Packers Huddle

Unimpressive so far. Gutey still has a lot of work to do.

April 2, 2021 Re-signed S Will Redmond

March 25, 2021 Re-signed TE Marcedes Lewis and DL Tyler Lancaster.
March 21, 2021 Re-signed RB Aaron Jones and CB Kevin King.
March 19, 2021 Signed LS Joe Fortunato. Re-signed TE Marcedes Lewic to s two-year contract.
March 18, 2021 Re-signed CB Kevin King to a one-year contract.
March 7, 2021 Waived FB John Lovett with a failed physical designation.
March 1, 2021 Promoted Jerry Gray to defensive backs/passing game coordinator, Adam Stenavich to offensive line/run game coordinator, Rayna Stewart to assistant special teams coach and Connor Lewis to special teams assistant/game management specialist. Hired John Dunn as senior analyst, Justin Hood as defensive quality control coach, Ryan Mahaffey as offensive quality control coach and Tim Zetts as offensive quality control coach.

February 19, 2021 Released LB Christian Kirksey and T Rick Wagner.
February 8, 2021 Named Joe Barry defensive coordinator and promoted Maurice Drayton to special teams coordinator.
February 6, 2021 Announced the hiring of Joe Barry as defensive coordinator.

January 26, 2021 Signed WR Reggie Begelton, C Jake Hanson, K J.J. Molson, CB KeiVarae Russell, DL Delontae Scott and WR Juwann Winfree.
January 25, 2021 Signed OLB Tipa Galeai, LB De'Jon Harris, G Zack Johnson, TE Isaac Nauta, DTs Willington Previlon and Anthony Rush, CB Stanford Samuels, RBs Mike Weber and RB Dexter Williams, and P Ryan Winslow.
January 23, 2021 Promoted CB Tramon Williams as COVID-19 replacement, DL Brian Price and CB KeiVarae Russel to the active roster. Signed P Ryan Winslow to the practice squad. Released RB Dexter Williams.
January 21, 2021 Signed CB Tramon Williams to the practice squad. Released P Ryan Winslow.
January 20, 2021 Designated LB James Burgess, DBs Kabion Ento and Parry Nickerson to return from injured reserve.
January 15, 2021 Promoted DB KeiVarae Russell and DT Brian Price to the active roster. Signed TE Bronson Kaufusi to a reserve/futures contract.
January 13, 2021 Placed T Jared Veldheer on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
January 12, 2021 Signed T Jared Veldheer from the Indianapolis practice squad. Placed G Simon Stepaniak on injured reserve.
January 8, 2021 Signed WR Chris Blair, S Innis Gaines and LB Ray Wilborn to reserve/future contracts for the 2021 season.
January 7, 2021 Declined to activate RB Patrick Taylor from reserve/NFI .
January 2, 2021 Placed T David Bakhtiari on injured reserve. Signed G Ben Braden to the active roster from the practice squad. Elevated DL Brian Price from the practice squad to active roster. Signed DL Anthony Rush to the practice squad.

Why can't this be put in the Green Bay Packers News thread?

We are the 2020 Packers minus Corey Linsley and still a pending draft. Honestly our team looks significantly better than I thought it would a month ago. I've been somewhat pleased this offseason. We have a stop gap at corner and got to keep our 2nd best playmaker on offense. If not best playmaker on offense.

I wouldnt necessarily say its unimpressive. To be fair the Packers were the best team in the NLF last season. They just didnt execute and one player had a meltdown that lasted all game. Theyre still bringing back that team. The problem is you arent going to get much from a year 2 jump from last years rookies. AJ Dillon probably is better than Williams but I'm not sure how much better that makes the best offense. Deguara may improve but we cant expect him to start over Tonyan as a receiver or Lewis as a blocker. Love has no chance of playing baring injury. Maybe one of the interior lineman step into center or we move a guard and they step into guard but will they play better than all pro Linsley? Doubtful. Martin and Barnes need to make a leap.

