No room on roster for driver

[ivo610]

http://m.lacrossetribune.com/sports...cle_f4390cc6-9a54-11e1-a3f5-001a4bcf887a.html

 

[longtimefan]

time will tell

 

[FrankRizzo]

Hines Ward path?

 

[Stevie DK]

As much as i like DD, I would like him to stop on top, remember him for all he's done here.
If he takes a pay cut, and he's production continue to decline, he will slowly get push'd out of the organisation, and that's the last thing you wanna see for a guy like DD.
I really hope DD will consider retire him and he's cleats, and do it in a classy way instead of another big player leaving GB.

And at last, there are some talented PS guys, we can't afford loosing, though i think the Packers will have 6 WR's on the Roster this year, which could be huge for DD, he could be the mentor with some playing time.

 

[TJV]

More comments on whether or not Driver has a future in Green Bay:
http://www.packerforum.com/threads/...onald-driver-has-a-future-in-green-bay.36398/

 

[mradtke66]

That article summarizes my feeling on the issue rather well. It's not that Driver can't play, it's that he's the 5th best wide receiver on our roster, and the 6th best if count Finley. That is not the spot for a 37 year old. It's not even the spot for a 27 year old.

It's the spot for a kid to prove his worth, a seventh rounder or undrafted free agent. The next underdog story. The next Donald Driver.

 

[ivo610]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/41946/no-rush-on-packers-donald-driver-decision

 

[60six]

As much as i like DD, I would like him to stop on top, remember him for all he's done here.
If he takes a pay cut, and he's production continue to decline, he will slowly get push'd out of the organisation, and that's the last thing you wanna see for a guy like DD.
I really hope DD will consider retire him and he's cleats, and do it in a classy way instead of another big player leaving GB.

And at last, there are some talented PS guys, we can't afford loosing, though i think the Packers will have 6 WR's on the Roster this year, which could be huge for DD, he could be the mentor with some playing time.

I dont see 6 WRs on the roster, TT has never carried 6, plus he likes to have extra TEs and LBs for STs.

Hope DD hangs em up before he gets cut.

 

[7thFloorRA]

I will take DD over Hawk any day.

 

[Stevie DK]

I dont see 6 WRs on the roster, TT has never carried 6, plus he likes to have extra TEs and LBs for STs.

Hope DD hangs em up before he gets cut.

Well, Ted is changing, he started with picking up FA's, in the draft he didn't do he's normal draft, by picking the best player available, and he was trading like you never seen him do before.
I think the chance of 6 WR's is pretty good, with or without DD.
And Ryan Taylor will be call'd a TE this season??

 

[60six]

Well, Ted is changing, he started with picking up FA's, in the draft he didn't do he's normal draft, by picking the best player available, and he was trading like you never seen him do before.
I think the chance of 6 WR's is pretty good, with or without DD.
And Ryan Taylor will be call'd a TE this season??

Its a numbers game. If TT goes with 6 WRs, at what roster spot would you suggest we go light? The only chance I see it happening is if Quarless starts the year on PUP list. Even with that I see it as a slight chance b/c I'm thinking TT wants to keep an extra LB or Dline body instead of Driver.

 

[13 Times Champs]

Well, Ted is changing, he started with picking up FA's, in the draft he didn't do he's normal draft, by picking the best player available, and he was trading like you never seen him do before.
I think the chance of 6 WR's is pretty good, with or without DD.
And Ryan Taylor will be call'd a TE this season??

Huh? Ted has always been looking for free agents. Check out our roster. Do we know he didn't pick the best player available on his draft board? He traded up to get Matthews and has made trades before in the draft.

I don't see him (isn't this McCarthy's decision?) keeping 6 WR's.

 

[ivo610]

You could argue for 6 with out offense but still doesn't leave a spot for DD IMO

 

[Darth Garfunkel]

It sucks but Father Time always wins. I think DD is gone.

 

[packa7x]

I honestly think Driver is the 3rd best WR on the team right now, but I think it's time for him to hang it up. Jones is stone hands 50% of the time and Cobb got by on athletic ability. The Pack used Cobb a lot on quick slants, but it seems like they didn't have him running a full route tree. Driver was VERY sure handed last year and was able to make some key plays. To this day, it amazes me how that man can contort his body like frickin Gumby. The problem is, he's not getting younger or better and that's the way the team stays competitive...by keeping young ascending stars on the team and knowing when to cut the ties with aging vets. Like you guys, I share the hope that he decides to hang it up instead of being forced out.

 

[Stevie DK]

Huh? Ted has always been looking for free agents. Check out our roster. Do we know he didn't pick the best player available on his draft board? He traded up to get Matthews and has made trades before in the draft.

