Confessions of a Polluted Mindset - Surprise or Not?
The Weekly Packers Brain Drain from Jersey Al.
By JerseyAl
Well this was a week, now wasn't it? After so many years of yawning through March, Packers fans are getting a taste of how most of the rest of the NFL lives. Do you like it or hate it?
No Surprise:
Cap Saving Extensions - The Packers took care of the easy ones first - saving cap space by extending, Kenny Clark ($10.8 million), David Bakhtiari ($7.6 million) and Aaron Jones ($3 million). That's a total of $21.4 million)
Breaking up the Smith Brothers - It had to happen. As much as we love Za'Darius, unfortunately for him, his injury last year showed the Packers that the defense could be fine without him, assuming there were no other significant losses among the starters. On the other hand, Preston Smith proved his value once again as a steady, reliable, available, well-rounded edge player and a nice compliment to budding star Rashan Gary. Extending P Smith was a no-brainer and saved 8 million on the cap.
Tagging Davante Adams - There was no way Rodgers was coming back if he didn't feel fairly sure Adams would be back. Tagging him gave the Packers more time to work out an extension, something they surely will do by the July 15 deadline. Ironically, however, waiting until then may work out best for Adams, if other teams go all-in overpaying other lesser wide receivers.
Cutting Billy Turner - This is likely a surprise to may people, but not to me. I'm still railing over the Packers not going with Yosh in the playoff game and instead throwing a still hurting, first game back from injury Turner in at left tackle, when Yosh had been doing a fine job. I believe in Yosh. I think the Packers do also, despite that bad panicky decision. Yosh will be the Packers' right tackle at the start of next season, unless somehow Jenkins makes it back and they want to use him there. Not likely.
Tenderizing a Lizard - Allen Lazard received a $3.9 million 2nd round restricted free agent tender. Any team wanting to sign Lazard to a better contract would have to give the Packers a second round pick if the Packers decided not to match. It's highly doubtful another team would be willing to do that.
Surprise:
Rodgers - I'll still rate this as a surprise overall, as months ago I would have bet large sums on Rodgers being done in Green Bay. Mostly because of what I thought the Packers would have to do to their team in order to keep him and Adams. And yes, I do consider them attached at the hip, no matter how much Gutey says they are two separate situations. But the front office and coach knows their only chance of getting back to the Super Bowl in the coming few years is with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, regardless of not getting there with him the last three seasons. This move saved $18 million in cap space.
The tradeoff for cap savings now: If Aaron Rodgers retires or the #Packers move on after the 2023 season, they would have a $68.205 million dead cap hit on the books in 2024. https://t.co/su8MOA6evy
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 15, 2022
Campbell - An absolute fabulous and most pleasant surprise. Could you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine the pre-Gutey Packers signing an inside linebacker to a five year $50 million contract? Imagine five (or whatever) more years of us not having to bitch about not having a decent inside linebacker? It's happening, people. It's HAPPENING!
Bing! it's Crosby - I was assuming when the Packers signed two other kickers to the roster, it would be goodbye to Mason in another cost-cutting move.. All indications, however, are that Crosby and his $4.7 million dollar salary will be back in 2022.
It appears the Packers are keeping kicker Mason Crosby. At this point, there's no change in his status or his contract, a source said. He's scheduled to make $3.4 million with a cap charge of $4.735M.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) March 15, 2022
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__________________________
"Jersey Al" Bracco is the Editor-In-Chief, part owner and wearer of many hats for CheeseheadTV.com and PackersTalk.com. He is also a recovering Mason Crosby truther. Follow Al on twitter at @JerseyalGBP.
__________________________
Comments (145)
Savage57
March 16, 2022 at 06:22 am
That $68M dead cap hit for Rodgers scenario has to have Ted rolling over in his grave. He would have rather eaten his young than dead cap money.
Since the '21 season was the last dance, then '22 has to be the last, last dance, and it follows that '23 and '24 will be their consecutive successors. Absent any rings, fans will be more than fed up with dancing.
If the Packers do manage to find their way to a Lombardi, Russ Ball will deserve as much credit as anyone.
x24
March 16, 2022 at 08:59 am
$68M cap hit? "What's posterity ever done for me?" apparently...
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 09:42 am
Agree, Savage. The Packers have taken on a gigantic, variable rate 5 year mortgage with a huge balloon payment coming at them in a few years. If the Packers do win a Lombardi in the next few years, Ball will get a lot of the credit. And if they do not, he will heft a lot of the blame.
It seems the Exec. Committee and Murphy are all cool with it. It better work. There is NO room for failure. None.
Rodgers and his fickle personality has agonized over retirement for the last two years. Now he can threaten retirement and release the $68 million guillotine at any time if he does not get his way.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 10:42 am
We actually have a doable out in 2024 (save 16 pay 24). If we don't win this year, "the horror, the horror".
Swisch
March 16, 2022 at 04:39 pm
Even more sad is that the dance seems to be almost exclusively Rodgers and Adams fixated on each other and adding to each other's stats.
So, $50 million per season to the quarterback, $30 million to the wide receiver, and all the other players just stand around watching their lovefest -- while scrambling for opportunities to touch the ball, smidgens of attention, and the scraps of money left over.
Not likely a Super Bowl win in that bromance, either. It only takes two to tango, but 53 to win a title.
The Packers are ruining our future for what appears to be two guys in a warped relationship with each other on the field, when they're not wrapped up in themselves.
Our management team looks to me like a bunch of fools for focusing so much on this duo to the diminishment and detriment of all the other players.
I've had a lot of confidence in the Packers without Rodgers and Adams; it seems that management regards them dismissively.
Meanwhile, is there anyone who cares about the fans?
Spock
March 16, 2022 at 07:03 am
Al, I always look forward to this column. You've hit on all the highlights (and some lowlights, lol). I think most fans were shocked at the OL assembled for the playoff game. As predicted by TGR and other contributors all of the "dominoes" are falling for cap space. I wasn't happy with the decision to "rob Peter to pay Paul" and retain Rodgers at enormous future cost, but I'll still be rooting for the PACKERS this year! I think after all the problems with "The Operation" i.e. long snapping, place holding & blockers coming in seemingly untouched that the FO decided to give Crosby the benefit of the doubt for an outlier performance last season and appear ready to keep him for at least one more season (we will see what happens in training camp.) Thanks again for the weekly synopsis that this column provides. Well done.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 10:40 am
I'm still annoyed by those short kickoffs. There are some good college kickers available in later rounds. Why is Cobb still on our roster and not Douglas !
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 11:55 am
That is a great question. My hope is they are using Cobb's cap hit and salary as ammo to keep Douglas...and if he signs, Cobb may be gone.
Cobb is a good player and teammate, but Douglas has more value to the team as the 3rd (and usually starting) CB...and this year in the slot where I believe Barry thinks can be his "star" in the slot.
Since'61
March 16, 2022 at 01:57 pm
Cobb has a contract and Douglas doesn't. I'm not sure what our cap hit would be if we released Cobb. TGR probably has the details. Thanks, Since '61
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 05:35 pm
2.7 cap hit 6.7 cap savings. Bring on Douglas and we could have the best defensive backfield in the NFL.
Houndog
March 16, 2022 at 07:16 am
The $68M dead cap hit is a really scary thought, I don't imagine Rodgers as another Brady.
