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Grading Ted's 2017 Free Agent Class

TheOnlyThing

By TheOnlyThing
in Green Bay Packers

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TheOnlyThing

TheOnlyThing

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When Ted Thompson signed seven veteran free agents from outside the organization before the start of the 2017 season, including multiple unrestricted free agents, his admirers were enraptured and most Packer fans were shocked given Ted’s well-earned disdain for free agency.

With the competitive portion of the Packers season now over what grade would you give to Ted’s 2017 free agent class?

My grades are below:

1) Martellus Bennett: Signed to a 3-year deal that included a $6.3M signing bonus, Bennett was, apparently unbeknownst to the Pack, damaged goods when he signed. He proved to be a distraction off the field and a disaster on it. Then, once Rodgers went down, he quit on the team and went back to New England. This will go down as one of the worst FA signings in Packer history. Grade F.

2) Lance Kendricks: Hailed as a solid number two TE to replace the pedestrian Richard Rodgers, Kendricks has 14 catches for 167 yards and 1 TD, even though Bennett has been gone from the lineup for half of the 14 games. His contract was modest but even then Kendricks has to be considered a disappointment. Grade D.

3) Davon House: One (now former?) FF poster went to extraordinary lengths to make the case that House was a bona fide stud CB and perhaps the steal of free agency. In reality, House was nothing more than average when he was not missing games due to injury just like during his first stop in Green Bay and proved Jax made the right decision by cutting him and upgrading with Bouye. Grade C-.

4) Rickey-Jean Francois: Signed to a modest deal to provide depth, others proved more capable and Francois was cut. No big deal one-way or the other. Grade C-.

5) Jahri Evans: Evans filled the gaping hole left by TJ Lang’s departure quite admirably. Though limited athletically at his age, Evans proved to be very serviceable. Grade A-.

6) Ahmad Brooks: Signed a few days before the first game when even Ted could no longer pretend there was anything behind Matthews & Perry, Brooks has contributed 1.5 sacks and missed several games due to injury. A perfect number 4 OLBer at this stage of his career, Brooks was asked to be a 3 and even started when Perry was out of the lineup with various ailments. Grade C-.

7) Quinton Dial: Brought in before the season opener to replace Christian Ringo, Dial has played little and had minimal impact. He is a just a guy. Grade C-.

Given that Bennett was supposed to be the big signing in this class and he turned out to be an F and given that 5 of the other 6 signings earned a C- or D from me, I was tempted to give the overall class a D+ grade. However, Evans was a very good signing, so I give Ted’s big 2017 free agent class a C-.

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MacReady

MacReady

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Don't call out people for having faith in Davon House.  His 2015 season didn't NOT happen, and there was every reason for optimism.  Unless you can disprove his stellar 2015 season, don't be a jerk about it.  I think that was Cadmus, and you should probably receive a warning for trolling because there is far too little of that effort on this site and you should be on your knees begging for forgiveness because the amount of work it takes to go through all that game footage should be thanked ad nauseum, not called out on when wrong. 

You can be negative all you want about the free agents, Ted Thompson, Dom Capers and anybody else, but don't call people out for providing wildly insightful, interesting and compelling information and visual evidence to back a claim on this site.

If you do that, they won't come back and we'll be left with, "Lol, you're wrong, this player sucks."  or "Lol, you're wrong, this player is awesome." 

If you weren't on 90% of ignore lists, people would be calling you out for all the times you were wrong.  Because don't sit there and act like you weren't one of the people ready to cut Davante Adams, and certainly don't sit there and act like you weren't okay with Hyde leaving, with Hayward leaving, and don't dare pretend like you were remotely hopeful Randall would turn it around.

People are wrong.  You start calling them out on it 17 weeks later and pretty soon nobody will say anything remotely "dangerous" or against the norm and this site will become crap where everybody agrees with everybody because they'll be afraid of being wrong on the Internet, where things are so important. 

 

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Dubz41

Dubz41

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1 hour ago, TheOnlyThing said:

When Ted Thompson signed seven veteran free agents from outside the organization before the start of the 2017 season, including multiple unrestricted free agents, his admirers were enraptured and most Packer fans were shocked given Ted’s well-earned disdain for free agency.

With the competitive portion of the Packers season now over what grade would you give to Ted’s 2017 free agent class?

My grades are below:

1) Martellus Bennett: Signed to a 3-year deal that included a $6.3M signing bonus, Bennett was, apparently unbeknownst to the Pack, damaged goods when he signed. He proved to be a distraction off the field and a disaster on it. Then, once Rodgers went down, he quit on the team and went back to New England. This will go down as one of the worst FA signings in Packer history. Grade F.

2) Lance Kendricks: Hailed as a solid number two TE to replace the pedestrian Richard Rodgers, Kendricks has 14 catches for 167 yards and 1 TD, even though Bennett has been gone from the lineup for half of the 14 games. His contract was modest but even then Kendricks has to be considered a disappointment. Grade D.

3) Davon House: One (now former?) FF poster went to extraordinary lengths to make the case that House was a bona fide stud CB and perhaps the steal of free agency. In reality, House was nothing more than average when he was not missing games due to injury just like during his first stop in Green Bay and proved Jax made the right decision by cutting him and upgrading with Bouye. Grade C-.

4) Rickey-Jean Francois: Signed to a modest deal to provide depth, others proved more capable and Francois was cut. No big deal one-way or the other. Grade C-.