We will be relying heavily on this years rookie class to be the difference in NFCC losers to SB champions.

I also think Gutey was a little irresponsible with pushing cap into future years. I thought this was a really good opportunity to get rid of some bad contracts, retool the defense with some draft picks coming into a new scheme and be ready for 2022 when everything should come together. Next offseason is going to be brutal with Rodgers scheduled almost 40, Z at 28, Bak at 23, Clark at 21, and Preston at 20. Sure you can do some more maneuvering of money and probably cutting Preston to save 12 but you still probably need to look at keeping Adams and the 5th year option on Alexander isnt cheap.

lupedafiasco wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:02

I wouldnt necessarily say its unimpressive. To be fair the Packers were the best team in the NLF last season. They just didnt execute and one player had a meltdown that lasted all game. Theyre still bringing back that team. The problem is you arent going to get much from a year 2 jump from last years rookies. AJ Dillon probably is better than Williams but I'm not sure how much better that makes the best offense. Deguara may improve but we cant expect him to start over Tonyan as a receiver or Lewis as a blocker. Love has no chance of playing baring injury. Maybe one of the interior lineman step into center or we move a guard and they step into guard but will they play better than all pro Linsley? Doubtful. Martin and Barnes need to make a leap.

We will be relying heavily on this years rookie class to be the difference in NFCC losers to SB champions.

I'm not sure I can really get on board with the "Deguara and Dillon are going to be improved but it won't matter"? I mean, they'll each play about 30% of our snaps and the offense historically struggles without Jones in the game. Dafney managed to get noticed and catch a TD in a Deguara role. I guess I don't see why improved players wouldn't improve the team. And yeah, Martin and Barnes likely will be better than they were as rookies and obviously that would be quite useful for a D at a position of need.

lupedafiasco wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:02

I also think Gutey was a little irresponsible with pushing cap into future years. I thought this was a really good opportunity to get rid of some bad contracts, retool the defense with some draft picks coming into a new scheme and be ready for 2022 when everything should come together. Next offseason is going to be brutal with Rodgers scheduled almost 40, Z at 28, Bak at 23, Clark at 21, and Preston at 20. Sure you can do some more maneuvering of money and probably cutting Preston to save 12 but you still probably need to look at keeping Adams and the 5th year option on Alexander isn't cheap.

The money isn't a problem. The TV deals have been announced. They're huge. 2022 will be tight, but we'll just push it into 2023 and later when the deals hit. Cap's set at $185 or so this year. It's gonna be $220 or so next year and $245 in 2023, bet on it.

YoHoChecko wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:26

lupedafiasco wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:02

I wouldnt necessarily say its unimpressive. To be fair the Packers were the best team in the NLF last season. They just didnt execute and one player had a meltdown that lasted all game. Theyre still bringing back that team. The problem is you arent going to get much from a year 2 jump from last years rookies. AJ Dillon probably is better than Williams but I'm not sure how much better that makes thwe best offense. Deguara may improve but we cant expect him to start over Tonyan as a receiver or Lewis as a blocker. Love has no chance of playing baring injury. Maybe one of the interior lineman step into center or we move a guard and they step into guard but will they play better than all pro Linsley? Doubtful. Martin and Barnes need to make a leap.

We will be relying heavily on this years rookie class to be the difference in NFCC losers to SB champions.

I'm not sure I can really get on board with the "Deguara and Dillon are going to be improved but it won't matter"? I mean, they'll each play about 30% of our snaps and the offense historically struggles without Jones in the game. Dafney managed to get noticed and catch a TD in a Deguara role. I guess I don't see why improved players wouldn't improve the team. And yeah, Martin and Barnes likely will be better than they were as rookies and obviously that would be quite useful for a D at a position of need.

lupedafiasco wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:02

I also think Gutey was a little irresponsible with pushing cap into future years. I thought this was a really good opportunity to get rid of some bad contracts, retool the defense with some draft picks coming into a new scheme and be ready for 2022 when everything should come together. Next offseason is going to be brutal with Rodgers scheduled almost 40, Z at 28, Bak at 23, Clark at 21, and Preston at 20. Sure you can do some more maneuvering of money and probably cutting Preston to save 12 but you still probably need to look at keeping Adams and the 5th year option on Alexander isn't cheap.