How much will they save when they cut Love? And then, maybe he'll have a good preseason, look like an NFL hopeful, and they can get a 3th or 4th round pick for him.
ricky
March 16, 2022 at 01:22 pm
Cutting Love would give the Packers $7.3 million in dead cap, and $4 million in cap savings. But then, you'd have to sign a veteran backup QB, one who doesn't know the system, players, or coaches. And his salary would probably eat up the entire cap savings. Cheaper and easier to keep Love around.
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 07:18 am
Basically, the Packers are hitched to ARod until he's decided he's done. Three years minimum. Don't get me wrong: he's a great thrower of the football and still among the best 6-8 QBs in the game, but the cap machinations required to make a guy who's going to be 39 next season the highest paid player in the game are mind-boggling. Get ready for annual "will he or won't he" retirement talk for the next 2-3 off-seasons...the Packers will have no choice but to ride out that storm.
I'm surprised on the Crosby decision unless their plan is to see how he performs and make a decision then (post Jun 1). The savings don't change dramatically, though.
MainePackFan
March 16, 2022 at 07:39 am
Or perhaps AR means what he had been saying for years. That he wanted to play into his mid 40's and wanted to finish his career with the Packers. I'm still trying to decipher his contract.
Sure looks like 2022 and 2023 are fully guaranteed at $101.4 million. It looks like the language changes in 24/25/26. Too bad Russ Ball doesn't do interviews. I'd love to hear him break this down, because frankly, most of these reporters don't understand it any better than I do :)
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 09:09 am
"Or perhaps AR means what he had been saying for years."
I say lots of things and want lots of things, but very few of them are good for my marriage or financial bottom line.
MainePackFan
March 16, 2022 at 09:48 am
I guess both Rodgers and the Packers agreed not to go through a messy divorce regardless of their financial bottom line ;)
Coldworld
March 17, 2022 at 05:56 am
Rodgers’ bottom line is fine at this point.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 11:04 am
I wanted that Corvette for many years, but settled for an excellent diecast model instead.
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 12:20 pm
The fuel economy is excellent!
mrtundra
March 16, 2022 at 08:16 am
Could they wait until camp gets here to make a decision on Crosby? Especially if one of the other Kickers on the squad shows something?
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 08:52 am
I think this is the likely route re: Crosby. He doesn't have a big roster bonus or anything that they would need to swallow if they wait on that decision.
...but if his accuracy is going to struggle, they can likely have similar struggles with a guy who can get touchbacks on KOs 98% of the time. That goes a long way toward improving special teams and cutting down on KO injuries.
13TimeChamps
March 16, 2022 at 09:27 am
Other than that wacky Detroit game years ago, Crosby has been as solid as a rock for the Packers and appears to be loved and respected by his teammates. Because of that, I think the team feels he at least deserves a chance to compete in camp, particularly considering all he had to deal with last year...new holder, new midseason long snapper, a horrendous right side of the line that made every kick an adventure.
I, for one, hope he makes it and has a great year. But it'll take more than sentiment. If more of the same (last year's struggles) shows up in training camp, I'm sure GB will move on.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 05:36 pm
Mostly, agree, but with cap issues, age, and declining performance it might make sense to act now as to not be sorry later.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 11:28 am
Isn’t he Rodgers golfing buddy? It looks like we are retaining Cobb, I can’t see Crosby going regardless of whether he should.
13TimeChamps
March 16, 2022 at 11:47 am
You don't think he deserves at least a chance to compete in camp this year? That comes with no guarantees if it looks like he has, in fact, declined.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 12:44 pm
I was not attempting to say that at all. I agree that RB should evaluate him. I was just saying that I can’t see him being one they will move on from now, even if another option is moderately better. If they were going to, it would probably be today to help get cap down.
Swisch
March 16, 2022 at 04:55 pm
More good commentary, 13TimeChamps.
Unlike Rodgers, Crosby comes through consistently in the clutch.
He finished strong last year in the regular season and playoffs.
I'd think long and hard about giving up on a guy who has been so good for so long. Much like a closer in baseball, a kicker is often the difference between an exhilarating win and a devastating loss at the end of a hard-fought game. That's almost priceless.
Actually, it seems ludicrous to pinch pennies for a dignified winner in Crosby while breaking the bank for a diva loser in Rodgers.
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 09:52 am
If I was head coach, I would want Bisaccia to evaluate Crosby's kicking and see if his disastrous season was due to a physical decline (happens to every human) or if Drayton's coaching disfunction discombobulated him.
I really like Mason as a player and team leader. If Bisaccia can reclaim Crosby's past kicking excellence...hooray. It is going to be a competitive ST camp, all around.
stockholder
March 16, 2022 at 07:30 am
Watson, Tannehill, Ryan, Mahomes, Cousins, And Goff. ( were all ahead of Rodgers per cap hits.) And Kirk Cousins @ 45,166,668 is a Joke. It’s a Done Deal now. He’s coming back! Bitch , Bitch, Bitch. All you want people. You have to pay the NFL MVP. ( And the best packer QB in their history. ). Is Devante Adams better than a QB? After all. 30 mil. Gets you three re-signed players. I wouldn’t give him more then the Tag price. He’s Lucky to be a Packer. And by the time you break down his receptions. It could end up @500 Gs Per catch. Not to mention the YAC regression. I’m good with Crosby.
HawkPacker
March 16, 2022 at 07:56 am
'Watson, Tannehill, Ryan, Mahomes, Cousins, And Goff. ( were all ahead of Rodgers per cap hits.)' Stockholder, I take it you mean for 2022 and not the entirety of the contract!
Regarding Adams, I am not too excited about overpaying him either but he is right near the top of the WR's as far as skill set, etc. But you need to understand that there is more to Adams than just the number of catches such as, he takes a lot of pressure off of the other receivers and to a certain extent the running backs as well. I don't know on the locker room presence though.
Bure9620
March 16, 2022 at 08:46 am
Stockholder. They just went all in...twice...If the Packers now do not win a Super Bowl with Rodgers it is all a complete waste now. The Love pick too. I see it as an impossibility for the Packers to have as strong of a roster as the last 2 years.. Player/GM will beef to actually show up in the playoffs for them to have any chance
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 08:50 am
They will need to be injury free and hit on draft picks at an unsustainable rate.
What are they changing to get this team over the hump?
Minniman
March 16, 2022 at 12:45 pm
Your injury free comment cannot be understated - the return of Bakh, Jenkins and Myers’s to the o-line stabilises things markedly better.
If no other team swoops in with mega $$$ - I see Tonyan coming back - and hopefully Douglas. Mercilus is another player that could be a complimentary role player too.
This is a good Edge and WR year for the draft. I see the Packers loading up in these positions.
So in offering an answer to your question, it’s possible for the Packers to have a great draft - providing that they pick to the drafts strengths.
Minniman
March 16, 2022 at 01:13 pm
Addit: I also like the fact that Preston Smith got extended. For no other reason that he went team friendly both last year and this, and may well end up financially better off for it in the long run.
I'll be taking a casual interest in how he and Z fare over the coming years. I don't begrudge Z's position...... but sometimes I feel that the Agents act in the best interest of themselves and not the player.
stockholder
March 16, 2022 at 08:13 pm
Z signed with Balt. again.
dobber
March 17, 2022 at 07:37 am
I wish him well.
Minniman
March 17, 2022 at 01:00 pm
There were whispers going around even last year that they were both eyeing each other off for a return.
If the cap situation were better then for sure he's a high candidate keeper.
I think that his BAL contract is "up to $50M" - meaning its incentives laden - which would be about right for a guy that has had a significant back injury.
