I'm not surprised. As I said a few weeks ago, I thought they would take care of Suggs and Lewis. I think Scott is the one that will get away and he would be a great pickup. Rememeber tho that Ryan is now in NY and they will find a way to go after Scott. We have a better cap situation tho

Sticking to my guns -- the front seven is where you spend your "Impact" cash. Scott would be a nice addition. Leonhard would be in the "we have some FA cash left" category.

Focus = Front Seven and Oline. Do not waiver.

I'd love to go after Leonhard. He was a stud for the Ravens down the stretch and being a Wisconsin alum is a great bonus.

No Badgers please. Blech. Scott or nothing.

18 million in cap space with guys like Kampman, Pickett, Jennings, and Collins in contract years. Cross a lot of people off your wish list.

Bang for buck though, we could totally get Jim Leonhard. I'd be all for it. That secondary would make me drool.

"As of this week, the Packers are about $25 million under the estimated $123 million salary cap for 2009, according to a source with access to NFL Players Association salary information. The source also said there are whispers the cap could be higher — the NFL will calculate that figure before the start of free agency on Feb. 27 — perhaps even as high as $130 million."

This quote comes from a story by Pete Doughrety of the "Northwestern" dated 2/8/09. So the $18 million may not be an accurate number for the GB cap. If not the Packers will have $25 to $30 million of cap money. That's enough to do some manuvering. They can get at least one impact player and two above average players. And there would still cap money to spare.

PFT reported the Packers are $29 million under the cap and Tom Pelissero in his weekly chat estimated they were $25 million under.

Let’s start with the $25 million number. The Packers will probably tender 3-4 of their 7 restricted free agents. That will cost around $4 million when they sign then tenders. That brings the cap down to $21 million. With the #9 pick and two 3rd rounders. I am guessing the rookie pool amount will be around $6 million. That brings the cap space down to $15 million. Re-sign Tauscher but that probably gets offset by some savings when they cut some other players. That leaves TT with $15 million to use this year to extend the plethora of players who will be in their contract year or sign FA’s. Jennings, Kampman, Chillar, Picket, Collins, Colledge, Moll, and Jolly will all be in their contract year. That is a large ‘graduating’ class as TT likes to call them. Let’s just assume that TT only wants to extend Jennings and is willing to let the others become UFA’s or use the franchise tag on one of them the next season. TT has been a pay-as-you-go approach to contracts and managing the cap. To extend Jennings you probably need to keep at least $8 million on hand for the first year of the new contract. That takes it down to $7 million cap remaining for free agents.

Just some quick math and I am definately no expert on any of this so let me know if I any of my assumptions are wrong.

I talked with my friend who's a Raven's fan about the Packers prospects for getting any of the Ravens players.

<b>Here are his thoughts:</b>

<blockquote>"Yeah they (Packers fans) can hope for Raven players, but what they really need to hope for is the Raven's defensive system because most of the guys are system players. Especially the LBs (i.e. Adalius Thomas &amp; Ed Hartwell) who got big contracts based on their production as Ravens and flopped on their new teams."

Any thoughts?

Dave,

Current players would only have incremental dollars counted. Most of the guys you list don't warrent the kind of increases you seem to be calculating.

Ron - I'm not sure what you mean? Can you be more specific? I am guessing they plan to tender four restricted free agents. The lowest one year tender is just short of $1 million. Bigby probably get the 2nd level tender which around $1.5 million. So, these four players will count against the cap this next year in the $4-$5 million range. I calculated the rookie pool based on the Bengals last year who had the #9 pick and bumped it up slightly per a normal increase and having a extra 3rd round pick. The rookie pool will be around $6 million and that will reduce the cap money currently availible. Those two items alone account for about $10 million. If you start at $25 million per reports then that takes you down to $15 million to play with. I estimated $8 million if TT wants to extend Jennings. That could be less depending on how TT structures a deal but going on TT history and the pay-as-you-go philosphy it will take about that this year to extend Jennings. I guess I don't understand where I am over-estimating? Help me understand?