The money isn't a problem. The TV deals have been announced. They're huge. 2022 will be tight, but we'll just push it into 2023 and later when the deals hit. Cap's set at $185 or so this year. It's gonna be $220 or so next year and $245 in 2023, bet on it.

Im not so sure its going to be much above 205. As of right now its still scheduled to be a flat cap of 182. Spotrac estimates 192 and OTC estimates 203. Most of what I read doesnt expect the TV deals to factor in until 2023 which I think is more realistic. Its April and other sporting events still arent allowing full capacity. I think only the Rangers are allowing full capacity because Texas goes hard. We will see how that turns out. I could absolutely see some NFL stadiums in softer states not allowing full capacity come opening weekend.

lupedafiasco wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:39

Im not so sure its going to be much above 205. As of right now its still scheduled to be a flat cap of 182. Spotrac estimates 192 and OTC estimates 203. Most of what I read doesnt expect the TV deals to factor in until 2023 which I think is more realistic. Its April and other sporting events still arent allowing full capacity. I think only the Rangers are allowing full capacity because Texas goes hard. We will see how that turns out. I could absolutely see some NFL stadiums in softer states not allowing full capacity come opening weekend.

Yeah, the TV deals don't hit in 2022 but the full stadiums do. Teams lost like 30% of their revenue from that. We should expect to see growth based off of a 2019 baseline (200 million) not off of the covid-struck 2020 baseline. 10% growth, which has been close to the norm lately, puts you at 220 right there. Everyone's being cautious, but there's no way revenues won't spike. The only question is how much has been borrowed from 2022 for the covid year. I could see 205, but 192 is crazytalk pessimism

It is good that we didn’t backslide as much as we could have as far as guys thought to have been leaving and potential replacements. I would have rather seen some guys leave and at least SOME new veteran blood just for a potential mindset change to the locker room Come playoff time. I mean this team only has one or two guys who have ever been in the big dance. Guys who have finished the drill and know how to prepare to do that the week of the NFCCG. I was hoping there would be a role player vet who wanted to stay in the league another year who we could pay to provide that leadership. At this point we are just hoping for a leap from everyone and more decent luck with health.

I remain skeptical but I was pretty skeptical going into last year and we were really close so

We do really need some guys to take a leap in mindset who can play their best ball come NFCCG or when things get nerve wrecking and tight tho. Our players seem to feel that energy and get tight in those moments. They may get that energy from our QB, not sure. But we need some players on the roster who want to lead in those moments. The super bowl winning teams usually have one or two of those guys.

Drj820 wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 22:53

It is good that we didn’t backslide as much as we could have as far as guys thought to have been leaving and potential replacements. I would have rather seen some guys leave and at least SOME new veteran blood just for a potential mindset change to the locker room Come playoff time. I mean this team only has one or two guys who have ever been in the big dance. Guys who have finished the drill and know how to prepare to do that the week of the NFCCG. I was hoping there would be a role player vet who wanted to stay in the league another year who we could pay to provide that leadership. At this point we are just hoping for a leap from everyone and more decent luck with health.

I remain skeptical but I was pretty skeptical going into last year and we were really close so

We do really need some guys to take a leap in mindset who can play their best ball come NFCCG or when things get nerve wrecking and tight tho. Our players seem to feel that energy and get tight in those moments. They may get that energy from our QB, not sure. But we need some players on the roster who want to lead in those moments. The super bowl winning teams usually have one or two of those guys.

I would have liked a different option at CB especially for what we paid King. There were better options with less consistency and durability issues. King to me doesnt make sense. It doesnt even add anything in terms of continuity because its a new defense.

