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

[VonKarman]

[Joe]

1 hour ago, {Family Ghost} said:

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.

Right, but were those guys going to radically transform this team the way the Smiths, Amos, and Turner have? I'm not seeing it.

LIS, hit on the draft, sign some viable UDFA's, and then grab a couple of short-term role players that can get you over the hump and into the Super Bowl and who can pave the way for their eventual replacements found in the draft. Not that difficult of a task IMHO.

[{Family Ghost}]

1 minute ago, Joe said:

Right, but were those guys going to radically transform this team the way the Smiths, Amos, and Turner have? I'm not seeing it.

LIS, hit on the draft, sign some viable UDFA's, and then grab a couple of short-term role players that can get you over the hump and into the Super Bowl and who can pave the way for their eventual replacements found in the draft. Not that difficult of a task IMHO.

I think they'd have helped for sure.  Fuller is a pro bowl caliber corner, and would have been a major upgrade over King.  Tomlinson a major upgrade over Lowry or Lancaster.  Two moves like that could have made a big difference in my opinion.  It's hard to count on draft picks when you are picking at the end of every round, plus Gute has a spotty record when it comes to higher picks.   

[SSG]

 

1 hour ago, VonKarman said:

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.

What changed in Rodgers situation from 2019 to 2020?  I mean if his 2020 season was the result of "an ideal situation" surely we can point to a drastic change in the offense that made the situation more ideal in 2020?

 

You are right, none of us know about Love. The last time we seen him throw the football, it was a horror show of terrible decisions.  He followed a disastrous year at Utah State up with a terrible couple weeks of practices which resulted in him being firmly designated as the GBP's 3rd string QB.  We don't know if we've got the next Patrick Mahomes or the next Deshone Kizer.

Edited March 22, 2021 by SSG

[TransientTexan]

15 minutes ago, {Family Ghost} said:

Fuller is a pro bowl caliber corner

He didn’t play that way last year, despite CHI having a top-5 pass rush. Which is probably why he only got a 1-yr deal in FA. 
 

15 minutes ago, {Family Ghost} said:

Gute has a spotty record when it comes to higher picks

How so? His only “miss” so far in the 1st two rounds has been Josh Jackson. Jury is still out on the 2020 class. 

[Brit Pack]

2 hours ago, VonKarman said:

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.

That's where the extensions of existing players comes in e.g Crosby, Billy and Amos. 

Next season I feel is when you address Rodgers and that will create the cap room you want/need. He will either be traded or if continues to play lights out, a restructure will happen to lower the cap hit and add a few more years and more cash.

Edited March 22, 2021 by Brit Pack

[incognito_man]

Last year we stayed remarkably healthy. I see the following players/positions having a decline in production/value in 2021 relative to 2020:

Center --- : We go from best center in the league to a big question mark. If Jenkins slides in, the "---" shifts from center to guard. Biggest loss heading into 2021.

DL -- : I have a gut feeling the Smith brothers are declining. We have a pretty atrocious DL group outside of Clark. A surge from Gary, or a FA add could do wonders here.

CB -- : We are very, very thin here. 

OT -- : We lost an incredible value player here (Wagner) with no replacement. Our star is coming off ACL surgery.

RB - : Replacing Williams' snaps w/ Dillon's. Unknown, but Jones will struggle to repeat his efficiency production I think.

QB - : Hard to repeat an MVP caliber season.

Every other position is net neutral at this point. Feeling like an 8-10 win season right now.

[{Family Ghost}]

20 minutes ago, TransientTexan said:

He didn’t play that way last year, despite CHI having a top-5 pass rush. Which is probably why he only got a 1-yr deal in FA. 
 

How so? His only “miss” so far in the 1st two rounds has been Josh Jackson. Jury is still out on the 2020 class. 

I was thinking of Jackson, Burks and Sternberger, but the latter two are probably best described as middle round picks. 

[gopackgo972]

31 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

Last year we stayed remarkably healthy. I see the following players/positions having a decline in production/value in 2021 relative to 2020:

Center --- : We go from best center in the league to a big question mark. If Jenkins slides in, the "---" shifts from center to guard. Biggest loss heading into 2021.

DL -- : I have a gut feeling the Smith brothers are declining. We have a pretty atrocious DL group outside of Clark. A surge from Gary, or a FA add could do wonders here.

CB -- : We are very, very thin here. 

OT -- : We lost an incredible value player here (Wagner) with no replacement. Our star is coming off ACL surgery.

RB - : Replacing Williams' snaps w/ Dillon's. Unknown, but Jones will struggle to repeat his efficiency production I think.

QB - : Hard to repeat an MVP caliber season.

Every other position is net neutral at this point. Feeling like an 8-10 win season right now.

Regression and a tough schedule is not a good recipe. 7 opponents that were playoff teams in 2020

[{Family Ghost}]

29 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

Last year we stayed remarkably healthy. I see the following players/positions having a decline in production/value in 2021 relative to 2020:

Center --- : We go from best center in the league to a big question mark. If Jenkins slides in, the "---" shifts from center to guard. Biggest loss heading into 2021.

DL -- : I have a gut feeling the Smith brothers are declining. We have a pretty atrocious DL group outside of Clark. A surge from Gary, or a FA add could do wonders here.

CB -- : We are very, very thin here. 

OT -- : We lost an incredible value player here (Wagner) with no replacement. Our star is coming off ACL surgery.

RB - : Replacing Williams' snaps w/ Dillon's. Unknown, but Jones will struggle to repeat his efficiency production I think.

QB - : Hard to repeat an MVP caliber season.

Every other position is net neutral at this point. Feeling like an 8-10 win season right now.

