An Early Look at 2020 Free Agency

[{Family Ghost}]

2 minutes ago, 15412 said:

There's a lot pf love for Z Smith out there and deservingly so, but Kenny Clark is my favorite Packer.  He must be retained long term and we SHOULD bring in veteran talent to play alongside him. 

I think they want to retain him, but the way the system works the Packers really don't have to pay this guy for another year.  Clark is due over 7 mil next season.  The one guy I don't see playing next year without some sort of a boost is Aaron Jones.  He's grossly underpaid .. 735k for next year.  He's got a lot of incentive to accept a hometown discount in my opinion.  I know people don't want to pay running backs, but he's young and the offense figures to go thru him even more next year.  I guess we'll see how the Packers value him.

[beekay414]

Come out of this UFA class with 2 of Roy Robertson-Harris, Gerald McCoy, David Onyemeta and Javon Hargrave and I'm happy with the DL. I would mention DJ Reader but there's no chance Houston is letting him get away. 

Obviously ILB is an issue and two bigger money outside free agents would be Cory Littleton and Joe Schobert. Maybe try to steal Nick Kwiatkowski from the Bears?

As others have said, use free agency to fill the rest of the holes on D and use the draft's depth on offense to get, as Incog put it "young playmakerz" lol. This off-season is huge for us. Need Gute to hit a HR and cash in on the 2019 success before Rodgers COMPLETELY falls off a cliff.

[Leader]

4 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

This off-season is huge for us. Need Gute to hit a HR and cash in on the 2019 success before Rodgers COMPLETELY falls off a cliff.

This ^

We're close. Even with all our acknowledged shortcomings - we were right there. Be it a combination of talent, coaching and breaks - we were right there.
We just ran in to the wrong team at the wrong time....and have to reset for next year.

[St Vince]

20 hours ago, TheOnlyThing said:

Do you have a cite for this St. Vince?

I heard Leroy Butler a few weeks ago saying the Clark deal was all but finalized other than the number of years.

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/football/news/packers-kenny-clark-doesnt-plan-to-hold-out/

I heard him talking about wanting a new deal Monday but wasn't going to hold out. Just found this link,  looks like they picked up his option.

[Shanedorf]

On 1/20/2020 at 2:25 PM, squire12 said:

David Onyemata is a prime target.   Productive, great sparq score and NO is tight with cap space.  

He will fit right in, in Green Bay...

He went to school in Manitoba, Canadia so he's at least experienced a frozen tundra and he was suspended 1 game for weed possession:

" the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana conducted a search of Onyemata's apartment in January after a package to be delivered to the residence was red-flagged. Authorities discovered marijuana, THC oil, edibles and hemp powder on the property "

OTC gives his 2019 performance a $ 3.8M valuation, I'm sure he and his agent are aiming higher.
Only 27 and still improving, the Nigerian native has only been playing football for a short time

https://overthecap.com/player/david-onyemata/4833/

[coachbuns]

8 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

He will fit right in, in Green Bay...

He went to school in Manitoba, Canadia so he's at least experienced a frozen tundra and he was suspended 1 game for weed possession:

" the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana conducted a search of Onyemata's apartment in January after a package to be delivered to the residence was red-flagged. Authorities discovered marijuana, THC oil, edibles and hemp powder on the property "

OTC gives his 2019 performance a $ 3.8M valuation, I'm sure he and his agent are aiming higher.
Only 27 and still improving, the Nigerian native has only been playing football for a short time

https://overthecap.com/player/david-onyemata/4833/

Any decent/reseasonable help at TE without paying $10 mil would be welcome.

[Leader]

Is Eli Apple worth talking to?

 

[Rodjahs12]

Vitai from the Eagles is expected to get anywhere from 8-12m on the open market. Makes Billy Turner feel like a bargain now. 

Edited March 5, 2020 by Rodjahs12

[Arthur Penske]

On ‎1‎/‎22‎/‎2020 at 3:42 AM, beekay414 said:

Come out of this UFA class with 2 of Roy Robertson-Harris, Gerald McCoy, David Onyemeta and Javon Hargrave and I'm happy with the DL. I would mention DJ Reader but there's no chance Houston is letting him get away. 

Obviously ILB is an issue and two bigger money outside free agents would be Cory Littleton and Joe Schobert. Maybe try to steal Nick Kwiatkowski from the Bears?