I don't see him (isn't this McCarthy's decision?) keeping 6 WR's.

Huh? Of course he is looking for FA's, but rarely signs any big name FA's, maybe you are thinking about UDFA's
And TT traded up for CM3 in 2009, and up in 2010 for Morgan Burnett, but 3 big trade up's in on draft? To me, you make it sounds like he does that every year.

Do you think we drafted "Best Player available? Nick Perry and Jerron McMillian?? Or did it happen to be accidental, drafting 6 def. players in a row? Come on!!

About the 6th WR, I would cut one TE, I didn't see to much succes with the double TE package, that may chance when D.J. Williams picks up the system.
Either Quarless on PUP or cut Crabby.

 

[13 Times Champs]

Huh? Of course he is looking for FA's, but rarely signs any big name FA's, maybe you are thinking about UDFA's
And TT traded up for CM3 in 2009, and up in 2010 for Morgan Burnett, but 3 big trade up's in on draft? To me, you make it sounds like he does that every year.

Do you think we drafted "Best Player available? Nick Perry and Jerron McMillian?? Or did it happen to be accidental, drafting 6 def. players in a row? Come on!!

About the 6th WR, I would cut one TE, I didn't see to much succes with the double TE package, that may chance when D.J. Williams picks up the system.
Either Quarless on PUP or cut Crabby.

Here is an article on Thompson trading in the draft. This article doesn't capture all the moves he has made btw. One other factor in the trades this year was the # of draft picks he had.
http://host.madison.com/sports/foot...cle_de382b8a-90e7-11e1-89c0-001a4bcf887a.html
Yes I meant UDFA primarily but take a look at our roster. Do you consider Hargrove a big name free agent? He's really the only free agent of any note he signed this year so that doesn't make him departing from his philosophy in my opinion.

http://www.packers.com/team/howbuilt.html

Neither of us saw Thompson's draft board. But he traded up!!! That means the players he saw were high on his draft board on all three ocassions and were the best player as he saw it. I do think that when you get farther down in the draft the differences between players become less and less.

We run a lot of two tight end sets so cutting one in place of a 6th WR I don't see.

 

[Stevie DK]

Hargrove may not be any NFL star, but average and will spark the competition, but what about Saturday?? He is the best Center in over a decade, and when i'm thinking about any Center, the one that comes to my mind is Saturday, and that's not because he wears Green & Gold. That signing was huge, when Wells leaved us.

When you trade up for a player, it naturally becomes the player with most value for YOU, but then it's hard to say if you pick "Best Player Available".
If not i'm wrong, TT actually tried to trade out of the first round, but the right offer wasn't there, in my head, that means they didn't pick the "BPA".

Yes, we run a lot two TE set, but it's not like "Oh, we need to run that more".

 

[13 Times Champs]

Hargrove may not be any NFL star, but average and will spark the competition, but what about Saturday?? He is the best Center in over a decade, and when i'm thinking about any Center, the one that comes to my mind is Saturday, and that's not because he wears Green & Gold. That signing was huge, when Wells leaved us.

When you trade up for a player, it naturally becomes the player with most value for YOU, but then it's hard to say if you pick "Best Player Available".
If not i'm wrong, TT actually tried to trade out of the first round, but the right offer wasn't there, in my head, that means they didn't pick the "BPA".

Yes, we run a lot two TE set, but it's not like "Oh, we need to run that more".

Saturday is a stop gap and was available because his best years were behind him. Arguably he isn't the Saturday of a few years ago.

I haven't heard that TT tried to trade out of the first round. What I've read is that the guys he picked were on his radar and he manuevered to get them. I think your argument would have more validity if he had stood pat and not moved out of his draft position. But that trading up means to me he got the player he wanted and didn't accept less value. You can say he targeted defensive players but you can't say he didn't take the guy that was the best player.

Whether we need to run the two TE set more is not the point. You still need the players to do it.

 

[Stevie DK]

We will never agree on this, we could go back and forth for days, and still don't get each others point.
I think we should stop this show, and let's continue on "driver's roster spot".

 

[60six]

Huh? Of course he is looking for FA's, but rarely signs any big name FA's, maybe you are thinking about UDFA's
And TT traded up for CM3 in 2009, and up in 2010 for Morgan Burnett, but 3 big trade up's in on draft? To me, you make it sounds like he does that every year.

Do you think we drafted "Best Player available? Nick Perry and Jerron McMillian?? Or did it happen to be accidental, drafting 6 def. players in a row? Come on!!

About the 6th WR, I would cut one TE, I didn't see to much succes with the double TE package, that may chance when D.J. Williams picks up the system.
Either Quarless on PUP or cut Crabby.