When it comes to the Oline .. just re-sign Veldheer. Guy can play left or right tackle.  He's started games in the playoffs at each position the past two years.  If Bak is a little slow to return Veldheer can fill that spot for a few games.  I don't understand why he's not already re-signed.  Jenkins should go to C. 

Dline and Inside Backer probably won't get fixed with anything meaningful.  

I think they will draft a couple corners, but I hate the idea of having to count on them to perform early on. It's asking for trouble. 

[vegas492]

35 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

Last year we stayed remarkably healthy. I see the following players/positions having a decline in production/value in 2021 relative to 2020:

Center --- : We go from best center in the league to a big question mark. If Jenkins slides in, the "---" shifts from center to guard. Biggest loss heading into 2021.  Jenkins played there this past year with no drop off.  Linsley started as a rookie.  Much love and respect for Corey, but centers aren't terribly difficult to replace.  

DL -- : I have a gut feeling the Smith brothers are declining. We have a pretty atrocious DL group outside of Clark. A surge from Gary, or a FA add could do wonders here.  Guess I feel like they have hit their prime, so far as age and production goes.  But, that's EDGE.  Outside of Clark, there's only Keke who shows promise of being an exciting player.  

CB -- : We are very, very thin here.   Weakest spot on the roster, and that's saying something considering our IDL group.  

OT -- : We lost an incredible value player here (Wagner) with no replacement. Our star is coming off ACL surgery.  Wagner was an afterthought last year in free agency.  Not so sure he doesn't come back during camp.  Keep the body fresh.  Don't know why, but I have hope for Nijman.

RB - : Replacing Williams' snaps w/ Dillon's. Unknown, but Jones will struggle to repeat his efficiency production I think.  Only thing we miss is JWill's dancing and enthusiasm.  It is a locker room loss.  But a pretty big gain in the football game.  Dillon's just flat out better.  No worries concerning Jones.

QB - : Hard to repeat an MVP caliber season.  I believe in this offense, Rodgers can play for 5 more years easily.  And he will look like last year, if not even better.

Every other position is net neutral at this point. Feeling like an 8-10 win season right now.  ?  I can draft a corner to start opposite Jaire.  Sully in the slot.  Draft another one in the mid rounds as a pure slot corner and the secondary is better.  I can grab an OT somewhere for depth and draft a quality center in round 4.  Find value WR when it presents itself.  My only issue is the DL.  We need help there.  We are a 10-13 win team again.  We have a lot of young kids progressing.  Have faith!

Not sayin' you are wrong, but the "other side" of the responses are in red.  

[VonKarman]

1 hour ago, SSG said:

 

What changed in Rodgers situation from 2019 to 2020?  I mean if his 2020 season was the result of "an ideal situation" surely we can point to a drastic change in the offense that made the situation more ideal in 2020?

 

You are right, none of us know about Love. The last time we seen him throw the football, it was a horror show of terrible decisions.  He followed a disastrous year at Utah State up with a terrible couple weeks of practices which resulted in him being firmly designated as the GBP's 3rd string QB.  We don't know if we've got the next Patrick Mahomes or the next Deshone Kizer.

One more year in the system for everyone is probably the biggest factor. Besides having a few guys like Lazard, MVS or Jenkins improving due to their young age. The entire OL worked together for a second straight year. We had the best QB, C, LT and WR of the league in offense. A Top 3-5 LG. There's a few things that probably will stay the same next season, but generally speaking some regression is due to happen. Specially since we already lost Linsley.

 

P.S. Love was always going to be the 3rd-string QB going into preseason with no OTAs. I believe the same thing happened to Rodgers in his rookie deal.

[VonKarman]

1 hour ago, Brit Pack said:

That's where the extensions of existing players comes in e.g Crosby, Billy and Amos. 

Next season I feel is when you address Rodgers and that will create the cap room you want/need. He will either be traded or if continues to play lights out, a restructure will happen to lower the cap hit and add a few more years and more cash.

Yeah, we'll probably have to do that. But it shows how hard it's gonna be for us to stay under the cap. However I think that Crosby said that he wanted to finish his contract and retired, so we'll probably only going to be able to add void years to his contract.

[Striker]

53 minutes ago, VonKarman said:

One more year in the system for everyone is probably the biggest factor. Besides having a few guys like Lazard, MVS or Jenkins improving due to their young age. The entire OL worked together for a second straight year. We had the best QB, C, LT and WR of the league in offense. A Top 3-5 LG. There's a few things that probably will stay the same next season, but generally speaking some regression is due to happen. Specially since we already lost Linsley.

 

P.S. Love was always going to be the 3rd-string QB going into preseason with no OTAs. I believe the same thing happened to Rodgers in his rookie deal.

He ended up "beating" Nall on potential. Nall easily outplayed Rodgers that preseason.

[Packerraymond]

2 hours ago, incognito_man said:

Last year we stayed remarkably healthy. I see the following players/positions having a decline in production/value in 2021 relative to 2020:

Center --- : We go from best center in the league to a big question mark. If Jenkins slides in, the "---" shifts from center to guard. Biggest loss heading into 2021.

DL -- : I have a gut feeling the Smith brothers are declining. We have a pretty atrocious DL group outside of Clark. A surge from Gary, or a FA add could do wonders here.

CB -- : We are very, very thin here. 

OT -- : We lost an incredible value player here (Wagner) with no replacement. Our star is coming off ACL surgery.

RB - : Replacing Williams' snaps w/ Dillon's. Unknown, but Jones will struggle to repeat his efficiency production I think.

QB - : Hard to repeat an MVP caliber season.

Every other position is net neutral at this point. Feeling like an 8-10 win season right now.

Jones, Adams, Bakh, Linsley, Turner,  Wagner, Clark, Kirksey, Barnes, Martin Alexander, King, Savage, all missed games last year.

We were incredibly healthy in 2019, last year I recall we were mid-pack.