As others have said, use free agency to fill the rest of the holes on D and use the draft's depth on offense to get, as Incog put it "young playmakerz" lol. This off-season is huge for us. Need Gute to hit a HR and cash in on the 2019 success before Rodgers COMPLETELY falls off a cliff.

I think this is overblown around here. This year Rodgers had Adams, Jones, a solid Oline and...…. Lazard?

He's older, but I'm confident he could still ball out with some more talent around him. If Rodgers had Jennings, Driver, Jones, Jody, Finley, etc at this age he'd ball out. Maybe not like 2011, 2014, but it would be impressive.

[MacReady]

9 minutes ago, Arthur Penske said:

I think this is overblown around here. This year Rodgers had Adams, Jones, a solid Oline and...…. Lazard?

He's older, but I'm confident he could still ball out with some more talent around him. If Rodgers had Jennings, Driver, Jones, Jody, Finley, etc at this age he'd ball out. Maybe not like 2011, 2014, but it would be impressive.

People keep saying this and how many quarterbacks have a receiver as good as Adams?  LT as good as Bakhtiari.  RB as good as Jones.  Twelve teams in this league have a worse #2 receiver than Lazard.  Imagine their #1 receiver.  If you were to give every offensive player a rating of 1-10 with one being the lowest and ten being the highest, and you added up all those numbers (Bakhtiari, Adams, Jones all being an 8, 9 or 10), how many quarterbacks had better offensive support?

Alternatively, rank them.  Rank WR1, WR2, RB, LT, RT, G, G, C, TE.  Let’s say Adams was the 8th best WR in the league.  Jones was 4th best RB in the league.  Add those numbers up where the lower your number is the better number and how many quarterbacks had a lower ranking?

You’re likely looking at top 12 supporting cast in the league.  I can guarantee right now that Aaron’s support blew Brady’s support out of the water.  Same with Josh Allen in Buffalo.  

This notion that Rodgers is lacking support is outstanding in its utter lack of perspective for the rest of the league.  Yes, our offense needs work around Rodgers, but to suggest that he was sorely lacking comparatively is way wrong.
 

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by Outpost31

[SSG]

4 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

People keep saying this and how many quarterbacks have a receiver as good as Adams?  LT as good as Bakhtiari.  RB as good as Jones.  Twelve teams in this league have a worse #2 receiver than Lazard.  Imagine their #1 receiver.  If you were to give every offensive player a rating of 1-10 with one being the lowest and ten being the highest, and you added up all those numbers (Bakhtiari, Adams, Jones all being an 8, 9 or 10), how many quarterbacks had better offensive support?

Alternatively, rank them.  Rank WR1, WR2, RB, LT, RT, G, G, C, TE.  Let’s say Adams was the 8th best WR in the league.  Jones was 4th best RB in the league.  Add those numbers up where the lower your number is the better number and how many quarterbacks had a lower ranking?

You’re likely looking at top 12 supporting cast in the league.  I can guarantee right now that Aaron’s support blew Brady’s support out of the water.  Same with Josh Allen in Buffalo.  
 

This notion that Rodgers is lacking support is outstanding in its utter lack of perspective for the rest of the league.  
 

Yes, our offense needs work around Rodgers, but to suggest that he was sorely lacking comparatively is way wrong.
 

 

Don't think production and only production should be considered when looking at Lazard.  Couldn't the same argument have been used in 2014 against the drafting of Adams?  Boykin, who had almost exactly the same career path as Lazard, was coming off a substantially more productive season.  I don't like looking at production and only production.  Boykin was a much more productive #2 and he might as well have never played another snap of football after that season.  Adams passed him on the depth chart after 2 weeks and he was all but gone from the NFL forever once that happened.  

 

Where Lazard ranks in the league as a #2 WR is up for debate IMO.  There's probably less than 5 teams that have a #2 WR that I'd prefer Lazard over in the league.  Teams like Washington, Philly and New Orleans are likely sure things.  Teams like Miami and New England would be up for debate with me because of the high upside rookies they'll likely have as their #2 (Harry and Preston Williams).  

[MacReady]

Just now, SSG said:

Don't think production and only production should be considered when looking at Lazard.  Couldn't the same argument have been used in 2014 against the drafting of Adams?  Boykin, who had almost exactly the same career path as Lazard, was coming off a substantially more productive season.  I don't like looking at production and only production.  Boykin was a much more productive #2 and he might as well have never played another snap of football after that season.  Adams passed him on the depth chart after 2 weeks and he was all but gone from the NFL forever once that happened. 

