Dez or Brian?

[Sunshinepacker]

Point taken. However, the Packers also won those 15 games without Dez Bryant. It appears the Pack is fine without him.

I never said otherwise. The Packers are one of the best teams in the NFL. That doesn't automatically mean that all the Packer's current players are better than every other player out there. I don't understand why someone would say, "I would rather have had three seasons of Bulaga over five seasons of Bryant".

 

[Sunshinepacker]

The Packers are paying Bulaga $6.75 million per season which ranks second among all right tackles in the league. It seems Thompson puts some value into having a decent RT.

Thompson does place value on Bulaga. Historically, a good/great RT is not a requirement for a team to win a Super Bowl. Packers are in good cap shape though so it's not a burden to have the second highest paid RT in the NFL.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Historically, a good/great RT is not a requirement for a team to win a Super Bowl.

Neither is it to have two great wide receivers.

 

[Half Empty]

Or even a great QB, or...

 

[SoonerPack]

reminds me of a kid I went to high school with who told everyone he could run a 3 minute mile but didnt want to show everyone.

You extrapolated all of that from my post?!?!? There has to be one in every group and it appears you are "that guy." I will hold my tongue as the last thing I want to do is get into a pissing match on a message board. For the record my post was harmless yet for some reason you took offense. Good luck to you and I hope you can lighten up a touch for everyone sake. Have a great Monday.

 

[SoonerPack]

reminds me of a kid I went to high school with who told everyone he could run a 3 minute mile but didnt want to show everyone.

Just noticed you created the thread. Makes sense now...

 

[ivo610]

Just noticed you created the thread. Makes sense now...

Not a pissing match, I just think if you say you can do something better you should do it, not talk about how you can do it. Create some off season threads so we have more to talk about.

 

[SoonerPack]

Not a pissing match, I just think if you say you can do something better you should do it, not talk about how you can do it. Create some off season threads so we have more to talk about.

I have made numerous threads and most of them have created pretty good dialogue. I am going to chalk this up as a misunderstanding and was in no way trying to make waves. The off-season is certainly slow and I too have found myself reaching for anything to get the Packer juices flowing. If I offended, I apologize.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Neither is it to have two great wide receivers.

Far more rare for a team built around a passing attack to not have two good receivers.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Far more rare for a team built around a passing attack to not have two good receivers.

Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell were the Patriots leading receivers last season. I think most football fans would agree with me that none of them is an elite WR.

 

[RRyder]

Far more rare for a team built around a passing attack to not have two good receivers.

Quick. Name the last Elite WR to win a SB................. I'll wait

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Quick. Name the last Elite WR to win a SB................. I'll wait

2011 Victor Cruz...82 catches 1500+ yards.


Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long.


After further thought I'd also put Gronk on that list. Technically not a WR but he DOES catch passes. So I'll change my comment to "Super Bowl teams built around the passing game are more likely to have elite pass catchers than elite right tackles".

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell were the Patriots leading receivers last season. I think most football fans would agree with me that none of them is an elite WR.

That does nothing to dispute my point. I never said you HAD to have an elite WR. I just said elite WRs are more likely to be on strong passing teams that win Super Bowls than elite RTs.

What was the last elite RT to win a Super Bowl?

And let's not forget that the Pats have the best offensive weapon in the NFL in Gronk. Technically he's not a WR but nobody is going to argue that he's not an elite player catching the ball.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

That does nothing to dispute my point. I never said you HAD to have an elite WR. I just said elite WRs are more likely to be on strong passing teams that win Super Bowls than elite RTs.

What was the last elite RT to win a Super Bowl?

And let's not forget that the Pats have the best offensive weapon in the NFL in Gronk. Technically he's not a WR but nobody is going to argue that he's not an elite player catching the ball.

Sebastian Vollmer was the highest ranked RT in the entire league last season.

Overall teams are capable to overcome some shortcomings in talent at various positions to win the Super Bowl. The chances increase significantly by having lesser positions in need of an upgrade. Aside of QB teams can make up for having inferior talent on other positons though.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Sebastian Vollmer was the highest ranked RT in the entire league last season.

Overall teams are capable to overcome some shortcomings in talent at various positions to win the Super Bowl. The chances increase significantly by having lesser positions in need of an upgrade. Aside of QB teams can make up for having inferior talent on other positons though.

You are correct, an elite RT won last season. I think my main point has been lost in this very specific WR vs RT discussion (my fault); my main point was that WRs (or pass catchers in general) are more valuable overall for teams than RTs. RT is not a premier position within the NFL. Again, you can look at contract values for various positions and you can see which positions are more valued by NFL teams. QBs are the highest paid and obviously most important. Pass rushers and corners probably come next (I'm guessing on this, not able to actually look up those values at the moment) and WRs are probably fourth (maybe third, they could be higher than corners). Not sure where RT ranks but it's pretty far below WR in pay, I know that much.