I personally still like Mercilus for the Packers right here, right now as that situational pass rusher for this coming year.
murf7777
March 16, 2022 at 09:19 am
Bure....it seems like many fans have gotten what they've wanted, "all-in" over the years and now don't like it. It started with the 4 big FA signings 3 years ago.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 11:20 am
All in when they had plenty of cap space.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 11:31 am
Bring fleeced to buy a ticket for a Super Bowl already played.
WestCoastPackerBacker
March 16, 2022 at 02:45 pm
I don’t get the idea that it is a complete waste if the trophy doesn’t end up in Green Bay. They are fielding the best team they can during the final years of one of the best quarterbacks ever to play the game. They pretty much have to go all in, regardless of the ultimate outcome. Even if the trophy doesn’t come home to Titletown, we will have the opportunity to watch some brilliant offensive football for at least another season or two. I am thrilled about that, and will not consider it a waste if injuries or a bad game derail the final goal. I’m guessing there are going to be many seasons of irrelevant once number 12 retires, so I’m going to enjoy those back shoulder throws, those making something out of nothing, those broken play touchdowns, those magic thread the needle throws, for as long as we can.
Oppy
March 16, 2022 at 06:05 pm
" I’m guessing there are going to be many seasons of irrelevant once number 12 retires"
It's no guess, it's a fact, and it's only a fact because the Packers are selling the future to keep Rodgers around in the present.
stockholder
March 16, 2022 at 08:16 pm
Maybe that 27 Love scored on his wonderlic test; has more to do with this than we thought.
The_Baloney_Stops_Here
March 16, 2022 at 10:03 pm
You act like 27 is a bad score. Thats still well the above average score of 20. Theres been starting qbs with wonderlic scores in the teens.
Coldworld
March 17, 2022 at 06:00 am
Favre had a 22. He had a decent career, if I recall.
Oppy
March 17, 2022 at 03:39 pm
I don't think you understand what 27 on the wonderlic represents.
Also, if you watched love under assault vs. KC, one thing that actually stood out was that he always knew where his relief valves were while he was under duress and was actually quite savvy in getting rid of the ball under extreme pressure without putting the ball in jeopardy- something young QBs typically aren't able to do with regularity, and it indicated he understands the offense and knows where eligible targets are going to be even before they're into their routes.
edp1959
March 17, 2022 at 05:40 am
.
edp1959
March 17, 2022 at 05:40 am
Is it a "guarantee"? HAHAHAHAHA.....
ROCK ON REAL PACKERS FANS!!!
Oppy
March 17, 2022 at 03:40 pm
Does drool leave the corner of your mouth while you breathe?
NickPerry
March 16, 2022 at 07:35 am
"The tradeoff for cap savings now: If Aaron Rodgers retires or the #Packers move on after the 2023 season, they would have a $68.205 million dead cap hit on the books in 2024."
This was, is, and always has been my issue for signing Rodgers and not TRADING him. Okay, we saved $18 million this year but SO WHAT. Once again, IT WAS ABOUT THE MONEY..
HawkPacker
March 16, 2022 at 07:59 am
Hey NP. It's always about the money!
I was certainly not opposed to moving on from him this year but I really have to defer to the FO on this argument. If you look at the big picture and look 5, 10 or more years down the road, I am thinking (hoping) we look back to having one of the greatest quarterbacks ever play for us over his entire career. Hopefully, he gets us to the Super Bowl but of course, there are no guarantees.
croatpackfan
March 16, 2022 at 08:25 am
Your facts is wrong. The best QB ever played in the game is Tom Brady. For Packers is still Bart Starr. Aaron Rodgers is way behind him in personality matter.
HawkPacker
March 16, 2022 at 10:51 am
Please note that I said 'one of the greatest' and personalities don't necessarily win ball games.
croatpackfan
March 17, 2022 at 04:01 am
If you do not possess some crucial personal characteristics, you'll never be the leader. Not even for yourself.
One small note about Aaron Rodgers - the last loss we was able to see him sitting uninterested on the bench while he was not in the game (heck, he looked uninterested even when he was on the field). Do you call that a great leadership? When game is at turning point, you would expect the leader to stay at the field and cheer for D of the team he should be leader. In the last 10 years I never ever saw AR doing that.
When you are not playing mind games with the other members of the organization, but you speak the truth as you know it, you can say some really hard critics to anyone on the team and be seen as positive and leader among the others. The other way produce just crap inside the member of the team.
Tingham
March 16, 2022 at 10:58 am
Croat. I am one of Bart Starr's biggest fans ever. I grew up in Chicago in the 60's and 70's. A close family friend lived directly across the street from Starr's. So once a year we would go up to GB, sit with Bart and his family on Saturday, and then go to the game on Sunday. I agree character matters and Bart is the most genuine man I have ever met.
But for quarterback play Rodgers is far better.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 11:10 am
Rodgers, Favre and perhaps others were more talented physically. Arguably they were more so than Brady. Starr and Brady though were winners at a level far beyond both. In the end that’s the object of sport.
It’s not how you get there but whether you do, even allowing for Brady going too far). That’s why Starr outshone them all, including Brady, on field as well as off. It’s not even close.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 11:31 am
The avoidance of wide open receivers in the last game was the end of my patience. However, what's done is done, and I love the Pack. I would love for the D to be dominant this year, or/and a healthy O line helping our two good backs take over games. This could go a long way to finally achieving a SB win.
BirdDogUni
March 16, 2022 at 11:38 am
Hear, hear!
Now this we agree on.
I was lucky enough to meet Bart Starr in Fort Dodge, Iowa in 1968, at a "Fellowship of Christian Athletes" program.
One of my greatest memories as a child. (Carroll Dale was there too.)
Tom Brady, Brett Favre, or Aaron Rodgers couldn't carry Bart's jock, as a person or QB.
wildbill
March 16, 2022 at 06:42 pm
Starr would eating these defenses up in his prime.
Coldworld
March 17, 2022 at 06:03 am
A lot tougher to play QB in those days too.
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 12:05 pm
I would argue even Jeff George's "quarterback play" was better than Starr. But George was a team cancer in the locker room everywhere he played. Bart led by example and his respect among his teammates and coaches was off the charts. Even more, Lombardi relied on Starr's leadership and designed an offense that relied as much on Starr's smarts and play calls (he called his own plays) as much as his arm.
Bart was a QB who LED the team to greatness, on and off the field. In a team sport, leadership is the great equalizer.
MainePackFan
March 16, 2022 at 08:40 am
Well stated HP.
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 08:55 am
I will be perfectly happy, if they win one or (God help us) two SBs over the remainder of ARod's run to stand up and say management did a good job of managing this situation--I'll hate the cap aftermath, but they will have succeeded in attaining the goal. That's what they're paid to do.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 11:39 am
One SB win could definitely save this fiasco for me, but the pressure to do so has increased two fold. 2023 could be a nightmare akin to being locked up in a one room cabin in the middle of Ukraine with your ex wife.
MainePackFan
March 16, 2022 at 08:25 am
I'm not so sure. If I understand this correctly (and I probably don't) they were already on the hook for $46.6M this year plus the dead cap hit of $7.7M in 2023.
If the only fully guaranteed money is $101.4M over the next 2 years, and $54.3M was already committed money, that's only $47.1M added guaranteed money over the 2 years.
