Jump to content

Random Packer News & Notes


Leader

Recommended Posts

3 minutes ago, Leader said:

Agree with this ^^^

I had no hassle with Hayward's nickle back/slot performance...but as I recall, his hammy's kept putting him on the sideline.
I also had no hassle with Hyde. He was a good ballplayer - let go for $$$ reasons - and he went on to be a better player in a broader role with BUF.

Agree about Hayward.

Disagree, only slightly about Hyde.  He was a good player here.  But he was more of a slot corner.  And he was routinely abused on crossing routes on third down when his lack of top end speed was exposed.  Thinking Buffalo is playing him more as a pure safety where his eyes and instincts are better utilized, as opposed to pure slot corner where he needed more pure speed.

And actually?  I'm pretty happy that they are both enjoying success in the league.  Also wishing we had "hit" on the guys we choose over them, but such is life in the NFL.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

I disagree about that one.  Hayward was always injured.  Always. 

Hayward was available for 51 of 64 games (~80%) during his 4 seasons in GB. All of his missed time came in a single season (2013) after he re-aggravated a hamstring injury from training camp. Considering the modest contract he ended up signing with SD, letting him walk was easily one of the biggest mistakes of TT's tenure.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Les Punting said:

Hayward was available for 51 of 64 games (~80%) during his 4 seasons in GB. All of his missed time came in a single season (2013) after he re-aggravated a hamstring injury from training camp. Considering the modest contract he ended up signing with SD, letting him walk was easily one of the biggest mistakes of TT's tenure.

That was the hardest part for me when I saw the numbers for his deal.  We had the perfect opportunity to keep a starting caliber CB for cheap.  Everything I ever read about the guy was that he was a class act.

I also really liked Hyde, his interception on Bridgewater is an all timer as far as  highlights but he was a steady, sure tackler and great on ST.  Apparently he was also a great safety.  One story about him, when I was watching a  training camp in GB, on punt return practice he was just effortlessly catching the ball even  the knuckle balls they were throwing and never missed one. Every time he would toss it back to the coaches it was a nice tight spiral.  In contrast, his team mate was fighting the ball everytime he brought it in and was throwing complete ducks back to the coaches, that was former basketball player Quinton Rollins who basically took his place the following season.  It stood out to me at the time to see a guy who was clearly dialed into football and had played it at a high level vs. a guy who had not.

I Hyde's case. We couldn't have paid him the contract that he got but I was sad to see him go.  Even more when he was lighting it up in Buffalo and we had the most rag tag secondary group that had been here in a while.

Edited by Refugee
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, Refugee said:

That was the hardest part for me when I saw the numbers for his deal.  We had the perfect opportunity to keep a starting caliber CB for cheap.  Everything I ever read about the guy was that he was a class act.

I also really liked Hyde, his interception on Bridgewater is an all timer as far as  highlights but he was a steady, sure tackler and great on ST.  Apparently he was also a great safety.  One story about him, when I was watching a  training camp in GB, on punt return practice he was just effortlessly catching the ball even  the knuckle balls they were throwing and never missed one. Every time he would toss it back to the coaches it was a nice tight spiral.  In contrast, his team mate was fighting the ball everytime he brought it in and was throwing complete ducks back to the coaches, that was former basketball player Quinton Rollins who basically took his place the following season.  It stood out to me at the time to see a guy who was clearly dialed into football and had played it at a high level vs. a guy who had not.

I Hyde's case. We couldn't have paid him the contract that he got but I was sad to see him go.  Even more when he was lighting it up in Buffalo and we had the most rag tag secondary group that had been here in a while.

Has SD won a Superbowl? Or even won a division recently? That's part of the issue that you can't just ignore. It's like the Chris Harris situation in Denver, great slot corner, but if you pay him as an elite corner (or even as like a top 15 corner) you can't have elite boundary corners on your roster. 10 times out of 10 you pay the position that is more important. Yes we could have used Heyward and Hyde, yes they were good players, but letting them walk is why we've been to multiple championship games since then. I'm annoyed as anyone that when we get there we post a historically bad defensive performance - or collapse in Seattle - but SD hasn't done squat (neither has Buffalo). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Refugee said:

That was the hardest part for me when I saw the numbers for his deal.  We had the perfect opportunity to keep a starting caliber CB for cheap.  Everything I ever read about the guy was that he was a class act.

I also really liked Hyde, his interception on Bridgewater is an all timer as far as  highlights but he was a steady, sure tackler and great on ST.  Apparently he was also a great safety.  One story about him, when I was watching a  training camp in GB, on punt return practice he was just effortlessly catching the ball even  the knuckle balls they were throwing and never missed one. Every time he would toss it back to the coaches it was a nice tight spiral.  In contrast, his team mate was fighting the ball everytime he brought it in and was throwing complete ducks back to the coaches, that was former basketball player Quinton Rollins who basically took his place the following season.  It stood out to me at the time to see a guy who was clearly dialed into football and had played it at a high level vs. a guy who had not.

I Hyde's case. We couldn't have paid him the contract that he got but I was sad to see him go.  Even more when he was lighting it up in Buffalo and we had the most rag tag secondary group that had been here in a while.

 

Still one of my favs plays from him. He definitely brought it and was great for special teams

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Leader said:


I also had no hassle with Hyde. He was a good ballplayer - let go for $$$ reasons - and he went on to be a better player in a broader role with BUF.

I know a lot of people at the time were just fine with letting Hyde go; I didn't see him as an All-Pro but I definitely felt that a slot corner/3rd safety/very good PR type guy would be difficult to replace. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Les Punting said:

Hayward was available for 51 of 64 games (~80%) during his 4 seasons in GB. All of his missed time came in a single season (2013) after he re-aggravated a hamstring injury from training camp. Considering the modest contract he ended up signing with SD, letting him walk was easily one of the biggest mistakes of TT's tenure.

There was no indication that he would have been that good. He was much better in SD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, oldmansmell said:

Has SD won a Superbowl? 

I mean, I like championships as much as anyone but that seems like a hard argument to justify moving a player, because he didn't single handedly bring his new team a SB.  31 teams don't go all the way every year.  Hayward signed a second deal for a ridiculously low amount and even at the time it was apparent.  Our secondary was also a mess for years after, he would have made us a better team on a very fair contract.  Would we have won it all?  impossible to say and probably not but that is true every season.  In hindsight, it was a bad move.

Edited by Refugee
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Mr Bad Example said:

I know a lot of people at the time were just fine with letting Hyde go; I didn't see him as an All-Pro but I definitely felt that a slot corner/3rd safety/very good PR type guy would be difficult to replace. 

I dont remember the salary details....paid versus left for $$$....but he was a handy guy to have around. Could cover alot of areas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, sshle_ said:

There was no indication that he would have been that good. He was much better in SD

His rookie year, he snagged six interceptions.  I put a Hayward jersey on my Christmas list that year.  His next year was injured.  His third year, he got 3 more interceptions.  Still nice, but a regression from his rookie year and enough to ask "was his first year a fluke".  His fourth year, no interceptions and a strong case was made that his rookie year was an anomaly..  With Sam Shields and the first two picks in the most recent draft both corners,  it made perfect sense to let him go.  

But his rookie season wasn't a fluke. It just felt like it during his time in GB.  Probably due to the overall struggles the back half had in the attempt to replace Nick Collins.

Never got that jersey.

Edited by Smidgeon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...