Report: RFA Tender on Jamari Lattimore Looks to Be "Slim and None"
According to Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, it doesn't appear as if the Packers will give tender restricted free agent Jamari Lattimore:
Lattimore’s agent, Tony Agnone, met with the Packers at the NFL scouting combine last week and said today that the chances of them offering his client the $1.389 million right-of-first-refusal tender appear to be “slim and none.”
However, they want to re-sign him at a cheaper price, at or at least closer to the $645,000 minimum for a player with three accrued seasons.
One view from the cheap seats is that Lattimore is worth the tender that comes off the books after only one year. I'd personally rather see the Packers keep Lattimore at $1.4 million than Brad Jones at $2.5 million.
Of course, releasing Brad Jones would cost $2 million in dead money. It might be worth it if the Packers draft an inside linebacker in the first round or two of the NFL Draft.
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Comments (30)
February 26, 2014 at 02:22 pm
Hate to lose Lattimore for a measly $1.4MM. He actually showed some ability to make plays. Maybe just his agent blowing smoke but, if not, so much for "developing".
February 26, 2014 at 03:05 pm
Maybe we should all chip in $5 to line TT's pockets to keep Lattimore?
February 26, 2014 at 03:07 pm
I would also rather see Brad Jones gone, watch some of the tapes. Lattimore goes after people, sorry maybe they are just going to plug a play instead of plug and pay.
February 26, 2014 at 03:12 pm
A $1.3 mil tender is nothing if you want to keep the player. Maybe they don't want Lattimore back. After the way he played in the regular season finale vs Chicago, I can understand that. But it's an odd play to try to save about $700k at the risk of losing a guy they want to keep.
They played that game with Tom Crabtree last year. Crabtree went to Tampa Bay. Crabtree is no All-Star but he is better than both Ryan Taylor and Jake Stoneburner. On ST and offensively as a TE.
February 27, 2014 at 10:30 pm
I'm sure they want Lattimore back. They're just not interested in paying the tender price and probably think they can get him back somewhere closer to the minimum for a player w/ his experience. He's just been an ILB for 2 yrs and has some development ahead of him yet. He's got a little Dez Bishop in him and Bishop didn't become a starter till his 4th yr. I see a similar pattern for Lattimore if they can get him back for another year of development.
February 26, 2014 at 03:27 pm
Lattimore will do better than jones. I'd hate to see him go. Jones is under contract but is better suited as a backup olb. We need to draft some linebackers that can tear the field up.
February 26, 2014 at 03:36 pm
cant we trade brad jones ?
February 26, 2014 at 07:48 pm
Really Al?
February 26, 2014 at 04:33 pm
Yeah. I dunno how good Lattimore is, or will become, but he does seem to have more of an upside than Jones. Also, a good ST and locker room guy. I can't believe he isn't worth at least $1.4MM??
February 26, 2014 at 05:25 pm
I'm not so sure Lattimore is this amazing stud or even an upgrade. ppl getting carried away over a couple plays. sample size is way too small to really say anything. he had 2 good games, a few bad ones and didn't hardly play in most of them. brad jones isn't that terrible. he was good last year and was decent this year until he got hurt against Detroit. a little early to bail on the guy.
February 26, 2014 at 06:10 pm
agreed
February 26, 2014 at 07:20 pm
So we're good to go at ILB?
February 26, 2014 at 08:36 pm
No we're not good at ILB, I want Mosley. I don't think lattimore was the answer. Splash in the pan like oso'oto. Jones I think is better. I watched the first few games and he was playing pretty good until he got hurt. I think he was leading the team in tackles.
February 26, 2014 at 10:08 pm
I don't think Lattimore is the answer either, nor do I think Jones is the answer. We are just 1 of 32 teams drafting so counting on getting Mosley or an immediate upgrade via the draft is iffy at best. If we lose Lattimore then we are down to Jones, Hawk and Barrington. Not much to get excited about. Jones is a journeyman. Nothing more.
