FrankRizzo
Cheesehead
Listening to McCarthy's presser the other day and reading thru it, they say they typically have about a 20% roster turnover.
That's at least 10 spots, maybe closer to 12, 13.
Pick 12 guys on the roster now who won't be back.
Jennings, Driver, Saturday are the easiest 3.
Tons of guys on the IR like Saine, Benson, I don't think they're back.
Crabtree sucks.
He's not a good blocker based on the data I saw at Pro Football Focus. And he sure can't catch.
At least 1 DL will be gone. Zombo and Walden gone.
ILB? That's an ugly spot for me to look at.
Which spots do we need upgraded the most?
Of our preferred starters (and this will include the guys we will get back off IR), here's how I rank them:
Safety
ILB
Center
DL
OT
With Bishop back, and Jerel Worthy back, I think we need upgrades there still, but we tend to only carry 5 DL. We'll have: Raji, Neal, Worthy, Daniels, and Wilson back, or Pickett also. I love Pickett, but he can't move. He just takes up space. He's great in short yardage running situations. Great. But it would be nice to have a guy who can move faster.... at least one of: Daniels, Wilson, Pickett needs to be upgraded.
Why do some people love Morgan Burnett so much? Is he great at being an in-the-box run stuffer? Obviously not.
Is he a great ball hawk back there a la an Ed Reed or Nick Collins? I haven't seen that.
I hold out hope for Jerron McMillian as he's the only guy with a man's build back there.
But the spark that Vikings rookie Harrison Smith gave that defense this year, we could sure use that. If a solid safety is there in Rd 1, I'd like to see him. We could have gotten LaRon Landry pretty economically last off-season. He's a guy with some physicality to him which this defense, especially backfield, lacks. He's not perfect of course, but he at least is a thumper. And a thumper or two, three, is what the defense needs.
Bishop is the only thumper we have and it will be nice to have him back.
That pre-season injury in game 1 in San Diego was nasty, and terrible luck for us. He tore the hamstring.... can he return to 100% ever from that? Not all bad injuries allow you to be back to the same.... I don't know about rookie ILB Terrell Manning. Teddy liked him enough to reach up and go and get him last draft. But he had that weird sickness thing and lost some weight.
Hawk has been serviceable, reliable. But he's just a body in there. He's never ever made big plays other than one a year maybe.
Where was he on Kaepernick? Where was Brad Jones? Those guys, neither, are better than "just guys", and neither one has any fire, any intensity.
Did you used to ***** about Nick Barnett's antics, his sword, his yelling after plays? Me too. But I think we need that, especially at ILB.... in this Capers' 3-4 defense, a lot of pressure falls on those 2 linebackers, and these guys failed big time too often this year, clearly.
Vontaze Burfict would have been a nice steal last year at this position. A gift almost. An attitude sure, but this defense could use some of that.
The center position is interesting. Jeff Saturday is on his way to Hawaii to wear the yellow Packers helmet over there. But that will be the last time that he wears it on a field.
The team seems to like EDS (Evan Dietrich-Smith) as a center.
Many fans want a new center early, but I suspect the coaches are comfortable going forward with EDS.
Their OL was not the problem at the end of the year. They ran pretty well, and Rodgers was protected as well as you can hope against the 49ers & Vikings late.
I like Nick Perry at OLB... physically he's great. Mentally? Not sure. I wish he had the motor, the fire that Matthews does. He could get there. He could become a fixture there a la a Lamar Woodley.
And I also like Dezman Moses a lot. Erik Walden looks the part, but as ProFootballFocus & FootballOutsiders showed, he was a serious liability there... but then again, he should not have been starting. He should be a backup.
I would expect, and hope, that he and Franky Zombo are upgraded.
Here's who I hope we get in the first 5 rounds of the draft to upgrade this roster:
ILB Alec Ogletree, Georgia; 6-3, 235
Safety Matt Elam, Florida; 5-10, 202
DE Bennie Logan, LSU; 6-3, 205
ILB Jon Bostic, Florida; 6-1, 244
TE Levine Toilolo, Stanford; 6-8, 265
Elam is not tall, but he's strong, and a good hitter. He had over 75 tackles each of the past 2 years. He also has 6 Ints the past 2 seasons. We need tackling.
Our ILB's are shameful as we put Gore, Peterson, and Kaepernick into Canton with our Ole' run defense this year. Good ILB's will stop that. Somewhat. So will a safety-in-the-box.