To me, it looks like there is a pause before the 2024 season where the two sides can reevaluate where they are at. If that's true (and that might not be case), then this was about finishing his career with the Packers, and playing as long as he is productive.
One thing I think everyone can agree on, regardless of how you feel about Rodgers, is that he has too big of an ego to continue playing if he is shell of himself. Money, in my opinion, is not his motivation.
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 08:59 am
This is where we disagree. How many times over the course of his career has he signed a monster contract/extension that has made him the highest paid player? I think this is now 4 (I might be wrong and it might be 3). Whatever the case, those extensions have been preceded by a period of "ARod is unhappy with his deal" and as I recall he politicked for those big numbers in the year leading up two of those extensions.
ARod has always measured his status in the league in dollars. Team-friendly? Maybe only in the sense that he's giving relief to the team's cap. He's still getting his and bleeding the organization.
MainePackFan
March 16, 2022 at 10:24 am
I don't recall AR making a major stink about his contracts over the years. He may have, but I don't recall him taking the type of public stance for example that Devante is currently taking.
Back to back MVP's will get paid in the NFL it didn't have to come from the Packers. If it was all about the money he could have forced a trade to a team that was in a better place regarding the cap (Denver).
Looking at this contract with my "Salary Cap for Dummy's" book opened wide, I see the Packers paying market value for a QB for the next 2 years and a QB that wants to finish his career where he started.
I appreciate the cordial discussion dobber. Agreeing to disagree is essential to any debate.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 11:58 am
I haven't heard any complaining from Adams, especially when compared to AR's offseason fiasco. Here it is in a nut shell: the earliest that we can release him is in 2024 with a 24 mill cap hit, add in an often injured Cobb's 8 mill for added appeasing pleasure. I just thought we needed to go in a different direction.
MainePackFan
March 16, 2022 at 01:31 pm
Pete, can you explain the 24M cap hit in 2024? I'm trying figure out how this all works. I obviously don't have a life :)
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 01:46 pm
Bonus and guaranteed money has to be spread out over many years as a way to decrease cap hit. I use a web site called Spotrac.com to get contract info. It's not perfect but it does clear up some of these complicated contracts.
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 12:22 pm
Agreed!
I'll leave the name-calling and hair-pulling to others...
Archie
March 16, 2022 at 07:37 am
Rodgers took Russ Ball and the GBP front office to the cleaners. If for any reason, AR doen't play for the Pack in '23, they are financially sunk. Heck, they may be even if he does play for them.
Guam
March 16, 2022 at 07:43 am
The $68 million in dead money cap hit is huge, but I heard an ESPN talking head state that the league believes the cap will be going up 20% in 2023 and another 20% in 2024 due to the new television contracts. That is $40+ million increase each year in the cap. That will go a long way toward paying for Rodgers' contract and allowing the Packers to keep their young stars as well.
I have no way of knowing whether this assertion is true about the upcoming cap increases, but it does explain some of what the front office has been doing this offseason.
HawkPacker
March 16, 2022 at 08:02 am
Guam that will definitely help but don't you think now that the teams have more money to spend, they will spend that money resigning FA's etc. at a higher cost? The competition for these players will drive up the amount of money paid to these players which only makes sense. Then at some point we will be at the same place as we are now.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 11:17 am
Last time FA and new contract costs anticipated the rise in the cap as soon as it was known. I’d argue that has already started now, albeit in the early phases, by next year it will be accelerated.
Guam
March 16, 2022 at 11:47 am
HawkPacker: No question that a rising cap will escalate player contracts in general. The Packers just got an early start on the process. The rising cap (if true) will accommodate most of the Packers current contracts but will not allow them to play much in the free agent market or otherwise improve the team.
The rising cap may well allow the Packers to avoid financial disaster in future years, but I am not optimistic the presently constituted team is good enough to win a Super Bowl. They haven't for the last three years and will not get materially better over the next few years with no spare cap space. So I would still question the front office decision to invest so heavily in Rodgers/Adams, particularly given the truckload Seattle got from Denver for Wilson. But the Packers will win lots of regular season games over the next three years......
Coldworld
March 17, 2022 at 06:15 am
The cap is 208 million this year. So a 20 percent increase is 249 million and another 20 percent takes it to about 300 million
Actually, projections I’ve seen suggest the big increases really won’t start till a year later in 2024, but anyway, on your timescale and numbers, that’s an increase of 92 million.
Look at Rodgers and others’ new deals and project Alexander and Adams and that means our cap is effectively spent already.
By 2025 on your figures we will have a team playing on 2/3 of the available cap of competitors!
dobber
March 17, 2022 at 07:29 am
This is spot on. If you're going to commit those dollars, you have to be 100% right on your commitments. Maybe we're wrong...maybe the league is shifting in this direction overall, and the Packers just happen to be on the leading edge. I don't think (and, really I hope) this is the case, though. Extended cap dollars are going to eventually eat into ownership's ability to be competitive and maximize those dollars--they'll quash or cap this process at some point.
I thumbs-upped this because it's such a great summation, but I sure don't "like" it.
Thegreatreynoldo
March 17, 2022 at 04:04 pm
I think that progression in cap growth would "solve" a lot of problems. Maybe not make them go away or never come into being, but $300M in 2024 and what, $360M in 2025 would make the dead money on AR's deal look, well awful, but ... words fail me. Tired.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 09:40 am
Our cap isn’t going up now, it’s going to Rodgers during and after his stay. I’m not surprised we are keeping Crosby now Rodgers is back. Those two are close. The more interesting question is whether Cobb is retained, so far he is still with us I believe.
I don’t see this team being better this year overall than last year. Health may help with Alexander, maybe Campbell can repeat both health and performance. I’m certainly happy he is back. Stokes will hopefully avoid a sophomore slump and further develop, but we need ready-to-play help on the D line as well as depth there, at LB and S.
On O, we look like losing our speed and will now have to see if we buckle to Adams. If we do, we’ve precious little left to sign for FAs and probably a significant chunk added to future dead money. If we don’t then Rodgers is playing with a Lazard led O, rookies and maybe EQ and a few bargain types signed in late summer. The guy he serially ignored when it matters, a player who managed 19 receptions and who? Yes, we have a good RB room, but that hardly helps justify paying the fortune to Rodgers and LaFleur has to use it.
I made it clear yesterday that I believe that the team ceded control to Rodgers in quite the most craven way I could imagine. I think that ought to be pretty obvious to most. Despite that, I hear people convincing themselves that this team is a legitimate contender with no Z and a plethora of rookies in skill positions on O. Our depth looks to be going to be weaker as well.
Al, I share your faith in Nijman. Yet we still had a head coach who (or was it Rodgers?) sat him, moved Patrick and inserted Myers in favor of going with an improving Newman. Both of those look just as regrettable decisions as Nijman/Turner. Let’s be honest, LaFleur has consistently negatively surprised when it counts.
We still have that HC. Other than a true ST Coordinator, we havnt really answered how we anticipate an O led by Rodgers and Adams will out perform the one they previously led to defeat. Our best performer the year before, MVS, Is now elsewhere probably and where is our deep threat? A rookie?
Overall, this smacks of a move based upon hope, an aging core and a total lack of ideas. What on earth makes people think that that’s a winning recipe generally or that this is plausibly going to allow us to overcome the likes of the Bucs or 49er Ds, even if Rodgers and Adams stay healthy? Arguably our D looks stronger on paper than the O, yet we paid Rodgers a kings ransom. That’s this year too: the available cap gets more miserly in years 2 and 3 as our high priced vets eat growth and more, even excluding Adams. We won’t see net cap growth till maybe 2026.