February 26, 2014 at 07:28 pm
I think he showed some real flashes of tenacity and talent. On those plays, he looked better than Brad Jones at stopping the run and making tackles. He also made more than one or two terrible plays, got lost in coverage, missed tackles, etc.
He's an intriguing player, but I can understand why the team might be pushing to get him closer to the minimum contract, especially with the contract they have already given to Jones.
If they can get him back at $800,000, that'd be great. He seems to have potential but hasn't proven himself as being worth over 1 mil a year to a GM like TT.
February 27, 2014 at 07:22 am
Jones is heading into his 6th NFL season. It is not too early to say we've seen all we're going to see out of him. It is uncommon for a guy to make a performance jump in his 6th season.
What I've seen to date is a guy with frequent injury problems that looks no better than average when healthy. I see no reason to suspect he'll suddenly become reliably available for the game day active list or play better when he is available to play.
That's not to say I think they must keep Lattimore and get rid of Jones. I don't have much of an opinion on Lattimore. He's done some good things and some bad. That the Packers appear unwilling to tender him indicates to me the Packers don't think too highly of him. That's fine by me...as long as they seriously address the position this offseason.
February 27, 2014 at 12:32 pm
He's only played ILB for 2 of those seasons. nobody's expecting a big jump. if he plays like he did in the 15 games he started before the Detroit injury (Oct 6), that is acceptable to me. You do not need a stud at every position to win a super bowl. There will be some spots that are filled by journeymen who are neither great nor terrible.
None of Seattle's OL played all that well this year and they won the SB. in fact, their guards were terrible.
The year Baltimore won the SB, not many on their defense played better than average and some were worse. Their LT (Oher) had a terrible year.
Of course, it is great to find an upgrade at any position you can and that is what you are shooting for. but my point is that there are other positions on the GB roster that have alot more room for improvement. Those are what I would call 'needs'. I think some use that term cavalierly.
February 26, 2014 at 07:38 pm
I hope we aren't depending on Barrington becuz id luv for us to draft one of these pretty good young guys. Skov,borland,Mosley,zumwalt,bollugh,christainjones,Jackson from wku that guy is a beast.
February 26, 2014 at 08:44 pm
Always nice to see a reference to a WKU player. Andrew Jackson was a beast, but for some reason he didn't participate in the combine drills, trying to find out why.
February 26, 2014 at 09:17 pm
Probably because he's been dead for nearly 170 years.
February 26, 2014 at 09:36 pm
Now that's funny
February 26, 2014 at 10:41 pm
Teed that one right up and Walt hit it out.
Nevertheless, Western Kentucky put three players in the combine this year; Jackson, RB Antonio Andrews, and S Jonathan Dowling (3 picks in the 2012 win against UK in Lexington).
February 26, 2014 at 10:26 pm
Yeah. That is funny!!
February 26, 2014 at 08:00 pm
Lattimore is one of those guys that shows promise but is always hurt when GB needs him. I won't be too heartbroken if he leaves
February 26, 2014 at 10:42 pm
I thought being "hurt when GB needs him" was a prerequisite for making the team.
February 27, 2014 at 12:00 pm
Dude, easy on the comments man, that was not funny. Injuries happen and I hope we can avoid a lot more than last year. Nobody is giving the 2010 team credit for having all the injuries and still bringing the trophy home. Does anybody expect that to happen again? That is what made that run so fun. Roll with the punches. Next man up. We need more players with that attitude. Who are they? I don't know.
February 27, 2014 at 12:44 pm
Oh my. I didn't realize how serious and hurtful that comment was. Just being facetious. I'll be very careful from now on. NOT!!
March 01, 2014 at 08:25 am
That was like so junior high. I can't believe the maturity on here.
February 27, 2014 at 08:39 pm
Lattimore can't cover on passing downs. We need at least one ILB that can cover since Hawk isn't very swift either. That's the only reason Jones got the contract. We have a major problem at ILB.
March 01, 2014 at 03:26 pm
Major problem is a bit overboard. Is there room for improvement? Yes. Let's hope we get help this off season.