5) Jahri Evans: Evans filled the gaping hole left by TJ Lang’s departure quite admirably. Though limited athletically at his age, Evans proved to be very serviceable. Grade A-.

6) Ahmad Brooks: Signed a few days before the first game when even Ted could no longer pretend there was anything behind Matthews & Perry, Brooks has contributed 1.5 sacks and missed several games due to injury. A perfect number 4 OLBer at this stage of his career, Brooks was asked to be a 3 and even started when Perry was out of the lineup with various ailments. Grade C-.

7) Quinton Dial: Brought in before the season opener to replace Christian Ringo, Dial has played little and had minimal impact. He is a just a guy. Grade C-.

Given that Bennett was supposed to be the big signing in this class and he turned out to be an F and given that 5 of the other 6 signings earned a C- or D from me, I was tempted to give the overall class a D+ grade. However, Evans was a very good signing, so I give Ted’s big 2017 free agent class a C-.

Wow, your hindsight is astounding.  The biggest factor here is that TT actually had a Free Agent list to ponder.  He actually was proactive and signed some folks this year.  Before Rodgers got hurt we were one of the favorites to go to the Super Bowl and this group was part of the reason why, veteran depth.  Just what a lot of people asked for.  It all turned to crap when ARod went down, lucky for you that you could just put on a different pair of 'judgy pants' and your hindsight goggles and complain again.  I get a feeling that if you won the lottery you'd complain about the taxes! Am I right!

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TheOnlyThing

TheOnlyThing

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23 minutes ago, HorizontoZenith said:

Don't call out people for having faith in Davon House.  .

Why would I call out people for having faith in Davon House when I applauded his signing and still do?

House was signed to a reasonable, 1-year contract. It would not have been a bad deal even if he had played terribly instead of just OK when he was not injured.

Heck, if the Pack would make a move for another, better boundary CB, I would not object to House also returning as veteran depth behind King, Randall, and that new CB.

Now, I certainly do think it was (and remains so today) wildly optimistic to have faith in House being anything other than an average to below average starting CB (with a significant history of injury) and will continue to espouse that position in the future.

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{Family Ghost}

{Family Ghost}

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This free agent group didn't work out like I had hoped.  I hope Ted continues to try again this next year, because I know relying almost solely on the draft will not work once the inevitable injuries strike.  All told this was a group of street free agents .. maybe the quality of player would go up if Ted actually really played the free agent game.  

Bennett .. thought this guy would be a pro bowl TE for us.  I knew he was a total jackass, but he typically didn't wear his welcome out until his 2nd or 3rd year in the program.  Oh well .. swing and a miss .. makes me wish the Jared Cook resigning would have been the slam dunk I thought it would be.  Now we need another TE.  Kendricks disappointed ... offered almost nothing out there.

House .. I never bought into the hype ... he's the same guy that was here several years ago.  He's a decent player when healthy .. problem is he always is hurt.  He teases more than he actually performs.  You just can't count on the guy.  Another one year deal may be in order, but you better have a backup plan.

Francois ..  he must have next to nothing left as he's been cut about 3 or 4 times this year.

Jahri Evans .. this was Ted's best signing.  He was pretty solid and dependable.  I wouldn't say he was great, but he's a solid vet starter you can win with.  I'd bring him back for another go around, but with his age you have to be a little wary.

Brooks .. seems like he's been fairly productive of late .. too many injuries though.  I'd still maybe bring him back for more year, but it had better be for bargain basement dough.

Dial .. I don't here his name much during games .. seems he's a grinder that does pretty well in run defense and then offers little to nothing in pass rush.  He's fairly young .. wouldn't mind seeing him back.

 

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AlexGreen#20

AlexGreen#20

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Welcome to FA. Where you pay the most money for a player's (who their home team didn't want) services. This is an average to good free agency class. You got decent veteran production. This is what FA looks like.

I know it's been a while since many of you have seen it because you only pay attention to one team, but Free Agency is not Black Friday where there are amazing products marked down to half their value. Free Agency is a Cold War era Soviet black market trading post where you can buy a load of bread and a pair of Levi's for $100. Sure there is the occasional legitimate player that hits the market, but that's almost always because the home team didn't want to retain their services at money asked. 

Every few years, you might get lucky and hit on a difference maker, but how frequently can you expect that to happen? With Woodson and Peppers, Thompson has pulled in 2 of them in 8 years. That's above average for sure. 

The other caveat is that when difference makers do hit the market, it blows up your cap to pull them away. Look at Olivier Vernon in New York or Suh in Miami. Those contracts kill you if those guys aren't top of the league and neither are, though Suh is closer. 

 

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AlexGreen#20

AlexGreen#20

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1 minute ago, incognito_man said:

Also see: winner's dillema.

Bennett is another example of the team imploding when Rodgers went down. Team is built around him. This is the result.

Actually disagree with this. Bennett's a ****, and everybody knew he was a ****. Don't sign ****s.

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cannondale

cannondale

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Guys like House, when they can stay healthy, are the meat and potatoes of your roster. 

House should not be your #1 corner, but he isn't gonna cost you 10 mill per either. When used properly, you can win with him. After your superstars and guys on rookie deals, a bunch of guys like House are a good thing

Evans was a Patriot like signing. Grab a guy on the down side, hope he stays healthy, and squeeze every last bit of football out of him at a bargain rate.

Francois was the bargain basement version of Evans and an example where it didn't work out

Kendricks was the disappointment. No reason he shouldn't have had a bigger impact. Don't know why

Have no clue why we moved on from Cook - he seemed like a Packer guy

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