Green Bay Covid Opt Outs: Funchess First.

[PossibleCabbage]

1 hour ago, Skippy said:

This once again makes our draft even look worse than I originally thought. And I originally am not impressed. We had to get a WR in the first three rounds this past year. Had too.

Every WR in a given tier was picked before the Packers had the opportunity.  They missed out on the last guy in the 2nd tier 1 pick before they got Love.  You could make a case for Shenault, but that was a medical thing and this is a conservative organization when it comes to that kind of thing.

[craig]

So, I've imagined Funchess presumably playing some kind of hybrid slot WR/TE move-blocker type role.  (Too slim to be a full TE, but too slow to be a true WR.)  Who would pick up that function in his absence?  EQ might seem to have the size to fill that type of profile?  Or use more TE in slot, Tonyan or Deguara maybe?  Or more usage of Jace from slot? Of maybe go with somebody less massive and maybe the Canadian-Leaguer will make the team and get used from slot, but play it much differently than had Funchess been doing so?  

[spilltray]

This is disappointing but understandable. He looked like a potential good fit for the direction it looks like the offense is going.

That said, if you are shifting from 3-4 WR base to 2 WR + 2 TE or TE+FB, the need for WR depth starts to decrease dramatically.

 

Also I think it's a moot point since I don't see the season being anything worth remembering.

Edited July 29, 2020 by spilltray
addendum

[Green19]

2 hours ago, Skippy said:

This once again makes our draft even look worse than I originally thought. And I originally am not impressed. We had to get a WR in the first three rounds this past year. Had too.

Does it look worse if there isn’t a season though? We go straight into the next years draft and select a WR in that one.

interesting idea to think about... won’t matter if the season flames out.

[JQ1]

- I don’t believe Funchess was “THE guy” that puts the WR corps over the top. Nobody knows what he would have produced coming off a season-ending injury, but it's doubtful he would have been the proverbial “difference maker."

- As far as the draft goes...it’s 20/20 hindsight.

- I think Gute will look to find another player to compete for reps at WR. He has real trade ammo in some of these guys who will be free agents next year. Then there will be cuts when teams go to 80 players, and other FAs who are still out there.

- As already posted, this may indeed be a window of opportunity for Reggie Begelton, and maybe he can add some punch to the offense. But I’m not getting my expectations too high.

-Hopefully we’ll be able to ratchet up the TC banter in the next few weeks until the squad takes the practice field, and afterwards. That’s about as optimistic as I can be at present.

[FinneasGage]

so we got a little extra cap to play with now, nah?

[Billy86]

11 hours ago, packfanfb said:

Obviously Gute couldn't see this coming, but also not sure he can go into the season with the same exact WR group, cross his fingers, and hope he doesn't come out looking like a clown for how he approached the position this offseason. 

I kind of agree, but I don't think much major investment is needed either. I really liked what I saw from EQ before his injury, and from Stern berger after his injury and do think there is a genuine chance that those two along with a slightly more developed Lazard (and personnel more suited to Lafleur system) could absolutely transform our offense this year. 

Of course, the key word there is 'could'. They could also get reinjured, or show to have flattered to deceive in admittedly very small sample sizes. This is why injury aside, I was a pretty big fan of the funchess signing - a superstar would be great, but really someone go 'raise the floor' of our starting group would be a big benefit. 

[Billy86]

1 hour ago, FinneasGage said:

so we got a little extra cap to play with now, nah?

Spotrac had his cap hit at $1.05mn, so if we look for a FA with decent game time experiencet to replace him, we may well have less cap space as a result of this. 

[ReadyToThump]

RIP NFL 2020

[Beast]

11 hours ago, Cakeshoppe said:

Neither King nor Burks is extremely inconsistent. King is good. Burks is bad.

Good point on Burks, I was just being nice there, but being nice is incorrect.

And no, King is absolutely inconsistent.

He's in the top 10 of a number of good and bad categories for CBs (good in INT, pass knocked down, bad in receiving yardages given up) his man coverage have some great movement, his zone coverage has some horrible moments, and he's over aggressive and bites hard on a lot of stuff which makes it easy to set him up for double moves. And he's inconsistent about staying in the field.

https://thedraftnetwork.com/articles/kevin-king-green-bay-packers-2020-expectations

[ThatJerkDave]

I read a tweet, so this is kind of like telephone, that stated that we pay his signing bonus in 2020.  That counts against the cap.  BUT we get his contract for 2020 in 2021, minus the signing bonus, as it was already paid this season.  So, we pay him like 1 million this year and one million next year, if he plays.  

[vegas492]

I was excited to see Fun.

But...this creates opportunity.  Period.  I'm equally excited to see what our 3rd year WR's can do, assuming more opportunity for them.

@Shanedorf has posted plenty of gushing stuff concerning ESB.  This creates a lot more opportunity for him, and I'm excited about that as I think he has a lot of potential.

Also excited to see how the front office reacts, hopefully they find a way to bring in another WR that may be in the doghouse somewhere else.  See if they can mine a gem.  

[packfanfb]

Still think making a play for Gabriel would be smart. Adds some insurance. Best case your young guys beat him out because at this point he's not getting any guaranteed money anyways. I know he doesn't have the size we like at the position, but the guy is a smart player, had a solid year in 2018 with **** at QB and was up and down with injuries last year, again with **** at QB. He'd be a reliable veteran option who can play outside or in the slot. 

[craig]

11 hours ago, craig said:

So, I've imagined Funchess presumably playing some kind of hybrid slot WR/TE move-blocker type role.  (Too slim to be a full TE, but too slow to be a true WR.)  Who would pick up that function in his absence?  EQ might seem to have the size to fill that type of profile?  Or use more TE in slot, Tonyan or Deguara maybe?  Or more usage of Jace from slot? Of maybe go with somebody less massive and maybe the Canadian-Leaguer will make the team and get used from slot, but play it much differently than had Funchess been doing so?  

Heh heh, actually maybe Kumerow might get a lot of the snaps that might have been imagined for Funchess?  He's long like Funchess, and faster, and he's a good movement blocker.  He may be even less adept at getting separation than Funchess, but it's not totally like Funchess was going to be some quickness separation guy anyway, so perhaps the decline wouldn't be that significant?  I know, I know, we want it to be EQ emerging as a good player and being much better than Kumerow.  But that's no guarantee, and MLF, rightly or wrongly, may end up perceiving Kumerow as the better fit for a lot of snaps.  

Lazard is another big guy without great speed, so in some superficial ways somewhat analogous to Funchess, and Lazard may already be a better movement blocker.  So perhaps he'd be a good replacement for slot/blocking WR role that Funchess was imagined for?  Perhaps 11 sets with Adams and MVS wide and Lazard in the slot might end up getting used fairly often and somewhat effectively?  

[Brat&Beer]

47 minutes ago, packfanfb said:

Still think making a play for Gabriel would be smart. Adds some insurance. Best case your young guys beat him out because at this point he's not getting any guaranteed money anyways. I know he doesn't have the size we like at the position, but the guy is a smart player, had a solid year in 2018 with **** at QB and was up and down with injuries last year, again with **** at QB. He'd be a reliable veteran option who can play outside or in the slot. 

Gabriel's injuries last year were 2 concussions. The last one caused him to miss the last 7 games. His career may be in jeopardy.