Ted Thompson seems to be the most polarizing figure on this forum. Posters seem to want to categorize one another when it comes to the Packers' long time general manager as either haters or homers. Most of us, however, fall somewhere along a spectrum of satisfaction with the job Thompson does. I doubt anyone truly believes he's perfect, and no one (at least no one worth reading) actually thinks he's completely incompetent.
For myself, I tend to lean harder towards the side that's complimentary of the work he's done. On the whole, I think he's a great GM. However, this offseason, there has been one area on the roster where Thompson's decisions have been less than satisfactory to me, and that's at OLB. He basically had to keep Perry, and he did. I thought the contract was pretty fair, given Perry's ceiling when healthy coupled with his history with missing time. Thompson also chose to retain Matthews, which wasn't a shock-- this team rarely cuts players early.
Those moves left the Packers with two starting edge rushers who have been injured fairly often, and only actually played 59% and 46% of last year's defensive snaps respectively. They aren't horrible starters, but given their pasts and usages it would seem that depth is paramount. That's where Thompson lost me. I expected that Fackrell would be counted on more heavily, but that isn't going to be enough. Between Peppers and Jones, the team lost 1,135 snaps from the position. I expect some of those will be eaten up by increased DL usage, however the lion's share will remain to be accounted for by the remaining OLB's.
I theorized that the team might be wise to keep Jones on the cheap as he seemed to begin getting comfortable in an edge role last season. They chose not to. I thought they might pursue a mid level veteran such as Sheard, Simon, Okafor, or Barwin. They sniffed around Barwin, but otherwise they chose not to sign anyone. I thought they might invest in a pass rusher high in the draft. While I really like Biegel and was high on him heading into the draft, they chose to pass on any of the more valuable guys (e.g. Bowser, Willis, Rivers).
So all that said, they are in something of a precarious spot at a really important position. They have injury prone starters in front of inexperience. Even if you optimistically predict that Perry and Matthews will manage 60% of the defense snaps each and that the DL will take on more snaps, Fackrell, Elliott, and a currently lame Biegel are still going to have to account for roughly 1,000 snaps between them. That seems like a tall order.
So what are the options at this point?
Veterans: Obviously in August, this talent pool is all but dried up. Paul Kruger, Trent Cole, Dwight Freeney, and Mario Williams are the most notable names still out there. Those guys are pretty much done at this point. Additionally, the only real chance they have to contribute is as designated pass rushers, so they wouldn't be much help on early downs.
Trades?: Trades in the NFL are, by definition, highly improbable. A couple names that occur to me as even the slightest possibilities include the Jets' Lorenzo Mauldin and the Redskins' Trent Murphy. The Jets might take what they can get as this is clearly a tank year. But even if they did, Mauldin has only proven to be a 4th or 5th option at best. The Redskins have Kerrigan, an emerging Preston Smith, a 2nd round pick in Ryan Anderson, and apparently Junior Galette looks all the way back from injury this offseason. Murphy has to serve a 4 game suspension, so if their depth holds and he's not in their future plans, maybe they'd move him? Neither scenario is anything close to probable, but I would absolutely love to acquire Murphy.
Camp Cuts?: Lamarr Houston comes to mind as a guy who might be let go in Chicago and fits the mold of a Jones or a Peppers in terms of size and style. He's been a disappointment for the Bears, but perhaps could provide some decent snaps here and there? Wes Horton might be the victim of a numbers game in Carolina.
UDFA: While not the most likely avenue to seriously help, this is the most likely avenue for the Packers to take. The only guy out of their current undrafted edge rushers that I can see making any sort of impact is Johnathan Calvin. He's 6'3" 266 lbs, he jumped a 34" vertical (58th% for EDGE) and a 115" broad (67% for EDGE), and he had a 7.08 3C (76th% for EDGE). His forty time and short shuttle were poor, though I tend to put the most stock in the jumps and the 3C. Additionally, he was actually pretty productive for Mississippi State. 55 total tackles, 11.5 for a loss, 7 sacks, 1 INT, 5 QB Hurries, 1 PBU, and 2 FF in 2016. That's nothing to sneeze at in the SEC. He was much quieter in 2015, with 27 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 1.5 Sacks, and 5 QB Hurries. So perhaps it's meant to be for John Calvin.
So there you have it-- a long winded lament with some theorizing regarding what I perceive to be the Packers' weakest link. May the starters stay healthy and the young guys step up.