YoHoChecko wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:54

lupedafiasco wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:39

Im not so sure its going to be much above 205. As of right now its still scheduled to be a flat cap of 182. Spotrac estimates 192 and OTC estimates 203. Most of what I read doesnt expect the TV deals to factor in until 2023 which I think is more realistic. Its April and other sporting events still arent allowing full capacity. I think only the Rangers are allowing full capacity because Texas goes hard. We will see how that turns out. I could absolutely see some NFL stadiums in softer states not allowing full capacity come opening weekend.

Yeah, the TV deals don't hit in 2022 but the full stadiums do. Teams lost like 30% of their revenue from that. We should expect to see growth based off of a 2019 baseline (200 million) not off of the covid-struck 2020 baseline. 10% growth, which has been close to the norm lately, puts you at 220 right there. Everyone's being cautious, but there's no way revenues won't spike. The only question is how much has been borrowed from 2022 for the covid year. I could see 205, but 192 is crazytalk pessimism

Does this really matter though? I am only saying this because we are going to have EXPENSIVE players come up in 22 and 23 like Adams and Alexander. We also don't have that many players under contract in 2022. So sure great. The cap is up 30%.

And Jaire's and Adam's fair market value went from $15 to $20 million per year (in 2019/2020) to $25 to $35 million per year in 2023 because every other team is also loaded with cash. It's why I really, really want to see a Davante Adams extension this summer in camp.

Yet on the flip side, does it make sense to buy high when Adams has put together his best two years? I mean I experiencing the pain right now with my growth stocks I have been buying since the election and their newfound low market value the last month.

lupedafiasco wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:02

We will be relying heavily on this years rookie class to be the difference in NFCC losers to SB champions.

I am unbelievably bullish on AJ Dillon. Right now Davante Adams is the best 2nd round pick in the decade and probably the league. But the Packers have a TON of success with 2nd round picks the last 15 years. Collins, Jennings, Nelson, Jenkins, Cobb. It's insane.

AJ Dillon will be listed with those names. His personality is fit for it. His body is fit for it. And his athleticism is fit for it. The difference AJ can bring, if MLF executes properly, is we won't see those lulls in the 3rd quarter like we saw last year. We would have been SB champs if MLF just gave the ball to Dillon rather than Rodgers last January. I think they use Jones much more as a slot and Swerv role and AJ is going to play a lot of snaps.

But more importantly, I think the Packers primary jump isn't our 2nd year players, but instead our 3rd year players. Rashan Gary and Darnell Savage are the key players to have step up for the 2021 Packers.

lupedafiasco wrote: ↑

02 Apr 2021 20:02

I also think Gutey was a little irresponsible with pushing cap into future years. I thought this was a really good opportunity to get rid of some bad contracts, retool the defense with some draft picks coming into a new scheme and be ready for 2022 when everything should come together. Next offseason is going to be brutal with Rodgers scheduled almost 40, Z at 28, Bak at 23, Clark at 21, and Preston at 20. Sure you can do some more maneuvering of money and probably cutting Preston to save 12 but you still probably need to look at keeping Adams and the 5th year option on Alexander isnt cheap.

Hard to argue this. I would have done the same thing by moving on. I really hope Preston Smith proves us wrong.

It’s possible after Rodgers leaves, paying Adams as a league top WR to play with another QB won’t be a priority. 3 contracts pretty rare with this team.

Drj820 wrote: ↑

03 Apr 2021 10:05

It’s possible after Rodgers leaves, paying Adams as a league top WR to play with another QB won’t be a priority. 3 contracts pretty rare with this team.

Yeah I wonder about that too. I think if you decide to move on from Adams, I think you just move on from Rodgers too.

I guess I always thought initially we should resign Adams to a 4 year extension so he can carry out two seasons with Rodgers and then help out Love as a reliable target.

But also Adams has to want to play in GB too. Maybe he is doing a "wait and see as well" on what his QB situation would like in GB in 2022 and beyond.