None of this adds up on and off the field without a truck load of blind hope. Rodgers made out like a bandit and the FO now is held hostage. I firmly believe that this will go down as a worse decision than the Hadl trade and I think it’s clearer why to anyone who look at it objectively. I’ve only touched on some of the contradictions and incongruities here.
I will still read your excellent pieces, but I’m otherwise stepping back from investing in a team that’s lost touch with reality on and off the field. This season is it’s best shot, pretty unlikely, but it’s not getting easier and scorched earth is now definitely coming at the end of three years or before if injury or whim strikes Rodgers. My only hope is that it takes the HC and FO with it. Sadly, that’s what those behind this deserve. Rodgers will never be anyone other than the man who broke the bank at Lambeau for me. The FO team the ones that took the Packers back to the 80s.
I will always root for the Packers: it’s ingrained, but I can’t root for this leadership now, or see Rodgers as anyone other than one who took all he could get under the guise of being a a lifelong Packer: franchise health be damned. That the FO allowed this should be to their eternal shame. No miracle draft fixes this. If we don’t win it this year (highly unlikely if one takes emotion out of it) I expect others to start fanning the flames that will hopefully eventually sanitize the pile of ordure that Murphy has laid.
So for those who are tired of negativity, I will largely vacate the space until there’s hope of the shoots of a positive direction in Lambeau, after the slow withering now set in motion.
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 10:11 am
CW, if that was your Swan Song, it was a good one. I hope it is not. I enjoy your analysis and agree with most of it...logic and facts over emotion and narratives.
Hang around. Need you for the draft commentary.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 11:01 am
Just less of my thoughts not total departure. I enjoy reading perspectives of many here and the pieces by Al, Dusty, TGR in particular. However, I’m not going to spend my life debating Rodgers plus LaFleur plus a thinner roster = plausible chance at a Lombardi, or that having a past MVP plus the same does either. That’s just daft. It also ignores the time tested maxim that teams don’t win on past glories but future performance (especially those who couldn’t win during them).
I still hope that we have a blockbuster draft, because some of those may help us when we hit the wilderness and I will still enjoy their play. However, we crossed a bridge too far this year and it’s going to be painful for all I believe. Rodgers at least will have his millions, but will he really be loved in Wisconsin after? I’m pretty sure Murphy and co. will be outcasts future fans use to scare their children.
BirdDogUni
March 16, 2022 at 10:38 am
OMG - I'm so excited we have our 4-time MVP back to lead our team to the promised land!
; P
I can't wait to overpay our 30 yr old WR for past performance either. Lol
While I understand your angst, I also figure, wt%, it's not our money, and I know Gutey and Company are just trying to do what they think will get us another Championship, sooner rather than later.
For years everyone bitched about wasting ARs career by not going all in. Gutey is going all in until Rodgers retires.
Hell, I almost expect him to use future draft capital to increase the odds of success the next couple seasons.
They've fired their shot... Now we have to live with their decisions, even if we don't agree with them. I'm just hoping they truly do go all in and swing for the fences!
No half measures now, what would be the point.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 11:05 am
We have enough half-witted measures already. More would be superfluous. The damage is done, both in prior years and now for years to come. While it’s tempting to deny, it’s better not to have to. That requires looking at this dispassionately. Faith can move mountains, but mountains can crush one entirely.
stockholder
March 16, 2022 at 12:01 pm
You think the damage is done. I say the FO knows what they're doing with Rodgers. Like I stated. If Gute doesn't trade Love, it will be a mistake. (This draft ) Rodgers salary cap will be absorbed by another QB. (If he Retires/Adams). If he signs Adams beyond this year it will be a mistake. With Rodgers 68 mil. And Alexander wanting to be the top paid CB now. You have to let Adams go/Trade. And Gary is coming.(So- Bahk must produce) MVS can be replaced per draft. You must stretch the field. That won't happen with Adams. We all know it. They must draft a deep threat. Regardless of his percentage to catch the ball. And one who can get off the Offensive Line.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 01:21 pm
So now you tell me Gute knows what he is doing! If only you had told me before I’d not have been so shocked by what he’s just been part of!
BirdDogUni
March 16, 2022 at 01:24 pm
Mountains are stationary... Kind of like your attitude. Lol
Move on.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 03:27 pm
So better to hope for the best than open one’s eyes to what’s staring you in the face? I will stick with what I see in great detail, not what I wish I could. Watch out for the sand in your ears.
BirdDogUni
March 16, 2022 at 03:52 pm
Dude - You know we both want the same thing right? A Super Bowl winning team. I am hoping for the best. Shouldn't you be hoping for the best too? Lol
Low crawling in sand is definitely no fun, so I will forego that. I'm too old to be low crawling at all. I'm also too old to worry about how much money AR/DA make. Just don't care what they make. Yes, it affects the Packers Cap situation, but there's nothing I can do about it, so why worry about it?
The Packers will field a team and play games and I hope we win each one. Hope is a powerful thing. It gets many people through their days.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 07:26 pm
I know BDU, but the team isn’t just the men on the field in reality, unfortunately. I will indeed be happy if you are right. I just struggle to believe in that miracle.
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 09:11 am
When I was a kid, I got paid $20/month to milk cows on the family farm. I could do whatever I wanted to with that money. My parents would also allow us to borrow against future months if we wanted to for special purchases. I remember one year, I decided I needed a new bike--super cool road bike. So in mid-summer, I was cash strapped, but borrowed against the next 5 months to buy the bike. I was really happy to have the bike and enjoy it...but when Christmas time came, I only had $20 to buy Christmas presents (needless to say with 8 brothers and sisters everyone got shitty presents) and everyone else had months of money they'd managed to do that AND buy their usual fun kid things.
Is there a moral to the story? Yeah. Bikes suck.
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 10:13 am
Was that bike a Rodgers Roadster?
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 12:23 pm
It was a "doesn't like dirtroads very much" casualty...
Leatherhead
March 16, 2022 at 01:11 pm
I had a flying saucer. I got it for Christmas. It was a circular piece of metal with two handgrips and you slid down a hill on it. No brakes, no effective steering, no passenger protection. A toy.
We had a good hill for sliding, and I slid a lot. It was fun. But there was another hill nearby, much more challenging. Bigger, steeper, lot of trees and rocks to get in your way. And it beckoned me, until one day I said, "What the Hell" and gave it a try.
I knew it was a bad move. I knew it was probably going to end badly. But the ride was so exciting it's the one I remember 50 years later. This is not the direction I would have taken the team this season, but I'll enjoy the ride nonetheless.
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 02:31 pm
Almost every town has that "suicide hill" that kids go sledding on (we had a huge hill in one of our pastures with a barbed-wire fence and a ditch at the bottom), and invariably some would end up with concussions or broken bones because there were stationary obstacles--trees, usually--on the hills.
Here's hoping for no trees or barbed wire fences in the Packers' 2022 season!
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 10:03 am
The increased cap means nothing for the competitiveness of the Packers vs 31 other teams who will have that additional $40 mil in cap to attract and keep their best players.
The Packers will have to let many of their top player contracts expire and let them walk. And to replace them they will need to hit big in the draft and fill holes with cheap FAs.
