Silverstein tweets that Pack and Raji agree to one year deal

[Sunshinepacker]

Hoefully it should be cheap, he'll definitely get motivated (the lack of other team's interest had to be a blow to Raji) and he was actually pretty good in 2012. Hopefully he can be a decent role player this year?

 

[ivo610]

I don't see the harm in it

 

[Ace]

Rapaport reporting it's for $4M, and that he'll move back to NT

 

[AmishMafia]

Rapaport reporting it's for $4M, and that he'll move back to NT

Excellent!

 

[HardRightEdge]

My thoughts on this vacillate between "bad move" and "beggers can't be choosers"...regardless of price.

 

[adambr2]

My thoughts on this vacillate between "bad move" and "baggers can't be choosers"...regardless of price.

I'm somewhere in there.

I don't get the excitement. Know why he came back for $4M? Because he got to test free agency, and 31 other GM's had absolutely no interest in him. There wasn't a peep from any camp about any interest in Raji.

And they weren't interested in him because he was that bad. Our writers understate how awful BJ Raji was in 2013. He did not have an "off-year". He was one of the worst in the game.

So now our only good scenario is that he finally gets off his fat butt this year and the move to NT and the realization that this is his very last chance to earn a big payday, results in a career year followed by us letting him walk.

The worst possibilities is that this is either going to be $4M wasted this year, or we'll open up the checkbook for him after a career year this year and he'll go right back to his old, lazy ways.

 

[Ace]

I'm somewhere in there.

I don't get the excitement. Know why he came back for $4M? Because he got to test free agency, and 31 other GM's had absolutely no interest in him. There wasn't a peep from any camp about any interest in Raji.

And they weren't interested in him because he was that bad. Our writers understate how awful BJ Raji was in 2013. He did not have an "off-year". He was one of the worst in the game.

So now our only good scenario is that he finally gets off his fat butt this year and the move to NT and the realization that this is his very last chance to earn a big payday, results in a career year followed by us letting him walk.

The worst possibilities is that this is either going to be $4M wasted this year, or we'll open up the checkbook for him after a career year this year and he'll go right back to his old, lazy ways.

According to reorts the only other teams interested in him were the Raiders and Chiefs. Coincidence? Gil Brandt said it was about what he expected, and that hes at the top of the 2nd wave of FA's

 

[adambr2]

Thamks

According to reorts the only other teams interested in him were the Raiders and Chiefs. Coincidence? Gil Brandt said it was about what he expected, and that hes at the top of the 2nd wave of FA's

Thanks, I hadn't seen that til today. Their offers must have been pretty underwhelming.

 

[yooperpackfan]

My thoughts on this vacillate between "bad move" and "baggers can't be choosers"...regardless of price.

This COULD work out ok, maybe.

 

[2411t]

This makes me feel a lot better.

I think our starting D-line is going to be a revolving door of Raji, Jolly, Jones, and Pickett with a possible UFA pickup; Clay and Perry/Neal at OLB.

Do you guys think that's solid enough?

 

[yooperpackfan]

This makes me feel a lot better.

I think our starting D-line is going to be a revolving door of Raji, Jolly, Jones, and Pickett with a possible UFA pickup; Clay and Perry/Neal at OLB.

Do you guys think that's solid enough?

Don't forget about Daniels and Boyd.
I don't.

 

[easyk83]

I'm somewhere in there.

I don't get the excitement. Know why he came back for $4M? Because he got to test free agency, and 31 other GM's had absolutely no interest in him. There wasn't a peep from any camp about any interest in Raji.

And they weren't interested in him because he was that bad. Our writers understate how awful BJ Raji was in 2013. He did not have an "off-year". He was one of the worst in the game.

So now our only good scenario is that he finally gets off his fat butt this year and the move to NT and the realization that this is his very last chance to earn a big payday, results in a career year followed by us letting him walk.

The worst possibilities is that this is either going to be $4M wasted this year, or we'll open up the checkbook for him after a career year this year and he'll go right back to his old, lazy ways.

Well it's not a big investment and he's certainly shown at times that he can be a real player. If he didn't show up against Chicago and San Fran he'd probably still be testing the market.

Thing is the Packers can't afford to enter the draft without a likely option at NT. If GB let Raji go every team in the draft would who GB is going to take in the first round if available, which means Teddy would have to trade up to get a player we don't really need anymore. Now we could still take Nix if we wanted to and then use BJ in the DE role he enjoyed so much back in 2010.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Now we could still take Nix if we wanted to and then use BJ in the DE role he enjoyed so much back in 2010.

