your Bears lock him in for $10M! Feels like a Bear move, sign an old Packer and get burned.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I could care less if Bak plays in Chicago. Hopefully he gets a chance to play somewhere and rejuvenate his career. Bak certainly does not strike fear in me at this point. I would think $5mil is overpaying until he proves he can stay on the field

As far as Chicago. They’ve had 1 winning season in the last Decade, so before any of their fans start bragging, lets maybe at least work on getting past .500.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

As far as Chicago. They’ve had 1 winning season in the last Decade, so before any of their fans start bragging, lets maybe at least work on getting past .500.

A poker buddy of mine is a Bears fan, he's been real quiet about Da Bears over the last several years. Anytime he brings them up now, it is usually to complain about what they are doing. If you think Packer fans get ornery about Gute's drafts, talk to a Bears fan. How many 1st round picks have they wasted, just on failed QB's in the last 25 or so drafts? Hell, probably their "best" pick at QB was 4th rounder Kyle Orton in 2005.

Not to mention in that same time period the Bears have traded away 4 of their 1st round picks in order to obtain Jay Cutler and Khalil Mack. Cutler was a serviceable QB and probably the Bears best in the last 30 years, but ended his 8 season career with a 52-52 record with the Bears and only lead them to 2 seasons over .500. Mack was a force, but between his salary and draft pick costs, I have to wonder if the Bears got the short end of the stick there.

 

[Thirteen Below]

I don’t know about everyone else, but I could care less if Bak plays in Chicago. Hopefully he gets a chance to play somewhere and rejuvenate his career. Bak certainly does not strike fear in me at this point. I would think $5mil is overpaying until he proves he can stay on the field

And I think that's where the problem lies. David has specifically said that he wants to sign with a team where he can be a starter, not a backup. If he's firm on that, then it stands to reason that he won't sign with a team that offers him "depth" money - like $5-7M.

My guess is that it would take a 2-digit figure to sign him, and if Poles is dumb enough to offer him 10-12 million, all I can say is "go for it, dude." If I had to bet, I'd say that as tough as he is and as much as I love the guy, the magc is over. A depth player who can anchor the line for a couple-few weeks if a starting tackle goes down, but not a player who can weather a whole season or even half season.

Overpayiig Bak in the expwectation that he can play at the same level as he did 4-6 years could be one more utterly foolish management decison on Poles' resume.

As far as Chicago. They’ve had 1 winning season in the last Decade, so before any of their fans start bragging, lets maybe at least work on getting past .500.

Yeah... no offense to our guest, Caleb (because I've already been rude enough to him), but some Bears fans are stariting to sound like Minnesota fans over the last 30 years - "on paper, our team is perfect in every way, so we'll just take that Lombardi right now if that's OK with all of you other teams. Hand it over, please."

Never seemed to work out that way by the time they actually played the games.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

And I think that's where the problem lies. David has specifically said that he wants to sign with a team where he can be a starter, not a backup. If he's firm on that, then it stands to reason that he won't sign with a team that offers him "depth" money - like $5-7M.

My guess is that it would take a 2-digit figure to sign him, and if Poles is dumb enough to offer him 10-12 million, all I can say is "go for it, dude." If I had to bet, I'd say that as tough as he is and as much as I love the guy, the magc is over. A depth player who can anchor the line for a couple-few weeks if a starting tackle goes down, but not a player who can weather a whole season or even half season.

Overpayiig Bak in the expwectation that he can play at the same level as he did 4-6 years could be one more utterly foolish management decison on Poles' resume.


Yeah... no offense to our guest, Caleb (because I've already been rude enough to him), but some Bears fans are stariting to sound like Minnesota fans over the last 30 years - "on paper, our team is perfect in every way, so we'll just take that Lombardi right now if that's OK with all of you other teams. Hand it over, please."

Never seemed to work out that way by the time they actually played the games.

I wish Bahk the best, but I agree, no team should pay him guaranteed starting money. Heck, if he would come back to GB for a smallish base salary and a whole lot of incentives, then I would be happy to see him back in GB, contributing whatever he can. That said, I don't think the Packers "need" Bahk and are not only ready to move on without him, but have a promising cast of youngsters on their OL that will get better with playing time.