I can see that your take on keeping DD is based on emotion not reason, which is fine. Crabtree is the best blocker of the bunch and is he expendable, yes maybe, but not for a 6th WR.

Keeping a 3rd QB would be a better option or a 4th RB to cover for injury prone Starks and ACL surgery Green. Even an extra D-linemen till Neil and Hargrove get back.

IMO Dancing With The Stars has kept him on the team this long. They need his roster spot and his cap space this year. Why cut a young guy that fills a roll/need so DD can play one more year. It not like we're short on WRs.

 

[TJV]

Well, Ted is changing, he started with picking up FA's, in the draft he didn't do he's normal draft, by picking the best player available, and he was trading like you never seen him do before. I think the chance of 6 WR's is pretty good, with or without DD.

I don’t think Thompson is changing, I think he’s more adaptable than many of us recognize. His signing of UFAs Saturday, Hargrove and Muir surprised many of us, me included. But it was comparable to 2006 when he signed Woodson and Pickett. Saturday was the biggest name this offseason and Woodson was in ’06. One was available at a “bargain” price because he’s at the end of his career; the other was because of injury and attitude concerns. IMO the ’06 class was more “dramatic” than this year’s. IOW, Thompson’s biggest foray into UFA was 2006, not 2012.

As I’ve argued on this board, I think the best description of Thompson’s draft MO is best value available and I don’t think he departed from that MO in the most recent draft. IMO Worthy, Hayward, and Manning were viewed by Thompson and staff as the best value on the board when they were picked because they traded up to get them. That’s the best example of the BVA method IMO. Thompson did match the total number of trade-ups he’s ever done in this draft, so in that respect this draft was different. However, as I calculate it he “spent” about 540 “points” to trade up for the three players he picked in the trade-ups this year. In the 2009 trade-up for Matthews he spent about 860 points. So while the number of trade-ups was obviously unusual, the “quality” or the value spent didn’t match his trade-up for Clay.

I view this as a positive. It looks to me like Thompson traded up in ’09 because the team was making a dramatic change in scheme on defense and he added two studs for that defensive scheme. This year he recognized an infusion of talent was necessary on that side of the ball and he aggressively addressed that need. (I’m not saying anyone on this thread is disagreeing with this point, I just wanted to make it.)

As to whether or not Driver makes the roster this year, I posted my opinion on another thread which IMO should be merged with this one. As to whether or not Thompson, McCarthy and staffs will keep 6 WRs this season, I don’t know. But IMO if you hooked up Thompson and McCarthy to lie detectors they couldn’t tell you either. IMO they will strive to keep the best 54. Remember this has been a passing team since Thompson’s arrival and one season they kept 3 FBs. They pay particular attention to STs regarding non-starters but if they think their #6 WR has more value than their “last” TE, or LB or whatever, I expect they’ll keep the WR. That leads me to one question for Stevie DK:

And Ryan Taylor will be call'd a TE this season??

What do you mean by asking this question?

 

[Stevie DK]

Did i ever say, this years FA pick up was the best in TT time? I totally agree 2006 was world class, but from 06-12, there's a lot of years in between.

And again, when you are trading up, it would be nonsens not picking the BPA on your board, that was the case in the trade up's, but i don't agree it was that with Perry, McMillian and Daniels!

Ryan Taylor is an H-back, which means he is kind of a TE, but in my mind he isn't much of a TE.

 

[TJV]

Stevie DK, what you said which I am refuting is "Thompson is changing". If he is repeating something he has done in the past I don't think that means he's changing. That goes for both his activity in UFA and in trading up in the draft.

I'm not going to repeat the BPA vs. BVA here but you can find at least one lengthy discussion on the topic by doing a search.

IMO Ryan Taylor was drafted mostly for his STs prowess, but he surprised the Packers with how well rounded he was as a TE. Rodgers was also impressed with him in that role. The Packers use TEs in a variety of ways but Taylor is listed at 6'3" 254. He catches the ball pretty well and has the size to block. Like other TEs he lines up in the backfield but he's every bit a TE IMO.

 

[Bagadeez04]

Getting back to the point.

IMO it is important to keep perspective here...this is a team loaded with talented young WR's both on the roster, and on the practice squad. To even think about keeping an aging player whose skills are just simply not what they used to be, in the face of this reality, is a reflection that the player has been/is such an important part of the team/organization/community that the intangibles warrant keeping him.

My issue is that I don't want to have to hear that Gurley or Borel lit it up somewhere else, or that Cobb isn't progressing like he should be, because the team kept DD for sentimental reasons.

Aside from Reggie White, he is my favorite Packer ever. He has meant the world to so many...his story is truly an inspiration. But the time always comes for a player to move on...or in the case of hyper-competitive athletes, for the team to make the decision for them. This is that time.