the free agent frenzy 2021 - a thread to discuss what teams with money are doing with it

[VonKarman]

9 minutes ago, packfanfb said:

The prudent thing to do (what 31 other teams fortunate enough to have Aaron Rodgers would do), would be to extend 12. Jordan Love? As far as I'm concerned he can sit the bench for the next 5 years or be traded, I really don't care. 12 is our QB and is still one of the best QBs in football. This is nothing like the Favre situation who was knocking on the retirement door the whole time we had Rodgers in town.

Packers should have ran to Rodgers 5 minutes after the season ended, said they were sorry, and extended him for another 2-3 years, lol. 

Then we would have all the cap space we could possibly want for this year, and beyond...

Extending Rodgers is idiotic not prudent. He was not playing at a high level till last year. You have his replacement (who by the way is going to be a starter during his rookie contract). He played really well this year (he also had one of the best playcalling coaches, the best WR and arguably the best OL in the league). He's turning 38 this year and you cannot expect him to have elite level years at 40 years old.

You guys need to accept that he's gone after this year (or after 2022 at the latest).

 

I'm all in for doing as much as we can this year by signing a lot of guys, but I wouldn't jeopardize Alexander's extension in order to sign two JAGs for 8M. It seems to me that some of you behave like little kids that see a toy while windowshopping and cry because your parents cannot afford to buy it.

 

So just in case, to make it clear.

 

Right now we are 1M under the cap. We can get more space by:

Restructuring Rodgers' deal (up to -14M)

Cutting Lowry (-2.6M)

Extending Adams (let's say we give him a 3Y/60M extension with a 20M signing bonus, that would give us -6M).

So we can clear a MAX of 23M approx, leaving us 24M under the cap. We'd need 2.6M for draft picks, 3M for PS, 1.3M for 52nd and 53rd players and 4M for in-season movements, leaving us with a maximum of 13M to operate. IF we do that we'd be 22M over the cap in 2022, with only 30 players on the roster and without taking into account Jaire's 13M 5th year. So now tell me how we pull that off.

Oh, and having Jordan Love for those years almost doesn't change the equation as he costs next to nothing for a QB.

[VonKarman]

13 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

I was quoting for truth.  It's bull**** what Gute is doing.

I'm fine with not bringing in first week or even second week free agents.

I'm not fine with drafting a QB in the first, drafting a RB in the second, then bringing in only former Packers in-season, not pulling the trigger on the Fuller trade, not trading for IDL help...

We were 5 points from a Super Bowl appearance and we lost to a team that added Brown plus half a dozen other small, but crucial outside free agents and trades in-season, and who spent both their first two picks on immediate starters.

We ****ed our best chance at winning a Super Bowl for maybe winning one with Love.

That's like... I can't even think of a good analogy for how absolutely disappointed I am in Gute.  He is forever dead to me.

People acted like Thompson was too focused on the future and not focused enough on the present.  In the year he drafted Rodgers he also drafted Nick Collins.  Rodgers was projected 2nd overall and he got him 24th or whichever pick it was without trading up.  Love was projected 32nd or early second round and Gute traded up to get him. 

I will never forgive Gute for the Love pick.  Ever.

The only way - THE ONLY WAY - Gute can ever redeem this past season is if Love wins two Super Bowls. 

It's quite hilarious how you ***** about everything when you've been crying for years about Rodgers' performance and demanded trading him in order to have QBs cost less than 13% of the cap.

[packfanfb]

10 minutes ago, VonKarman said:

Extending Rodgers is idiotic not prudent. He was not playing at a high level till last year. You have his replacement (who by the way is going to be a starter during his rookie contract). He played really well this year (he also had one of the best playcalling coaches, the best WR and arguably the best OL in the league). He's turning 38 this year and you cannot expect him to have elite level years at 40 years old.

You guys need to accept that he's gone after this year (or after 2022 at the latest).

 

I'm all in for doing as much as we can this year by signing a lot of guys, but I wouldn't jeopardize Alexander's extension in order to sign two JAGs for 8M. It seems to me that some of you behave like little kids that see a toy while windowshopping and cry because your parents cannot afford to buy it.

 

So just in case, to make it clear.

 

Right now we are 1M under the cap. We can get more space by:

Restructuring Rodgers' deal (up to -14M)

Cutting Lowry (-2.6M)

Extending Adams (let's say we give him a 3Y/60M extension with a 20M signing bonus, that would give us -6M).

So we can clear a MAX of 23M approx, leaving us 24M under the cap. We'd need 2.6M for draft picks, 3M for PS, 1.3M for 52nd and 53rd players and 4M for in-season movements, leaving us with a maximum of 13M to operate. IF we do that we'd be 22M over the cap in 2022, with only 30 players on the roster and without taking into account Jaire's 13M 5th year. So now tell me how we pull that off.

