Resign one of the 3?

[adambr2]

He plays the most snaps on the defensive line each game and makes an impact. It's to considered "overpaying" if the guy makes an impact. Cletidus Hunt was overpaying for a lineman. Vonnie Holiday was overpaying for a lineman. Raji should be properly compensated for the role he plays on defense.

Just because a guy has an impact doesn't mean you're not overpaying them. Finley has an impact, but I think most would agree making him the top paid TE in the NFL would be overpaying. They don't have to be a bust like Hunt to be overpaid. And just because a guy makes an impact doesn't mean fiscal responsibility can be thrown out.

I think the real issue is whether there is a gap, and how much, between what Raji thinks "properly compensated" is and what the Packers think it is.

There's a lot more involved in the decision making process than whether they like Raji and want to keep him. I realize fantasy football is different than the real thing of course, but an auction league analogy would still apply. A team gets "X" amount of dollars to spend on their team. They have to decide how to best distribute that money to put together a winning team. Sometimes that involves making tough decisions and letting people go who you don't want to. Just the nature of the business.

Paying Raji, at probably our deepest position on the team, would be at the expense of letting other players walk at other positions.

 

[HardRightEdge]

I question his impact. In the Raven's game he had the nice "no, no, no" tackle for a loss early in the game with Moose Johnson gushing all over him. Later, Moose noted that Flaco was smart to slide short of a first down with Raji bearing down on him.

That's two good plays. Except it wasn't Raji bearing down, it was Pickett. By the by, Johnston was also wrong about Elam hitting Cobb with his helmet. He could have as his head went between Cobb's legs, but it was actually his shoulder. The rules say don't hit the guy high; you can't blame defenders for going low.

The D line played a nice game, but it was a collective effort. Pickett is still outplaying Raji in the run game. I would also argue Raji is a secondary and generally non-impactful factor in the pass rush. Perry found his motor and had a nice game; Neal was very active despite not having much to show on the stat sheet. Hawk found his mojo. Hyde chipped in with a sack. What exactly did Raji do? A couple of decent penetrations up the middle and a lot of patty cake.

 

[12theTruth]

I thought I remember reading that Raji graded out fairly poorly last season. In a contract year this season he looks somewhat more able by the eye test. But how much of that is due to the presence of an improved Mike Daniels and re-introduction of Johnny Jolly this season. BJ Raji is just a guy.

 

[HardRightEdge]

I thought I remember reading that Raji graded out fairly poorly last season. In a contract year this season he looks somewhat more able by the eye test. But how much of that is due to the presence of an improved Mike Daniels and re-introduction of Johnny Jolly this season. BJ Raji is just a guy.

From what I recall, he graded out somewhat positively in the passing game and somewhat negatively in the run game. I agree that he looks better than last year and that a better supporting cast might be a factor if for no other reason than his snaps are down.

Kyle Williams signed a deal for 6 years, $34 million, $17 million guaranteed back in 2011. Numbers a lot bigger than that were being tossed around for Raji a year or two back when he was thought to be one of the better NTs around. Now, he doesn't even play NT, having given ground to Pickett last year, because of Raji's run game shortcomings, and nobody is speculating about a big pay day these days.

Now, to pay Raji the same money as Kyle Williams, would be a travesty. But he may well ask for it and somebody may well pay it..

Jolly may be 30 years old, but he's a "young 30" having sat out 3 years. Cumulative pounding can't be underestimated and he's skipped over a lot of that. Between Jolly, Worthy, Daniels and Jones, I think we have DE in base and 3-tech in nickel pretty well covered. Then there's the draft.

The idea we'd pay Raji a ton of money and move him back to NT is almost offensive.

 

[adambr2]

Just because a guy has an impact doesn't mean you're not overpaying them. Finley has an impact, but I think most would agree making him the top paid TE in the NFL would be overpaying. They don't have to be a bust like Hunt to be overpaid. And just because a guy makes an impact doesn't mean fiscal responsibility can be thrown out.

I think the real issue is whether there is a gap, and how much, between what Raji thinks "properly compensated" is and what the Packers think it is.

There's a lot more involved in the decision making process than whether they like Raji and want to keep him. I realize fantasy football is different than the real thing of course, but an auction league analogy would still apply. A team gets "X" amount of dollars to spend on their team. They have to decide how to best distribute that money to put together a winning team. Sometimes that involves making tough decisions and letting people go who you don't want to. Just the nature of the business.

Paying Raji, at probably our deepest position on the team, would be at the expense of letting other players walk at other positions.

NelsonLongCatch, instead of just disagreeing, can you explain why you do? What part of this is inaccurate? Fiscal responsibility is not important for a team? They should just throw money at players you like? D-Line is not a deep position? We would not have to let other players walk to sign him?

I would think that bears an explanation, at least. You'd pay Raji at the expense of losing Shields? Jones?

So far you've yet to really explain anything other than that we should pay Raji. If he's looking for $8M a year you think we should go ahead and pay him?

 

[rodell330]

Bring back Jones and sheilds. Sometimes i forget Raji is on the field, and thats not a good thing considering we don't have many big name plamakers on defense as it is..He will make a play or two a game but i need to see more from Raji. He's really nimble and quick as a bigger guy so i need to see him have the kind of impact as a Suh or vince wilfork.

 

[12theTruth]

Unfortunately we would have to pay market value for Finley which is going to be high but the TE position is still a more reasonable $$ amount then the DT position.

I'd keep Raji if he were to take less than top dollar to stay here otherwise lets move forward with the good depth we have on the line and draft another DT. Finley is definitely someone the defense has to gameplan for and his presence helps make our offense as dynamic as it is.