Bahk may surprise everyone and return to form and play really well, but I think the odds of that happening are much smaller than the odds that the past 4+ years of surgeries, being out of the game and hitting the age of 33 in Sept., pushes him towards retirement and more beer chugging contests.

 

[tynimiller]

Man I tell ya what a LOT of postings on X, FB or other social media forums has me seeing Packer fans I think sounding a ton like Bears fans do every year.

Is this team very high ceiling oriented given our youth? Absolutely!

Is this team experienced and proven? Absolutely not.

Now that last statement doesn’t equal ‘they’re not good’ or ‘not capable’ we simply cannot refute the fact we have a lot of promising yet unproven guys at crucial positions.

Fact is this team is fully dependent in offensive weapons outside of Jacobs and Dillon that haven’t even seen the league for their entire rookie contracts….led by a QB that has one year starting…and an offensive line that likely will have three guys on rookie deals starting for it.

From a thousand foot perspective it’s hard to believe they were as good as they were last year, a year younger than they are this year.

What’s even more crazy is while we have some crucial proven veterans on the defense (Smith, Gary, Jaire and McKinney) it too is a team chalk full of young guys still trying to either figure out what their ceiling is or attempt to get to it.

That’s why there is so much excitement about this team…if they just play as good as last year, they’re a playoff team…..if they put it together and grow even just a little bit across the board there is zero case for refuting them as a legit NFCCG contender.

The excitement factor is beyond anything I think GB has experienced in my short life (37 years) honestly…because when Aaron was younger we knew what we had in a lot more spots.

 

[tynimiller]

I wish Bahk the best, but I agree, no team should pay him guaranteed starting money. Heck, if he would come back to GB for a smallish base salary and a whole lot of incentives, then I would be happy to see him back in GB, contributing whatever he can. That said, I don't think the Packers "need" Bahk and are not only ready to move on without him, but have a promising cast of youngsters on their OL that will get better with playing time.

Bahk may surprise everyone and return to form and play really well, but I think the odds of that happening are much smaller than the odds that the past 4+ years of surgeries, being out of the game and hitting the age of 33 in Sept., pushes him towards retirement and more beer chugging contests.

Also for the record I’d one hundred percent offer Bakh a minimum salary with a payment per game where he sees 70% of the snaps (say $200,000 a pop).

I truly think he ends up in KC if he tests it well infront of them…outside chance of SF

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Man I tell ya what a LOT of postings on X, FB or other social media forums has me seeing Packer fans I think sounding a ton like Bears fans do every year.

Way to insult most of this forum!

Personally, I think the expectations/optimism by many Packer fans for the 2024 season have been set too high. As you mentioned, yes there is that potential, but I think Love and his receiving room will need another year of working things out. I also think the defense is going to take at least a year under a new DC, as well as new personnel in the Secondary and at ILB to fully come together.

I think if I had to pick the difference between Packer and Bear fans, Packer fans have seen a lot more winning football since 1990 than Bear fans have. Thus, we as Packer fans may have high expectations, but they are usually not only warranted, but met.

 

[tynimiller]

Way to insult most of this forum!

Eh to be fair I think this group is typically a more common sense or realistic group as a whole

 

[OldSchool101]

That’s why there is so much excitement about this team…if they just play as good as last year, they’re a playoff team…..if they put it together and grow even just a little bit across the board there is zero case for refuting them as a legit NFCCG contender.

I agree and for me it’s watching what we did last year. We had several more games that were decided on the last drive. Then you look at what we did against multiple playoff caliber teams as in SF, Dallas, Detroit, KC etc.
So normally one could say “we’re untested” but not this group. They passed the litmus test.
Now it’s where do we go from here. As long as Jordan plays anywhere close to that down the stretch last year we’re a Playoff caliber Roster.