I never said a thing about production.  Lazard played well this past season.  He got open frequently.  He knew what to do when plays broke down.  He was good in blocking.  He burned Richard Sherman numerous times.  The only reason you don't see it is because you don't regularly watch other teams play and you don't regularly pay attention to other team's #2 receivers.  The ones you do pay attention to you only pay attention to them because other teams happen to have good #2 receivers. 

Now if you want to get to the heart of my point, you have to stop discussing Lazard individually and focus on the offense as a team. 

The Saints are an exception in the NFL.  Their offensive firepower is unmatched by any team except maybe the Chiefs.  We're not talking about that.  We're talking about our offensive team as it compares to the rest of the NFL.  You look at those teams you mentioned where their #2 receiver is better.  Obviously there are a lot of teams with better #2 receivers.  There are teams with better upside there, too.  But we're not talking about upside, and we're not talking about #2 receivers alone. 

Every team with a better #2 likely does not have a better RT, LT, G, G, C, or RB.  Our second running back is better than a lot of teams' number one back.  Not a lot I guess, but a few. 

As far as #2 upside, yeah.  But we're not talking about that either.  We're talking about whether or not our offensive supporting cast is comparatively worse than a lot of teams.  I don't think it is.  I think our offensive starters are better than the majority of NFL teams when looked at as a cohesive unit, not just individual roles. 

That's not to suggest I don't think we need help on offense.  We do.  We desperately do, but that's not necessarily the fault of who we had. 

 

[VonKarman]

Although I know Rodgers was quite mediocre, I believe that we should remember that this was year one of a new offense. Old dudes that have been great tend to be less flexible. I'd say I was satisfied with his performance last season given the situation he was in.

[Packerraymond]

51 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

People keep saying this and how many quarterbacks have a receiver as good as Adams?  LT as good as Bakhtiari.  RB as good as Jones.  Twelve teams in this league have a worse #2 receiver than Lazard.  Imagine their #1 receiver.  If you were to give every offensive player a rating of 1-10 with one being the lowest and ten being the highest, and you added up all those numbers (Bakhtiari, Adams, Jones all being an 8, 9 or 10), how many quarterbacks had better offensive support?

Alternatively, rank them.  Rank WR1, WR2, RB, LT, RT, G, G, C, TE.  Let’s say Adams was the 8th best WR in the league.  Jones was 4th best RB in the league.  Add those numbers up where the lower your number is the better number and how many quarterbacks had a lower ranking?

You’re likely looking at top 12 supporting cast in the league.  I can guarantee right now that Aaron’s support blew Brady’s support out of the water.  Same with Josh Allen in Buffalo.  

This notion that Rodgers is lacking support is outstanding in its utter lack of perspective for the rest of the league.  Yes, our offense needs work around Rodgers, but to suggest that he was sorely lacking comparatively is way wrong.
 

 

Beyond Adams there is no YAC to this group. Be it #1 in the league or #32 as far as talent, when your QB ages YAC is an easy way to increase his career span. I don't think we have an awful skill group, it does need to be added to in order to help and aging QB though.

[MacReady]

Just now, VonKarman said:

Although I know Rodgers was quite mediocre, I believe that we should remember that this was year one of a new offense. Old dudes that have been great tend to be less flexible. I'd say I was satisfied with his performance last season given the situation he was in.

I wasn't mostly because of how similarly he played to last season. 

I know I'm going to sound like a broken record so whatever, but on this specific point I would have been more satisfied with Aaron if he made more aggressive mistakes and didn't look so damn similar to how he played with McCarthy.

People who say it was Mike's system really have no ground to stand on anymore. 

*Getting to the line of scrimmage with less than 10 seconds.
*Not getting rid of the ball for 7 seconds.
*Way off deep ball that almost looks like he's just not giving them a chance.

The problems persisted.  The exact.  Same.  Problems. 

That's why, in light of turning this back to the discussion of this thread instead of allegedly hijacking the thread, our free agency needs to focus on players who can alleviate Aaron's faults. 

In light of that, we need less SPEED and dominance and all that and more KNOWLEDGE.

Players have been open.  Wide open.  Wide open in the wrong way does not work with Rodgers.  Being less open in the right spot is more important than being more open in the wrong spot. 

This is why I want veteran receivers over the Anderson types.  I feel like Randall Cobb does more for us than someone like Robbie Anderson in light of Aaron's preferences.