Round 3 Pick 92; Sean Rhyan OL, UCLA

[Old Guy]

11 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

I mean, he's only playing in less than 20% of the offensive snaps this year.  He's closer to being out of the league than he is receiving another contract at this point in time.

Did you read the post i was responding to? I actually said we should let: JRJ, Meyers and Ryhan go and replace them when the time came UNLESS Rhyan turned into an elite player. It was a point about who you give and don't give big contracts to. 

You totally misconstrued my statement. 

[OneTwoSixFive]

17 hours ago, craig said:

Yes, I can't remind myself of that often enough.  We're just coming out from an extended stretch of cap pressure, but we'll return to it in no time.  Any millions unnecessarily spent next year are millions we'll wish we had a year or two later.  

Tangent:  When Gute came in, he spent a bunch (successfully) on Z, Preston, Billy Turner.  It worked great, and he was praised as being non-TT.  But FA spending is always a manifestation of how well or poorly you drafted.  That splurge into FA was totally the consequence of drafting ineffectively.  Now that we've been drafting well again, plus with the extra picks three years straight, all cap space is going to get gobbled by draftees worth re-signing.  Gute like TT should be facing years with draftees earning all the cap space and none left for outside FA's.  

Tangent 2:  I don't remember the exact number of years, but I saw a note that bad-drafting-Belichek has gone many years without re-signing a draftee from rounds 1-3.  That kind of lousy drafting is exactly why they are in current dreadful situation.  And why a coach should not be entrusted with drafting and GM-ing!  

So true about Belichick. Head coaches that are effectively their own GMs, are almost always spread too thin to be effective at both, like Mike Holmgren, Mike Sherman or BB.

Draft and develop also gets you any great players that you acquire on a (relatively speaking) cheap contract for several years before they get the current market value on a 2nd or later contract. Premium FAs are normally top-tier immediately, in terms of cost. They can solve problems, but dig a deep hole into your cap.

One of the benefits of having a stable head coach (and GM) situation, is that they are not panicked into stupid spending at the time and ignoring the future cost, for fear of losing their jobs in the short term.

Edited January 9 by OneTwoSixFive

[craig]

16 hours ago, OneTwoSixFive said:

.........Once you get away from having a variety of ages on a team and 'go young', you ...have cap problems as you try to keep a lot of the guys you have developed. This problem is only made worse by having $50m+ spent on your franchise QB.

...One solution is to go young again, but that only works if you draft successfully again - and that is very hard to do, to the extent Gute did in 2022 and 2023.

To some extent, the cap will necessitate more variety of ages down the road.  We've got guys good enough to command 2nd contracts, so we'll have a broader distribution of 1st-and-2nd-contract guys.  

But then the key will having 1st-contract guys who are actually good.  As you say, that only works if you draft successfully. 

1. Adams and Rodgers trades.  Had extra 1st and 2nd, extra second, and upcoming an extra 2nd and 3rd (Rasul).  All those extra picks help!  
2. Having a couple of <10-win seasons gives picks in the teens instead of 20's.  Each round.  That sure helped.  Had we won an extra 2-3 games last season, might neither Musgrave nor Kraft been available?  
3. With a bundle of good draftees all inflating into 2nd contracts at the same time, we'll lose some.  Perhaps many, and perhaps some who are very, very good?  Getting comp picks after rounds 4 or 5 normally doesn't help like 2nd-rounders do, but that might help a little bit?

[craig]

In recent years, the Packers have taken a star-focused team-building approach.  Bakhti, Jaire, and Clark were all biggest-contract-ever for their positions.  I think they've also been forced into some draft-for-need, sometimes.  Obviously Love was not.  But Myers and Watson, Randall+Rollins, perhaps some others?

In TT's prime, the roster was so broad that he was often able to  draft a year ahead.  I wonder if, with a larger influx of young talent, they might be able to get back to that a little better?  And perhaps if they have a better flow of D+D rising, perhaps sometimes let a price-setting big-ticket go, replace with next man up, and be able to spread that money around?  

Should be some really interesting and challenging decision-making for Gute in the years ahead.  Man, I sure wouldn't want the complexity of that responsibility! 

[vegas492]

I'm just thankful that in year 2, Rhyan looks like someone that can start for us next year.  Because after year one, he looked more like a guy who would be out of the league.

Not sure we see a drop off at RG if Rhyan replaces JRJ next year.

Also?  We need to draft another interior player (or two) for depth and to push that spot.

But it is nice to see some improvement out of him.  I still feel like there's a very good player in there.  Like his upside should be better than JRJ.  Hopefully we get that out of him.