Raji played NT in 2010 and will obviously move back to the spot in 2014.

 

[easyk83]

Raji played NT in 2010 and will obviously move back to the spot in 2014.

He played all over the Defensive line in 2010, if you have the stats to prove otherwise I would be happy to see them.

 

[Einstein McFly]

Can someone please explain this to me:
We had horrible run defense the last 3/4ths of the year and could not stop anyone from running in the last five minutes even when we knew that's what they were going to do. Are we supposed to believe that we were doing that with our best NT playing DE? If Raji is soooo much better at NT, why didn't the coaches, whose jobs are on the line, move him there? It seems to me that Pickett is obviously the better guy to play NT, so I'm not giving some huge sigh of relief that Raji is moving back to the nose. Maybe he'll put it all together, but I moreso hope that they draft Nix and let him warm up a bit before moving on from Raji next year.

Also, the best case scenario that I can see is that Raji has an amazing year, but how can you sign him long term knowing what it took (a humiliating reduction in an offered contract and no interest from the rest of the league) to get him to play well? Once you sign him, it seems totally likely that he'd revert back to whatever the hell he was last year. So yeah, sign him this year for depth or maybe some great year, but draft and develop his replacement because he can't be counted upon.

 

[adambr2]

Here's my problem with everything so far.

We had a big, heated debate after the playoffs about Dom Capers. One camp says he needs to go, the other says, no he just needs some veteran talent to work with. Writers then defend Dom and say that his system requires veteran experience and talent.

So what do we do? Well, so far, we just stick with more of the same. We keep Dom, but thus far, add no veteran help. We'll draft a couple rookies early and again count on them to make an immediate impact. Barring any significant moves yet before the draft, there is an excellent chance that at this time next year, either Dom Capers will have to go, because he's just run out of time to fix things, or Ted Thompson is going to be HEAVILY critiqued. The third possibility is remote -- everything magically comes together on defense and every best case scenario happens.

Somehow, our FO seems to be able to paint themselves a rosy picture this time of year about what we already have. They're saying, "Hey, we're going to get Casey Hayward back. Micah Hyde is going to make a seamless transition to safety and look like he's been there for years. Perry, Neal, Worthy, and D Jones are all going to break out, and Raji is going to go back to NT and just start dominating again. We're going to get a top safety in the draft and voila, we're all set."

Guess what, sounds great on paper. In reality, well be lucky to get more than 2 of those things to happen. Then you'll have guys get hurt, guys unexpectedly take a step back, and in the end, you're pretty much back to where you were last year. Rinse, repeat in offseason 2015.

 

[longtimefan]

He played all over the Defensive line in 2010, if you have the stats to prove otherwise I would be happy to see them.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...latest-contract-details-analysis-and-reaction

Ian Rapoport ✔ @RapSheet
BJ Raji agreed to come back to #Packers on a one-year deal, source confirms (as @TomSilverstein reported). It’s for $4M. He’ll play NT again

If BJ Raji stays with #Pack, he’d move back to nose tackle from defensive end. That’s what he’d want. If that’s the best deal, he’ll take it

Raji hasn't recorded a sack since 2011, and he finished 2013 with a career-low combined 17 tackles despite playing in all 16 games. That made the 337-pound behemoth potentially expendable, but the Packers decided to give him an opportunity to regain his form.

There are plenty of potential reasons for Raji's drop-off, but the biggest may be Green Bay's failure to utilize him properly. Raji primarily played defensive end last season rather than nose tackle, which obviously wasn't a great fit for him.

Prior to Raji and the Packers agreeing to terms, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Raji would move back to his natural position in the event of a new contract:

 

[adambr2]

On Raji, I'm also a bit skeptical of the confidence that MM and Capers have that they can magically fix things from within by putting their players in a "better position" to succeed.

Surely putting our players in the best possible position to succeed is not a strategy unique to the 2014 season.

Raji has to put in the effort and work to have a great season. If he chooses to spend another season going through the motions again and making lackluster attempts to shed blocks, it will not make a difference where he lines up or who lines up across from him.

 

[98Redbird]

I'm torn. So, he works his tail off and has a great season and we pay him to be lazy for 3-5 years? Or he sucks, yet again and we release him and upgrade the position?

 

[packfan1]

Here's my problem with everything so far.

We had a big, heated debate after the playoffs about Dom Capers. One camp says he needs to go, the other says, no he just needs some veteran talent to work with. Writers then defend Dom and say that his system requires veteran experience and talent.