That's at least 10 spots, maybe closer to 12, 13.
Pick 12 guys on the roster now who won't be back.
Jennings, Driver, Saturday are the easiest 3.
Tons of guys on the IR like Saine, Benson, I don't think they're back.
Crabtree sucks.
He's not a good blocker based on the data I saw at Pro Football Focus. And he sure can't catch.
At least 1 DL will be gone. Zombo and Walden gone.
ILB? That's an ugly spot for me to look at.
Which spots do we need upgraded the most?
Of our preferred starters (and this will include the guys we will get back off IR), here's how I rank them:
Safety
ILB
Center
DL
OT
With Bishop back, and Jerel Worthy back, I think we need upgrades there still, but we tend to only carry 5 DL. We'll have: Raji, Neal, Worthy, Daniels, and Wilson back, or Pickett also. I love Pickett, but he can't move. He just takes up space. He's great in short yardage running situations. Great. But it would be nice to have a guy who can move faster.... at least one of: Daniels, Wilson, Pickett needs to be upgraded.
Why do some people love Morgan Burnett so much? Is he great at being an in-the-box run stuffer? Obviously not.
Is he a great ball hawk back there a la an Ed Reed or Nick Collins? I haven't seen that.
I hold out hope for Jerron McMillian as he's the only guy with a man's build back there.
But the spark that Vikings rookie Harrison Smith gave that defense this year, we could sure use that. If a solid safety is there in Rd 1, I'd like to see him. We could have gotten LaRon Landry pretty economically last off-season. He's a guy with some physicality to him which this defense, especially backfield, lacks. He's not perfect of course, but he at least is a thumper. And a thumper or two, three, is what the defense needs.
Bishop is the only thumper we have and it will be nice to have him back.
That pre-season injury in game 1 in San Diego was nasty, and terrible luck for us. He tore the hamstring.... can he return to 100% ever from that? Not all bad injuries allow you to be back to the same.... I don't know about rookie ILB Terrell Manning. Teddy liked him enough to reach up and go and get him last draft. But he had that weird sickness thing and lost some weight.
Hawk has been serviceable, reliable. But he's just a body in there. He's never ever made big plays other than one a year maybe.
Where was he on Kaepernick? Where was Brad Jones? Those guys, neither, are better than "just guys", and neither one has any fire, any intensity.
Did you used to ***** about Nick Barnett's antics, his sword, his yelling after plays? Me too. But I think we need that, especially at ILB.... in this Capers' 3-4 defense, a lot of pressure falls on those 2 linebackers, and these guys failed big time too often this year, clearly.
Vontaze Burfict would have been a nice steal last year at this position. A gift almost. An attitude sure, but this defense could use some of that.
The center position is interesting. Jeff Saturday is on his way to Hawaii to wear the yellow Packers helmet over there. But that will be the last time that he wears it on a field.
The team seems to like EDS (Evan Dietrich-Smith) as a center.
Many fans want a new center early, but I suspect the coaches are comfortable going forward with EDS.
Their OL was not the problem at the end of the year. They ran pretty well, and Rodgers was protected as well as you can hope against the 49ers & Vikings late.
I like Nick Perry at OLB... physically he's great. Mentally? Not sure. I wish he had the motor, the fire that Matthews does. He could get there. He could become a fixture there a la a Lamar Woodley.
And I also like Dezman Moses a lot. Erik Walden looks the part, but as ProFootballFocus & FootballOutsiders showed, he was a serious liability there... but then again, he should not have been starting. He should be a backup.
I would expect, and hope, that he and Franky Zombo are upgraded.
Here's who I hope we get in the first 5 rounds of the draft to upgrade this roster:
ILB Alec Ogletree, Georgia; 6-3, 235
Safety Matt Elam, Florida; 5-10, 202
DE Bennie Logan, LSU; 6-3, 205
ILB Jon Bostic, Florida; 6-1, 244
TE Levine Toilolo, Stanford; 6-8, 265
Elam is not tall, but he's strong, and a good hitter. He had over 75 tackles each of the past 2 years. He also has 6 Ints the past 2 seasons. We need tackling.
Our ILB's are shameful as we put Gore, Peterson, and Kaepernick into Canton with our Ole' run defense this year. Good ILB's will stop that. Somewhat. So will a safety-in-the-box.