For better or worse, the pressure is not just on the FO, it is also on MLF and his coaching staff. As top players leave, the coaches will be held accountable to coach replacements up...and do so with increasingly inferior talent.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 10:50 am
If we don’t win it all this year, our chances will never be that high again. If we lose in December or January, the realization will hit many here who are currently trying to hope or genuinely believe that having the MVP of the last two years = plausible Lombardi trophy hopes. Maybe a few more will also realize that it’s not just Rodgers but LaFleur plus MVP plus roster that has failed. If we don’t make the playoffs it will be far more incendiary.
If we don’t win this year, questions will be loud and pointed. Rodgers is now a fixture unless he retires, which would be Armageddon. Who will they scapegoat? The obvious answer is they can’t blame Rodgers without indicting themselves. That makes LaFleur the only option.
I might think that the signs are he deserved much more scrutiny this year. Next year he might just be the sacrificial lamb even if he improves but not enough to reach the summit, even if injuries or other factors that make the difference.
That said, given the total submission to Rodgers in the face of significant questions about the structural cost, this FO might just ignore that as well and seemingly pretend it’s bad luck. No confidence in them. I just think fewer will drink the Kool Aid, and that might force coaching change.
LaFleur perhaps should have thought about what he wished for. The guy who couldn’t win with Rodgers.
SanLobo
March 16, 2022 at 12:30 pm
“ The increased cap means nothing for the competitiveness of the Packers vs 31 other teams who will have that additional $40 mil in cap to attract and keep their best players.”
No. Rodgers has been made the highest paid player in the NFL, what…four times. Somebody else got more usually within a couple months after he signed his contract. Deshaun Watson is already asking for more than Rodgers. Green Bay’s actions aren’t taken in a vacuum and their contracts are used in the mix as players across the league see each as parts to setting the standard for everyone else. Sure some teams will have more cap, but the teams with the most available cap are usually, normally, generally, less competitive. Others will increase costs to fill the available budget.
Oppy
March 16, 2022 at 06:26 pm
Teams that keep a balanced ledger (pay as they go cap management) will have a clear advantage as cap increases in subsequent seasons; it will be new, freely available cap space.
The Packers are effectively leveraging that future cap space to pay for contracts today. So when the cap increases by $20M, it's already spent on the players the Packers already gave contracts to in years past. The Packers won't have found money to help sign a new free agent or to extend the player they've drafted and developed who's shopping the market for his 2nd contract. The teams that pay as they go? They've got found money. They now have a clear advantage over a team like the Packers.
I don't know how you can spin this. Nobody is talking about penny-pinching teams who linger near the cap floor to save the owner's pocketbook. We're talking about the cap expanding and fiscally responsible teams actually having new money to spend, while the Packers will have to pay past debts instead of invest in new talent or new contracts for good players.
SanLobo
March 16, 2022 at 08:07 pm
I’m not spinning anything. The assertion was 31 other teams would be in a better position than the Packers. 31 other teams. No, there will always be some other teams going deeper in debt, making someone the “highest paid player,” going “all in” while they believe they have the pieces to make it happen. That was my point.
Oppy
March 17, 2022 at 03:45 pm
I guess it's this part where you clearly are stating that teams that don't spend near their maxium cap space are usually worse off than teams that spend most of their cap space is the part that made me think your point was that the packers not having a lot of cap space in the future was going to be a good thing. Surely you can see my confusion.
"Sure some teams will have more cap, but the teams with the most available cap are usually, normally, generally, less competitive. Others will increase costs to fill the available budget."
SanLobo
March 18, 2022 at 01:45 pm
Oppy, as a 3-star general once told Captain me, words have meaning. I wrote, “teams with the most available cap are usually, normally, generally, less competitive.” That would mean I am talking about the teams with the MOST cap space. They are the guys spending the very least on their team…like the bottom 5 to 10. You somehow translated that to mean, “teams that don’t spend close to their cap.” The opposite of what I said…and then you quote from my comment and still misread it somehow.
Oppy
March 17, 2022 at 03:47 pm
... and it's not about Rodgers being the highest paid player, he's been that on many contracts at signing. It's about the fact that it's such a large amount now, that the only way the Packers can field a competitive team around him now is by selling out the future.
dobber
March 17, 2022 at 07:36 am
In the end, the Packers will have to be well above league average in finding talent in the draft and through UDFAs when they constrain their cap dollars in advance like this. Maybe they'll strike gold repeatedly and surprise us all--this is and will continue to be a draft-and-develop league. That kind of luck is hard to generate in a single draft, much less in every draft.
Oppy
March 17, 2022 at 03:55 pm
Dobber, you're entirely right.
I stated on these forums a few years ago that QB prices are so inflated in the NFL now, that the teams with young, talented QBs on 1st contracts will be at a competitive advantage to those with journeyman or other top tier veteran QBs in the league.
Call me crazy, but if the cost of keeping one veteran QB is so great that it forces a team to be almost unrealistically accurate with talent acquisition and injuries because they simply can't build a competitive team around that QB's salary cap # without relying on super-talented 1st contract players and a need for supreme health because there's no money for quality depth....
...then maybe the smarter play is to have the young, 1st contract QB who you can surround with a very deep, talented team consisting of a mix of young and veteran talent.
I know you aren't arguing that the way the Packers have gone was necessarily the right way, but rather, this is the way it's going to have to go if we are going to be successful under the current conditions.
Too many people don't understand there were other options than to hang it all on a 150 Mil guaranteed 3 year contract.
RCPackerFan
March 16, 2022 at 08:07 am
No Surprise:
Breaking up the Smith Brothers -
I still question the injury last year with Z. Maybe I shouldn't, but it seems like there were issues before that. The timing of the injury seemed off. So letting him go was not a surprise. Preston definitely deserved to be extended. Him and Gary form a really good duo.
Tagging Davante Adams -
You can't let go of your best players. Its that simple. Tagging him was the right move. They just have to figure out the right price now.
Cutting Billy Turner -
This move wasn't a surprise to me. I thought they may cut him. The question now will be who will be RT. Do they bring Bakthiari's doppelganger back? Do they go with Yosh? Do they have Jenkins play RT when he comes back. I wouldn't be surprised if they used another higher draft pick on an OT.
Tenderizing a Lizard -
I'm guessing they will have a deal worked out with Lazard soon.
Surprise:
Rodgers -
I don't think this is as big of a surprise as most on this page likely will. I do wonder though if Love looked a lot better in his opportunities in the games, if they would have taken the same approach. I think a lot of what they resigned Rodgers for says what they think of Love without saying it.
Campbell -
This one was a non surprise/surprise. I was hoping he would be back because he meant so much to our defense. Yet, i wasn't sure if he would be. This maybe the best move the Packers make this off season.
Bing! it's Crosby -
I was going with the assumption that if Rodgers was back that Crosby would be too. So far its trending that way.
It will be interesting to see what other moves they make.
Handsback
March 16, 2022 at 08:14 am
Three consecutive years of 13-3 seasons and two consecutive MVP performance and no SB appearances….something needs to change. Adding dead money for future years, losing some of the key people that made the 13-3 seasons, not sure how that gets the Pack closer.
Maybe hire Mike Leach as OC will put them over the top. I know being facetious isn’t helping but sorry I can’t see the point of extending a player w/o changing out some problem areas.
mrtundra
March 16, 2022 at 08:19 am
Up next: Davante's deal, Jaire's extension and Rasul Douglas's extension....
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 09:06 am
Well...Douglas is an FA, so it's a new contract there and they're going to have to bid on him now.