So what do we do? Well, so far, we just stick with more of the same. We keep Dom, but thus far, add no veteran help. We'll draft a couple rookies early and again count on them to make an immediate impact. Barring any significant moves yet before the draft, there is an excellent chance that at this time next year, either Dom Capers will have to go, because he's just run out of time to fix things, or Ted Thompson is going to be HEAVILY critiqued. The third possibility is remote -- everything magically comes together on defense and every best case scenario happens.

Somehow, our FO seems to be able to paint themselves a rosy picture this time of year about what we already have. They're saying, "Hey, we're going to get Casey Hayward back. Micah Hyde is going to make a seamless transition to safety and look like he's been there for years. Perry, Neal, Worthy, and D Jones are all going to break out, and Raji is going to go back to NT and just start dominating again. We're going to get a top safety in the draft and voila, we're all set."

Guess what, sounds great on paper. In reality, well be lucky to get more than 2 of those things to happen. Then you'll have guys get hurt, guys unexpectedly take a step back, and in the end, you're pretty much back to where you were last year. Rinse, repeat in offseason 2015.

Yep...and with all that said....it was the OFFENSE, not the DEFENSE that lost the game in the playoffs. We scored 20 points and had WAY too many 3 and outs. Our horrible defense held San Francisco to 23 points. The only reason SF won that game was because of Kapernick's scrambling on a couple of plays. He did the same thing to Seattle's great defense.

 

[adambr2]

Yep...and with all that said....it was the OFFENSE, not the DEFENSE that lost the game in the playoffs. We scored 20 points and had WAY too many 3 and outs. Our horrible defense held San Francisco to 23 points. The only reason SF won that game was because of Kapernick's scrambling on a couple of plays. He did the same thing to Seattle's great defense.

I don't disagree, but last year after the 45-31 loss to the 49ers in the playoffs, they wanted us to judge the defense on the entire body of work, not just that one game.

Well, time to put the other shoe on.

 

[HardRightEdge]

I'm somewhere in there.

I don't get the excitement. Know why he came back for $4M? Because he got to test free agency, and 31 other GM's had absolutely no interest in him. There wasn't a peep from any camp about any interest in Raji.

And they weren't interested in him because he was that bad. Our writers understate how awful BJ Raji was in 2013. He did not have an "off-year". He was one of the worst in the game.

So now our only good scenario is that he finally gets off his fat butt this year and the move to NT and the realization that this is his very last chance to earn a big payday, results in a career year followed by us letting him walk.

The worst possibilities is that this is either going to be $4M wasted this year, or we'll open up the checkbook for him after a career year this year and he'll go right back to his old, lazy ways.

Beat writers need to tread the fine line between inside accessibility and outside credibility. Saying somebody had a "disappointing year" or an "off year" treads such a line. Those of us who have no concern for accessibility can be blunt: Raji was dreadful in 2013. His play has steadily declined each year since 2010, and not for want of talent or attributable to injury.

 

[HardRightEdge]

This makes me feel a lot better.

I think our starting D-line is going to be a revolving door of Raji, Jolly, Jones, and Pickett with a possible UFA pickup; Clay and Perry/Neal at OLB.

Do you guys think that's solid enough?

You left out our best defensive lineman; Jolly's and Pickett's returns are far from assured.

By "solid enough" I suppose you mean "solid enough to contend for a championship". There is at least one significant question mark associated with each of the players you mentioned. Things have to break right with nearly all of those guys to be "solid enough"; the odds are not good.

The draft is in May.

 

[HardRightEdge]

I'm torn. So, he works his tail off and has a great season and we pay him to be lazy for 3-5 years? Or he sucks, yet again and we release him and upgrade the position?

The only "win" is a third option...he regains his business sense, plays his *** off, and we then let him walk.

I'm not encouraged. There's a steep opportunity cost if he sucks again.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Here's my problem with everything so far.

We had a big, heated debate after the playoffs about Dom Capers. One camp says he needs to go, the other says, no he just needs some veteran talent to work with. Writers then defend Dom and say that his system requires veteran experience and talent.

So what do we do? Well, so far, we just stick with more of the same. We keep Dom, but thus far, add no veteran help.

Each returning player has another year under his belt. Collectively, that's a more veteran team.

Unlike the players, the coaches have no training camp competition. There's nobody to beat them out. Consequently, there's not much point in harping on Capers at this point. Suffice to say, he should be on double secret probation.