Thanks Dave, I got it now. I must have missed it in your original post. My fault.

Its great to see others getting on the Jim Leonhard bandwagon I started on the forum. I am sure even more will get on board. After reading PFT today. I do see that the Bucs will get Haynesworth. The bucs lead the league in cap room. Also the Raiders are close to resigning Asomugha. Man what a shot in the arm for some Packer fans. Oh yeah pipe dreams of getting Peppers will soon be gone as well. Here is what I see happening in the future. The Cowboys will release TO and bring in Peppers. After seeing a press conference with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones yesterday on the NFL Network. A reporter asked Jones about TO. The look on Jones`s face pretty much summoned up that, even HE is sick of TO and it has ruined Jones`s team. You think he wants "The Cancer" in that new stadium?

Even though all the best free agents were franchised or re-signed I'm sure it is Ted Thompson's fault somehow for not bringing them to GB.

Packer Free Agent Analysis

FB Ryan Powdrell (erfa) Good Bye
FB John Kuhn (rfa) Good Bye
TE Tory Humphrey (erfa) ?
WR Shaun Bodiford (rfa) Good Bye
WR Ruvell Martin (rfa) Good Bye
OT Mark Tauscher (ufa) Good Bye
OG Tony Palmer (rfa) Good Bye
DE Jason Hunter (rfa) Good Bye
DE M Montgomery (ufa) Good Bye
DT Colin Cole (ufa) Good Bye
CB Jarrett Bush (RFA) Good Bye
CB T. Williams (erfa) ?
S Atari Bigby (rfa) ?

erfa - Exclusive Rights Free Agent This relates to players with 0-2 years service and no current contract.

Of anyone on the FA list, none are worth the franchise tag. Only three (the ? marks) are worth transition consideration. The net impact would be a plus to cap room.

I hate to treat Tauscher in this cavalier manner, but his injury and age make him expendable. Montgomery and Cole may actually fall back to GB because no one wants them. Then GB will have to decide if they are worth keeping. Baseball free agency has turned into an interesting bust this year. Has the NFL reached a stage of diminishing value also?

All of the Good Byes are easily replaceable at a cheaper price. I know Ruvell Martin has been a contributor but suffered a fall off last season. thus, he has less value.

The guys to pre-sign during the next year should be future foccused. Kampman and Pickett don't fall in to that categoy. They can be transitioned during next year's FA season. Jennings is the only one I see being considered for a long-term contract here.

Just my opinion!

Re: Tauscher - I hope so Aaron, I really hope so. He's one of my favorites.

Carolina reached a deal with Gross and tagged Peppers today.

Ron - all those guys you have listed currently do not count against the cap number as they are not under contract with the Packers. The Packers are about $25 million under the cap without any of those players on the 2009 roster. I think they will tender 3-4 of the restricted free agents. Some may not end up on the final roster depending on FA and the draft but they still get a tender which will eat around $4 million in cap space until they are cut. Most of those guys on your list are not going to be replaced with cheaper options. Every guy on that list except Montgomery and Tauscher were close to minimum deals.

Last year's cap number of free agents that I was able to dig up mostly from this source:

http://cappage.timesfour.com/

FB John Kuhn $449,920
TE Tory Humphrey $374,920
WR Shaun Bodiford $235,880
WR Ruvell Martin $449,920
OT Mark Tauscher $6,271,010
DE Jason Hunter $455,640
DE M Montgomery $550,180
DT Colin Cole $1,421,440
CB Jarrett Bush $450,760
CB T. Williams $375,640
S Atari Bigby $449,800

This is the best cap info I have found for 2009. It shows the Packers close to $30 under the current $124 million cap. The players in red and yellow represent dead money still counting against the cap:

http://cappage.timesfour.com/2009gbpcapprojection.html

PackerAaron,
Both Hartwell and Thomas were at near Pro Bowl levels when they left the Ravens, got huge contracts, and then never played near the same level again.

Also, what about Jamie Sharper and Peter Bauleware?

The Ravens defensive system is fantastic, top ten in the league for the past 7+ year, but the individual players only succeed in that system.