2022 OTA's / Minicamp / Training Camp / PreSeason / Super Bowl

[Uffdaswede]

2 hours ago, Packerraymond said:

First time watching that since it happened live. My guess is that is why Henry Black is no longer on this football team. Imagine being the position called "the protector" and not even looking at the rush, only your way out to track the punt.

Just like Bostick, I imagine Wirtel and Black will not be on next year's squad as there are some blown assignments that are just unforgivable.

...and they were under such a microscope at that point. In the end, the team's inability to get competent coaching, scheme and player performance on teams last year is a mark on MLF as much as anyone. Let's hope that the new guy has better ideas than just calling teams the "Wefense". I think he probably does, so...we'll see.

[Refugee]

21 hours ago, Uffdaswede said:

...and they were under such a microscope at that point. In the end, the team's inability to get competent coaching, scheme and player performance on teams last year is a mark on MLF as much as anyone. Let's hope that the new guy has better ideas than just calling teams the "Wefense". I think he probably does, so...we'll see.

The new guy is not so new to the NFL and has a long-standing track record not just based on catch phrases. I think our young head coach bringing in the seasoned veteran was a very solid move in the right direction. We have to root out years of subpar play but if anyone can rebuild it, I think we’re in good hands with Bisaccia.  I don’t expect water into wine but I have high expectations for this year’s group. 

[Dubz41]

On 5/18/2022 at 9:52 PM, Uffdaswede said:

Not that great at not getting run over like a carboard cutout of a blocker…

Honestly, that was pretty Bostick-y.

Bostick and Wirtel sittin in a tree

S-U-C-K-I-N-G

First comes dumba$$

Then comes rag toss

Then comes NFC championship loss!

Yes, Wirtel got run over. Someone tell me WTF Henry Black is doing on that play? If you can catch the endzone angle you'll be appalled.  Black is the new Bostic.

[Chili]

I've spent the last couple of days researching ST trying to understand the positions and the body types required as well as getting a better picture of who's the key bottom of the roster players in our 53 man roster. Now before you make fun of me, there were several ST positions which I have no idea as to what they're called so I've made up some names for them! Please let me know what the correct names are. I hope the spreadsheets will easy enough for you to follow. Blue is detroit lineup, purple is vikings lineup and orange is candidates for ST next season. I have categorised A to C for body types and then counted how many of those body types for each ST unit. I have listed all the punt and kick return candidates on the roster...unfortunately it isn't a very encouraging group.

 

I went through two game recordings speeding through to the ST parts, one at the beginning of the season vs the Lions showcasing our full strength ST lineups and the other at the end of the season vs the Vikings showing our makeshift lineups. The latter is somewhat interesting because it will give you an insight as to which players might make the roster next season.

Of course there's a possibility that Bisaccia will have other ideas about what body types he wants for his units and how they will line up but it's unlikely there will be much of a difference.

First I learned that the field goal defence team comprises mostly of defensive players which makes sense because their skills translate from rushing the QB to rushing the Kicker. Same for Field Goal & Extra point team, it's filled with mostly OL to protect the K just like they protect the QB.

I sense Ford has a legit shot at making the roster to replace Lancaster's roles on field goals.

LB/TE/FB body types are hugely important. I was actually surprised to see no OL/DL on Punt and Kickoff Return teams because I thought you needed a couple of big guys to wall off tacklers and create lanes for the returner. Instead they use those big LB/TE/FB types do this.

With Ramsey out last season the Packers were able to keep all four of Summers, Barnes, McDuffie and Burks. With Burks gone i'm fully expecting Carpenter to take over nearly all of Burks ST roles. With Ramsey back in the mix I feel like there's just two roster spots available between Summers, Barnes and McDuffie. Summers is probably the best ST of the three but he's also the oldest at 26. Barnes is 24 and McDuffie is soon to be 23. When deciding the final roster spots I can't help but think they might lean towards McDuffie due to his age and draft status. Barnes roster spot is in serious jeopardy having been pushed down to #3 ILB by Walker. He really needs to show well on ST to have any hope of making the roster. At the moment he doesn't have any meaningful ST roles.

Black was a major player on ST but i've noticed the Packers did not do much in the draft and in free agency to replace him. As of now Gaines and Scott are in really good position to take advantage. Scott was on the roster all last season but he never played.

Hill was an important ST asset for us contributing in a number of different roles. Assuming he's on PUP to begin the season he will need to be replaced. I wonder if Rodgers can switch from making returns to chasing down returners instead?  Their body types are very similar. I found out that Goodson, another similar body type, had only nine ST snaps for his entire college career! I can't see how Goodson can make the roster based on that info. Don't write off Rodgers too soon!

Yiadom was an absolutely key contributor on nearly ALL ST units for the entire season until he was suddenly cut right before the divisional playoff game. That's actually a shocking move which i'm only now just beginning to appreciate when originally at the time thought it was just your run of the mill roster move. The good news is we signed Nixon who is essentially Yiadom's replacement. Nixon is going to be very important for us on a number of ST units. That was an critical offseason signing we needed to make.

This leads me to the Gunners and Jammers. We're actually quite weak in this department. The main gunners will almost certainly be Nixon and Malik Taylor. We do lose St Brown who is 6'5" and fast, other than Watson unfortunately we don't have another player with that body type. The main jammers will be Nixon and Stokes. After that the roster depth becomes spotty. I can tell you right now that Jean-Charles is not a viable jammer, he's too small and too slow. Watching him pathetically trying to stop the Viking gunner was all I needed to see. Honestly I don't see him making the roster. If we want to have a viable return game we need good jammers to slow down the opposing Gunners. I strongly believe that Ento will finally make the roster as he has the required physical traits. There's a possibility Douglas might be able to do it too. Winfree and Toure are also options but their main focus will be at gunner. For now I believe we will keep only one of them to backup our main gunners. Toure actually looks a little slight to be a gunner but I really want us to keep him because he will provide a Will Fuller type option for our offence. Gafford is actually a dark horse candidate for both roles.