Oh, and having Jordan Love for those years almost doesn't change the equation as he costs next to nothing for a QB.

So the solution to pay less important players on your team is to get rid of the MVP QB who literally is responsible for most of the team's success over the last 10 years? 

Edited March 22, 2021 by packfanfb

[Brit Pack]

2 minutes ago, VonKarman said:

IF we do that we'd be 22M over the cap in 2022, with only 30 players on the roster and without taking into account Jaire's 13M 5th year. So now tell me how we pull that off.

Already did.

Cut Preston $12m, redo Zee probably get $10m, move Bakh and Kenny salaries as signing bonuses gain $17m . That's $39m for you right there. Jaire's extension deal year 1 will probably account for about $5m against the cap. Amos and Billy are potential extensions and Crosby is a cut/extension as well as he'll account for $4.4m against the cap. There is plenty of flex there.

Also next year is the year to do something with Rodgers deal not this year, that can free up some of the $39m he'll account against the cap. Keep the man hungry, why pay him after just one great season again.

Main deal we gotta to get done, as you have noted is Adams. Need to extend him now to have some wiggle room this season.

[MacReady]

16 minutes ago, VonKarman said:

It's quite hilarious how you ***** about everything when you've been crying for years about Rodgers' performance and demanded trading him in order to have QBs cost less than 13% of the cap.

I’m sorry you don’t understand how this works.

Every QB who does that deal does it in such a way as to have 1, 2 years if you’re lucky where he’s below that number.

Those years are the years teams are expected to take advantage of that.

The Packers didn’t, and they missed the Super Bowl by 5 points.

 

[Joe]

6 minutes ago, packfanfb said:

So the solution to pay less important players on your team is to get rid of the MVP QB who literally is responsible for most of the team's success over the last 10 years? 

Exactly and the presumption that he's going to fall off a cliff soon is a bit much. We've seen no signs of him slowing down. This rush to get Jordan Love into the line-up is what isn't prudent at all as we've all agreed that Love needs a lot of time behind Rodgers before he is ready(which is yet another reason I absolutely hated the pick). Frankly, we WANT to have a Jimmy G/Brady situation with Jordan Love as we could potentially have a better shot at a better QB down the line provided we hit our marks with the draft and certain players continue to evolve.

In the meantime, could we restructure Rodgers? Should we restructure Rodgers? Personally, I think we should restructure both Rodgers and Z's contracts to free up some money. The question is who to we sign at this point? Personally, I think it's better if we wait and grab some solid, short-term role players post-draft.

[{Family Ghost}]

Maybe part of the Gute plan is to make Rodgers so unhappy that he requests a trade.  The guy can obviously see that the focus isn't on winning it all.  He's watching all of these players sign with other teams knowing full well that they would have cap space if they would just commit to him and extend his deal.  They won't even commit to an MVP, who clearly has some tread on those tires.  

[vegas492]

Lots of mental mathematics gymnastics over the past 8 pages or so.  

This isn't hard to understand.  We re-signed Clark, Bakh and Jones.  Playing the waiting game on King.  Did the right thing and let someone else pay Corey.

We were not and still are not in a position to make moves.

Sure, there was money out there with Adams and Rodgers.  Why Adams hasn't been re-done is beyond me.  I get waiting on Rodgers.

We are doing what we almost always do.  We are counting on growth from our young players to help us get better.  Gary, Savage, Alexander, Martin, Barnes, Keke, MVS, Dillon and Jenkins just to name a few.  All of these young guys have flashed already, some have already played at extremely high levels, and there is a good chance they become even better.

What we NEED to do is make a move or two to give us room to operate after we sign rookies.  Nail the draft, see what is left on the scrap heat and get into camp.

Get into the third year or second true year of an MFL offense.  Get into the first year of a Barry defense and simply RUN IT BACK.

[VonKarman]

22 minutes ago, Brit Pack said:

Already did.

Cut Preston $12m, redo Zee probably get $10m, move Bakh and Kenny salaries as signing bonuses gain $17m . That's $39m for you right there. Jaire's extension deal year 1 will probably account for about $5m against the cap. Amos and Billy are potential extensions and Crosby is a cut/extension as well as he'll account for $4.4m against the cap. There is plenty of flex there.

Also next year is the year to do something with Rodgers deal not this year, that can free up some of the $39m he'll account against the cap. Keep the man hungry, why pay him after just one great season again.

Main deal we gotta to get done, as you have noted is Adams. Need to extend him now to have some wiggle room this season.