Ferrari-Driver
March 16, 2022 at 09:53 am
If we are in a bidding contest, I would suggest caution. Many years ago, the Packers drafted a safety in the mid-rounds, Perhaps 5th or so, and he lit up the league with about 5 interception showing a skill set that reminds me of Douglas. Good anticipation, slower foot speed, etc. That safety was Tom Flynn and he was voted Rookie of The Year and that was the end of the outstanding play and there were no injuries mitigating his play. He soon was traded and never shined there after.
While Douglas is only 26 years old, the Packers are the 6th team he has played for and he was nabbed off the Cardinals practice squad because we were in dire straits in our defensive backfield.
I do like Douglas, but do not break the bank to sign him.
Coldworld
March 16, 2022 at 11:14 am
The bank is already broken. It’s in hock up to its eyeballs with very little collateral.
stockholder
March 16, 2022 at 11:58 am
If Adams can't stretch the field. Why the extension? Pay Jaire TOP pay. Yeah If he was Woodson.
packer132
March 16, 2022 at 08:20 am
Good breakdown Al. The only surprise (good) for me was Campbell. I didn't see Green Bay paying to keep him, knowing many teams would pay. People can't say the Packers are cheap. I thought Crosby would be restructured to lower his cap though the other two kickers on the roster have not kicked a field goal in the NFL. I saw that Cobb is expected to restructure today and they only need one small deal to get under the cap. It didn't look good a few weeks ago, but I can't fault what the front office has done.
croatpackfan
March 16, 2022 at 08:32 am
It is first you have to do. To go under the cap. Than you have to create SC space to be able to sign draft picks and PS players.
If you spend all your possibilities on reaching the SC line, where you'll find space for drafties and PS?
Leatherhead
March 16, 2022 at 08:41 am
I think it makes little sense to cut Turner for $4 million while keeping Cobb, who could have saved us almost twice as much. I think there's more to the Turner story than meets the eye.
The other moves are pretty solid. They clearly are planning to push the costs into the future when a higher cap mitigates the damage, and they're using it to try to keep this very good team together.
dobber
March 16, 2022 at 09:31 am
I think there's more to the Cobb story than meets the eye...or, the Cobb story is exactly what it looks like.
I guess it depends on where your eye is.
LeotisHarris
March 16, 2022 at 04:05 pm
I'd say Cobb and Crosby, dobber. My eyes tell me in someone's eyes" they are who we thought the were" (go ahead, say it again with emphasis!).
dobber
March 17, 2022 at 07:39 am
Yup. I think we see the motivation here pretty clearly.
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 12:17 pm
The book is not closed yet. He has a lot of work to do to convince Coach Bisaccia last year was a fluke on a disastrous STs led by a dysfunctional coach. He may yet be gone.
Losing Turner was exacerbated when an existing injury caused him to fail his physical...memories of Z. Smith are still fresh and Bulaga is probably washed up too missing last season with a bad back and groin injuries. Turner is at the age where the OLineman decline can be swift.
And I believe Steno told Gutey Nijman was his man to start at RT...that would make Turner a one of the most expensive backups in the NFL.
Also, PFF has Turner graded at around 69-70 over his last two years...just below average among NFL starting tackles. And when he played G in 2019 he gave up a whopping 68 pressures. Yes, he is versatile, but his play sharply fell off at G.
jeremyjjbrown
March 16, 2022 at 09:00 am
I'm not surprised Turner was cut, but I was surprised he was cut before June 1.
I'd love to hear Gute and Ball's reasons because I'm sure they are legit I just don't know what it could be.
The_Baloney_Stops_Here
March 16, 2022 at 11:37 am
I heard he was released under injury settlement after the knee he injured last year failed a recent physical.
jeremyjjbrown
March 16, 2022 at 07:40 pm
Makes sense.
Coldworld
March 17, 2022 at 06:25 am
The fact that he was designated as having failed a physical isn’t that significant necessarily, since he won’t be suiting up for months. He’s just technically not able to right now. I understand he’s expected to be healthy relatively soon.
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 12:26 pm
I believe Turner was no longer in the Packers plans to be the starter next season...I think Nijman is the starter now. He's earned it.
I do believe he was offered a restructure but turned it down. I will guess it was an amicable parting and the Packers decided to let him get a head start on finding a new team vs stalling the decision, costing him 3 months of free agency offers. Billy was a good teammate and locker room leader. He will be missed in those roles.
Packers0808
March 16, 2022 at 09:03 am
Wonder if keeping Crosby is a part of the deal made with Rodgers for him coming back. After all they are strong friends from all indications. Just a thought. Actually I am ok with Crosby, just wish KOs would get in end zone more often!
Razer
March 16, 2022 at 09:10 am
I think the Packers missed an opportunity to set themselves up for the future. I wouldn't want to be beholden to Aaron Rodgers going forward. He is talented but the cost is way too high on numerous fronts. I don't see how this team formula is going to change the outcome going forward other than diminishing returns over time. Ted would have planned for tomorrow, Murphy and Gutekunsts are hanging on to today.
I do like the Campbell signing and I am hoping that they keep Douglas. Crosby should be gone as well. Sorry - but it is time.
Lphill
March 16, 2022 at 09:32 am
I agree Al , why the Packers thought it would be a good idea to shuffle the O line for the playoffs makes no sense .
BirdDogUni
March 16, 2022 at 01:52 pm
Still pisses me off to this day. SMH
HarryHodag
March 16, 2022 at 09:36 am
Was anyone else curious as to why Rodgers got a massive increase in pay after a lackluster performance with it all on the line in the playoffs? He has the franchise over a barrel.
When all of the contracts come due in a few years you will have 22 starters from the street free agent ranks.
Long term, keeping Rodgers and Adams will be viewed as a mistake. They either go to the Super Bowl or the whole thing gets crushed. So this team wasn't good enough to make it to the Super Bowl so you keep it again for another try?
Winning is the goal, true, but how long can you keep it up using the figurative credit card?
Razer
March 16, 2022 at 10:10 am
Totally agree Harry. The price to keep this group together is too high. The room to improve the team and win a championship has been spent. Can the expectations be met?
LambeauPlain
March 16, 2022 at 10:40 am
Al, I have commented on the weird OL shuffle in the playoff game several times. I have never heard MLF's explanation why he felt this was a needed move. Have you?
When MLF left Nijman on the bench I was shocked. And it failed badly. By halftime it was clear the slow lumbering Kelly could not handle the Niner's front and Turner was not playing well at LT. So what does MLF do? Let Rodgers try to play catch with Adams using deep drops and long developing pass plays, exacerbating the pressure on the two tackles.
Swisch
March 16, 2022 at 01:27 pm
I, too, would like to hear MLF's explanation on the weird shuffle of the offensive line in the playoffs against the 49ers. It seems inexplicable.
***
Also, I'm still waiting to hear Rodgers explain why he failed to throw to a wide-open Lazard on a play late in the game that could have set us up for the winning score.
If Rodgers didn't see Lazard crossing the field right in front of his eyes, then does that speak to a bigger problem with Rodgers not being able to read the field?
If Rodgers saw an open Lazard, but still threw to Adams in double coverage with futility, what does that say about the judgement of Rodgers?
These seem good questions to explore before handing out $50 million per season, or something like that.
Does Rodgers have a critical deficiency in his game that has gone largely undetected due to his overall skills being superb; or is he stubborn in forcing passes to his liking when better options are available?
Either way would be scary as far as being able to win future playoff games under pressure and against adversity.