Our punt and kick returners options is not looking great at all. It seems fairly obvious on paper that Doubs and Watson will be our main punt and kick returners as our options is severely limited. I would be amazed if Rodgers managed to beat one or both of them out. The whole point was to improve special teams, not more of the same. Again Gafford is a dark horse despite his limited returning experience.

Overall, despite a very poor special teams, we parted ways with several contributors in Burks, Black, Yiadom, Rivers, St Brown, Lancaster, Keke, Bojorquez and possibly Wirtel. To replace them we've added Carpenter, Nixon, Enagbare, Ford, Wyatt, Walker, O'Donnell and possibly Coco. We likely replaced Rodgers with Doubs and Watson. We're probably going to replace up to half of the players on each ST unit that started last season. That's a big turnover and a fairly inexperienced unit but hopefully with Bisaccia and his staff coaching they will perform much better and more cohesively.

It feels like the management already knows for the most part who their 53 is going to be, just a few question marks over which ILB wins a roster spot and how many because that will determine how many TE and FB we will keep. I feel very confident we will keep 7 WRs but who takes the last one or two roster spots? Taylor, Winfree, Toure? Keeping 7 WR likely means keeping 5 DL so we can't keep both Reed and Ford in this scenario.

If there's going to be a SHOCKING roster cut it will be Cobb. He didn't play ST at all last season and that puts him in a weak position. If they feel Watkins is an upgrade and Rodgers improves sufficiently enough then Cobb is going to be in trouble.

Its interesting to see how we handled the defensive backs turnover. King, Sullivan, Yiadom and Black are all gone and yet we did not draft anyone. We only brought in one safety and one corner in UDFA. Signing Douglas replaces King, Nixon replaces Yiadom but the rest of the roster spots looks like it will be dealt with from within. The Packers must really like their depth replacements such as Ento, Gaines and Scott despite the fact they all barely played last year. Having said that it would not surprise me if we sign another FA corner to add more experienced depth.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. People go into alot of detail on offence and defence but special teams as a subject matter is very sorely lacking, other than returners, kickers, punters and long snappers there is very little discussion in this important aspect of football. Special teams can often determine the outcome of the game. A big punt or kick off return for long yardage or a touchdown can change the score quickly and turn the momentum of the game. Many games are determined by a last minute field goal. Also, close games are often determined by field position and the punting team has a huge impact on field position.

When you're making your 53 man roster predictions lay out all the obvious roster locks and then you can use those speadsheets to figure out who will fill the remaining roster spots.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Chili

[oldmansmell]

4 minutes ago, Chili said:

f there's going to be a SHOCKING roster cut it will be Cobb. He didn't play ST at all last season and that puts him in a weak position. If they feel Watkins is an upgrade and Rogers improves sufficiently enough then Cobb is going to be in trouble.

But who will replace his three third down conversions and one touchdown between weeks 9 and 12? After he recovers from his hamstring in training camp, and before he gets shutdown for his ankle. Also, great write up.

Edited May 22, 2022 by oldmansmell

[Norm]

Sammy Watkins got three TDs in the first half of opening week in my Madden game before he got hurt today.

I laughed. 

[Tperk]

2 minutes ago, Norm said:

Sammy Watkins got three TDs in the first half of opening week in my Madden game before he got hurt today.

I laughed. 

Did ya text MLF and tell him we need to sign another vet WR?

[thrILL!]

47 minutes ago, Tperk said:

Did ya text MLF and tell him we need to sign another vet WR?

Who do you think Norm was playing in Madden?

[Tperk]

10 minutes ago, thrILL! said:

Who do you think Norm was playing in Madden?

Was MLF using the Packers too, so it was like an intra-squad game?

[Norm]

19 minutes ago, Tperk said:

Was MLF using the Packers too, so it was like an intra-squad game?

Yes, and he beat while starting Jordan Love.

[CWood21]

15 hours ago, Chili said:

If there's going to be a SHOCKING roster cut it will be Cobb. He didn't play ST at all last season and that puts him in a weak position. If they feel Watkins is an upgrade and Rodgers improves sufficiently enough then Cobb is going to be in trouble.

Even without much ST value, Cobb is safe.  Gute isn't going to try and piss off Rodgers.

[NFLGURU]

13 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Even without much ST value, Cobb is safe.  Gute isn't going to try and piss off Rodgers.

Agree, Cobb is making peanuts and Rodgers wants him.  Cobb while slower and not what he once was can be pretty savvy and crafty.  A good guy to mentor the young WRs.  

[Leader]

Cutting Cobb = the Jordy/Kumerow situation (take your pick...) on steroids.
Only way Cobb's not on the 53 man is with some significant injury.

[R T]

13 minutes ago, Leader said:

Cutting Cobb = the Jordy/Kumerow situation (take your pick...) on steroids.
Only way Cobb's not on the 53 man is with some significant injury.

Correct, I will add that the Packers are not flippantly making any decisions when making roster moves. If moving on from Cobb was the thought, it would have been done in March before they all went through the process of reworking his contract. They are not cutting him and taking on a 2M+ cap hit to cut him now.  

[Toddfather]

On 5/21/2022 at 12:06 AM, Dubz41 said:

Yes, Wirtel got run over. Someone tell me WTF Henry Black is doing on that play? If you can catch the endzone angle you'll be appalled.  Black is the new Bostic.

First time I've watched anything from that game since it happened... That was pathetic...