So with those moves+Jaire's extension you save 34M and you are suddenly 12M under the cap. Substract 5M for draft picks+PS and you have 7M in cap space to sign 22 guys who will cost a minimum of 14M. So by doing that we would be 7M over the cap with just filling the roster with UDFAs. It's just too much in my opinion.

[VonKarman]

16 minutes ago, Joe said:

Exactly and the presumption that he's going to fall off a cliff soon is a bit much. We've seen no signs of him slowing down. This rush to get Jordan Love into the line-up is what isn't prudent at all as we've all agreed that Love needs a lot of time behind Rodgers before he is ready(which is yet another reason I absolutely hated the pick). Frankly, we WANT to have a Jimmy G/Brady situation with Jordan Love as we could potentially have a better shot at a better QB down the line provided we hit our marks with the draft and certain players continue to evolve.

In the meantime, could we restructure Rodgers? Should we restructure Rodgers? Personally, I think we should restructure both Rodgers and Z's contracts to free up some money. The question is who to we sign at this point? Personally, I think it's better if we wait and grab some solid, short-term role players post-draft.

You cannot restructure Z, it's already been done.

And Rodgers showed plenty of signs of regression between 2017 and 2019. He played great last year, but he was also in an ideal situation. We haven't all agreed that Love needs a lot of time behind Rodgers, as none of us knows how he's doing.

[{Family Ghost}]

14 minutes ago, Joe said:

Exactly and the presumption that he's going to fall off a cliff soon is a bit much. We've seen no signs of him slowing down. This rush to get Jordan Love into the line-up is what isn't prudent at all as we've all agreed that Love needs a lot of time behind Rodgers before he is ready(which is yet another reason I absolutely hated the pick). Frankly, we WANT to have a Jimmy G/Brady situation with Jordan Love as we could potentially have a better shot at a better QB down the line provided we hit our marks with the draft and certain players continue to evolve.

In the meantime, could we restructure Rodgers? Should we restructure Rodgers? Personally, I think we should restructure both Rodgers and Z's contracts to free up some money. The question is who to we sign at this point? Personally, I think it's better if we wait and grab some solid, short-term role players post-draft.

Probably too late on the extensions making the needed impact.  There's some players left, but you kind of have to figure the Packers aren't real players in free agency this year unless it's something dirt cheap.  The guys they have kind of coveted the past few years like Kyle Fuller, Will Fuller and Dalvin Tomlinson were available and the Packers were seemingly paralyzed by the salary cap.

[VonKarman]

25 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

I’m sorry you don’t understand how this works.

Every QB who does that deal does it in such a way as to have 1, 2 years if you’re lucky where he’s below that number.

Those years are the years teams are expected to take advantage of that.

The Packers didn’t, and they missed the Super Bowl by 5 points.

 

So you are just pulling some revisionist ****. Who was the guy to pick in the 1st that would have gotten us to the superbowl? There was one starting CB taking after Love (Jaylon Johnson) and no DT with more than 1.5 sacks in the entire year.

[VonKarman]

25 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

I’m sorry you don’t understand how this works.

Every QB who does that deal does it in such a way as to have 1, 2 years if you’re lucky where he’s below that number.

Those years are the years teams are expected to take advantage of that.

The Packers didn’t, and they missed the Super Bowl by 5 points.

 

So you are just pulling some revisionist ****. Who was the guy to pick in the 1st that would have gotten us to the superbowl? There was one starting CB taking after Love (Jaylon Johnson) and no DT with more than 1.5 sacks in the entire year.

[vegas492]

29 minutes ago, VonKarman said:

So you are just pulling some revisionist ****. Who was the guy to pick in the 1st that would have gotten us to the superbowl? There was one starting CB taking after Love (Jaylon Johnson) and no DT with more than 1.5 sacks in the entire year.

If we are playing revisionist history regarding Love, I'm trading back, accumulating picks and then moving up for both a WR like Claypool and a CB like Johnson or Diggs.

OR....I'm going nuclear and moving up to Atlanta and taking Lamb, or with Jax to take Jefferson.

And it's funny, as a fan, had we traded up, or traded out for a WR, I'd be sitting here talking about how it takes a couple years for an NFL receiver to really shine.  So I would have been fine with a redshirt year.

Different story for Love given how the season turned out.

Yah, I'm still fine with the Love selection, though I'm usually in favor of a trade down in most every draft.

[MacReady]

45 minutes ago, VonKarman said:

So you are just pulling some revisionist ****. Who was the guy to pick in the 1st that would have gotten us to the superbowl? There was one starting CB taking after Love (Jaylon Johnson) and no DT with more than 1.5 sacks in the entire year.

It’s the effort and the result.

You forgive a failed pick meant to help the team now.

You can’t forgive a 3 year investment taken in a year we were 5 points from a Super Bowl.