Is the past a prologue to more heartbreaking losses in the future?
***
In any case, the key is whether or not the sports media challenges our coaches and players with their decisions on the field.
Are supposed journalists so interested in cozying up to these athletic celebrities that they avoid the tough questions?
The_Baloney_Stops_Here
March 17, 2022 at 09:31 am
There wont be any explanations. Just hype videos trying to convince us this terd they've polished isnt still a terd.
crayzpackfan
March 16, 2022 at 10:36 am
This last dance stance is fast becoming more like our last chance. This FO have effectively wagered our future on a two year window to win it all. You don’t go into this kind of debt with hopes of just winning a division title. At least I hope that’s not their thinking. I sure hope they’re the right ones on this and I’m the big dummy. Whew!!
Swisch
March 16, 2022 at 11:58 am
As a matter of perspective, I've been thinking about how big of a fan I've been of Aaron Rodgers over the years, from his early years as a Packer until recent times. I truly miss those days.
I'm surprised that any fan would still want Rodgers as a Packer after he put last season in jeopardy with a long and agonizing holdout for reasons that turned out to be suspect and even superficial; and then again this offseason seemed perfectly willing to walk away from us unless he got everything he demanded in terms of personnel decisions and perhaps the fattest contract in the history of the NFL.
In other words, it's apparent Rodgers doesn't care about us as fans, nor his teammates, nor his coaches, nor his other bosses -- but only himself. He seems a petty tyrant who intrudes into the roles of general manager and head coach to undermine the stability of the organization.
He talks big but comes up small in the clutch.
(The evidence to back all this up seems overwhelming, as noted in many of my previous comments, and we could go over it all again at some point if desired.)
***
So, are some fans really on board with trading our dignity for the possibility of a Super Bowl?
To me, even winning a Super Bowl would be hollow with this jerk as our quarterback and the face of our franchise.
It's embarrassing that our management would grovel before arrogant Rodgers, and this rotten deal with him sullies the hard-won reputation of the Packers over a century of storied history.
Vince Lombardi would do everything he could to win in accord with fair play and sportsmanship and integrity, but not anything to win that would degrade himself or others.
I no longer consider Aaron Rodgers as a true Packer. He's an individual entity who will continue to rack up statistics and pad his wallet at our expense.
Beside continuing to jerk us around off the field with his self-absorbed intrigues, he will sooner or later break our hearts again on the field just when the Packers seem ready to make it to the top.
A strong team cannot be built upon a weak leader. It will come undone and unravel under pressure at its most prominent position.
I'm sad and angry and sickened at the Packers lowering themselves to pander to a prima donna who treats others with such disdain. I don't understand how other fans would feel any differently.
The_Baloney_Stops_Here
March 16, 2022 at 11:34 am
Beautifully said, Swisch. The fans who support this madness will learn the hard way. Dark times ahead.
KnockTheSnotOutOfYou
March 17, 2022 at 10:30 am
Amen Swisch!
13TimeChamps
March 16, 2022 at 11:15 am
Living in the beautiful Southwest, with all its year round outdoor splendor, I decided to give up TV for good about 5-6 years ago. I don't miss it, or the $100+ monthly payments one bit. I do have cheap internet and a 5 year old laptop, so we're not completely shut off from the world.
Then I decided to stop buying things on credit and cut up the plastic, save for one in case of emergency, which we rarely use. What the Packers are doing reminds me of people buying things on credit they can't really afford. Then, because the monthly payments are too large to manage, they only pay the monthly minimums, while the interest keeps piling up...kind of like the Packers kicking these contracts down the road. It might seem like a good idea at the time, but.....
Not a good plan, in my opinion. The credit card example or the way they're structuring these contracts. Or maybe I'm wrong. Time will tell. I would have taken the Denver deal, if in fact there was one.
Swisch
March 16, 2022 at 11:49 am
Wow, 13TimeChamps, after all of our past differences, first of all I found myself giving you a thumbs up yesterday for your comment about Sean McVay having a better track record than our own head coach (although LaFleur has done some good things, too) -- and now I come upon this agreeable comment.
Not only do I think your credit card analogy is apt, but your reference to the Southwest stirred up fond memories.
Though my wife and I are glad to have moved to Georgia to be near family, her heart especially (and to some extent mine) are still largely in New Mexico and southern Colorado, where we lived for many a year.
Besides residing in Albuquerque, Espanola, Penasco, Santa Fe, Farmington, and Pagosa Springs, we had hoped to move to Chama to be living there even as of today.
Anyhow, all my best to you, 13TimeChamps -- and even if we go on to disagree on this or that at times, I'm hoping for positive exchanges between us in the future.
13TimeChamps
March 16, 2022 at 12:02 pm
Thanks, I appreciate it.
PeteK
March 16, 2022 at 12:13 pm
There are powerful forces in our media that coerce foolish spending/immediate gratification. It takes more discipline than ever before. Consumer debt 1946 22%,--2002 110%.
pantz_bURp
March 16, 2022 at 11:33 am
Win at all costs? The price is too much for me...
I hear ya swisch. I was a big fan of Rodgers and thought Mike McCarthy was the one to blame. Now, I am not worried if my fandom is called into question. I don't need to follow the FO blindly and am at peace knowing I truly am all in with the Packers (not a specific player). The Packers and the G Brand will be strong long after you, I and any player who is given the keys to the franchise is done. All in, but doing it the right way...
Rodgers proclaimed it the last dance, last season. If ever there would be motivation to win it all, it was last season. I commend the pickups of Douglas and Campbell (both D players). Rodgers said players come to Green Bay to play with him, the team and the chance to win a championship. I doubt he was the brainchild that said to pick these two defensive players up. If players come to Green Bay to play with him and win it all, wouldn't it be a good idea to have some money to sign said players? His contract extension says otherwise regarding his motives.
He is a genius...he and/or his agent. We are on the hook for $60M+ if he decides to walk away after next season right? So, even if he has a subpar season...we fans/FO are going to beg him to come back and he will be doing us a favor and taking one for the TEAM (pure genius) by coming back. I feel sorry for Love, he shares the same agent as Rodgers.
I hate to speculate and trying to read between the lines with him is becoming very stale and boring. I wish I was a better person and didn't have the thoughts I do...but, he is the one who also decided to play this game through leverage (having others speak for him) and letting the shrapnel fall where it may.
Thank God I am not a GM/Owner/HC of an NFL team...I would be the worst ever in history. I am just as competitive as the next person, but here is my biggest FLAW. I don't want to even attempt to win at all costs when the cost is what it is currently. I hope the Packers don't lose their identity in the process (no, not wins or loses as the barometer).
frankthefork
March 16, 2022 at 02:43 pm
I can't comment right now...I still have the taste of puke in my mouth.
pantz_bURp
March 16, 2022 at 04:10 pm
No worries Frank. I look forward to your opinion when you get an opportunity. Heck, I may even learn something I never thought of. All I ask is you be frank with me.
The_Baloney_Stops_Here
March 17, 2022 at 09:28 am
Just waiting to see which team Love gets traded to so I know who my new team will be. I cannot and will not continue supporting this team as it self destructs. Its like enabling an addict as they rot away to nothing and I wont have any part in it. Like Rodgers himself once said, its about doing things the right way and this aint it, chief. Im out until Rodgers and the entire upper management (including Lafleur) are all a thing of the past. The Rodgers fanboy cultists can hate me all they want, but I vote with my wallet and these clowns wont get another dime out of me.