 

[OldSchool101]

The other factor for me is IF or how quickly Hafley gets the D firing on all cylinders. I like we’ll be more aggressive on D. I’d rather go down swinging than leaving juice in the tank going across the finish. I think we have the Personnel to challenge teams with a more aggressive demeanor on D. I understand the concept of bend not break (Barry) also and that’s a safe approach, but not one that puts you in Top 5 contention regularly. I won’t say anything is better than Barry, but letting teams humiliate us in the Run game is a good way to discourage a team. Hoping our D gets more plays to create a mistake vs just shutting our opponent down and making them punt regular and quicker I’ll take the making them Punt faster option.

 

[tynimiller]

Eh to be fair I think this group is typically a more common sense or realistic group as a whole

Actually to add…this forum if anything is known for the crazies that think we are the talent level of a high school team lol

 

[OldSchool101]

Actually to add…this forum if anything is known for the crazies that think we are the talent level of a high school team lol

Amen.
I mean Jordan played in the Mountain West and Led all QB’s to ever play Football in INT’s. He’s not even HS equivalency!
(He just accidentally averaged 49 points per game across an entire season!)

 

[Thirteen Below]

Amen.
I mean Jordan played in the Mountain West and Led all QB’s to ever play Football in INT’s. He’s not even HS equivalency!
(He just accidentally averaged 49 points per game across an entire season!)

Wow. I never realized how incredibly lucky this kid was for all those years! He really caught a lot of breaks at the right time, eh?

 

[Calebs Revenge]

A poker buddy of mine is a Bears fan, he's been real quiet about Da Bears over the last several years. Anytime he brings them up now, it is usually to complain about what they are doing. If you think Packer fans get ornery about Gute's drafts, talk to a Bears fan. How many 1st round picks have they wasted, just on failed QB's in the last 25 or so drafts? Hell, probably their "best" pick at QB was 4th rounder Kyle Orton in 2005.

Not to mention in that same time period the Bears have traded away 4 of their 1st round picks in order to obtain Jay Cutler and Khalil Mack. Cutler was a serviceable QB and probably the Bears best in the last 30 years, but ended his 8 season career with a 52-52 record with the Bears and only lead them to 2 seasons over .500. Mack was a force, but between his salary and draft pick costs, I have to wonder if the Bears got the short end of the stick.

Will never know what would have happened if they make the double **** field goal against Philly in the playoffs.

Other than that the only qb move that matters is the last one.

Also as bad as we’ve been, which is borderline horrendous…..our 2 teams have gone to the same number of SuperBowls since 85’ and y’all won both of yours.

Jordan love does seem to be a good quarterback, but he’s gonna have to get that cross field interception down pat for any future NFC championship game where, like his predecessors, he can hopefully choke away victory for many many years.

 

[tynimiller]

Will never know what would have happened if they make the double **** field goal against Philly in the playoffs.

Other than that the only qb move that matters is the last one.

Also as bad as we’ve been, which is borderline horrendous…..our 2 teams have gone to the same number of SuperBowls since 85’ and y’all won both of yours.

Jordan love does seem to be a good quarterback, but he’s gonna have to get that cross field interception down pat for any future NFC championship game where, like his predecessors, he can hopefully choke away victory for many many years.

lol yeah and Robert Horry is one of the greatest basketball players ever because he has more rings than many…measuring how good teams have been in the same span merely by the number of SBs is avoiding the truth.

 

[OldSchool101]

I welcome the competition in the North from Chicago or anyone else. Someone will regress you can’t have 4 dominant teams. Like GB, I still think it takes some momentum for a 7-10 team like Chicago to get going.

As far as our improvements? I think at least on paper GB has a broader group of athletes with a propensity to rise. We just drafted 5 players in the top #91 from college, plus a literal plethora of 2nd and 3rd year athletes in system. For me that cumulative GB Packer Roster gets the nod on more growth, at minimum in the NORTH. I’d venture an estimate that our growth will be better than at least 25-30 other teams. We’re talking 2024 season here. Chicago might catch us a little by 2025-2026 as those WR emerge.

IF and I do mean IF. IF the 2024 class realizes potential similar to 2023 draft class? If we can say next year this years draft grouping grades out at B+ or better? The Packers are just going to be laden with depth. We all know that the playoffs depend on great depth. We’ve addressed strong depth pieces at nearly every position.