Looking back at the past five years for Bulaga and Dez, I just don't think there's a strong argument to be made that three healthy season of Bulaga (and one of those, his rookie season, was poor) would help a team more than five healthy seasons of Dez. As currently constructed, Dez does not have the same value to the packers that he does to the Cowboys but he's still more valuable than Bulaga if only because another team with a Bulaga-like player would trade that RT PLUS something for Dez (obviously supposition on my part but I feel pretty comfortable with it).

 

[Deleted member 6794]

You are correct, an elite RT won last season. I think my main point has been lost in this very specific WR vs RT discussion (my fault); my main point was that WRs (or pass catchers in general) are more valuable overall for teams than RTs. RT is not a premier position within the NFL. Again, you can look at contract values for various positions and you can see which positions are more valued by NFL teams. QBs are the highest paid and obviously most important. Pass rushers and corners probably come next (I'm guessing on this, not able to actually look up those values at the moment) and WRs are probably fourth (maybe third, they could be higher than corners). Not sure where RT ranks but it's pretty far below WR in pay, I know that much.

Looking back at the past five years for Bulaga and Dez, I just don't think there's a strong argument to be made that three healthy season of Bulaga (and one of those, his rookie season, was poor) would help a team more than five healthy seasons of Dez. As currently constructed, Dez does not have the same value to the packers that he does to the Cowboys but he's still more valuable than Bulaga if only because another team with a Bulaga-like player would trade that RT PLUS something for Dez (obviously supposition on my part but I feel pretty comfortable with it).

Let me put it this way, with the Packers having an elite receiving corps I don't see the need to add Dez Bryant as he wouldn't be a huge improvement over the current WRs on the roster.

OTOH I would be excited to have Rob Gronkowski play for the Packers as he would present a major upgrade at the TE position.

While I agree that teams put an increased value on wide receivers compared to right tackles the offense still needs someone to block pass rushers on that side of the field and I'm absolutely fine with having Bulaga lining up there.

 

[Powarun]

We draft Dez, we have bad locker room blood with Finley, Rodgers gets sacked a little more often, which isn't saying much, and then we kind of fall into a worse position than what we were at. Bulaga also remains a Bears fan which and the Packers don't win the super bowl both are worst case scenarios. Packers with Finley, Driver, Jennings, Nelson, and Bryant don't draft Cobb, who somehow gets to the Bears and become Hester 2.0.

 

[brandon2348]

Some people might jump on me here but IMO we have a "Dez Bryant level ceiling" receiver on the roster now in Davante Adams that also has a brain to go with athletic ability. Cobb believes it will be almost impossible to match last years numbers with the emergence of Adams this year and his second year jump. Bryan Bulaga showed his value last year big time and I would never give him up for Dez. I believe Bulaga is the top rated RT in the NFL.

I like right where were at.

 

[AKCheese]

Let's see, one of the best players in the NFL, top 3 wide receiver, or a journeyman (to this point) OL whose had trouble staying on the field. How is this even a serious question? The only possible question would be, would Dez have been on the same behavior plane in GB that he's been on in Dallas. That's impossible to project, but from a pure talent level and making a team better standpoint it's not even a legitimate question.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Some people might jump on me here but IMO we have a "Dez Bryant level ceiling" receiver on the roster now in Davante Adams that also has a brain to go with athletic ability.

I really like Davante Adams and expect him to make a jump in his second season but to put him on par with Bryant is way too premature.

I believe Bulaga is the top rated RT in the NFL.

PFF had Bulaga rated as the fourth best RT overall and second best in pass blocking.

 

[Ace]

Some people might jump on me here but IMO we have a "Dez Bryant level ceiling" receiver on the roster now in Davante Adams that also has a brain to go with athletic ability.

Wow, I agree with Captain, let's pump the brakes a little here. I don't like, I love Davante and what he could potentially be, but to say his name even in the same sentence as Dez is insane. Dez has had arguably the best start to a career of any WR in NFL history, the guy is a freak on the field.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Dez has had arguably the best start to a career of any WR in NFL history, the guy is a freak on the field.

That´s a little far-fetched as well. He ranks 11th in receptions, 12th in yards and 3rd in TDs among all players in NFL history during their first five seasons.

 

[TJV]

That´s a little far-fetched as well. He ranks 11th in receptions, 12th in yards and 3rd in TDs among all players in NFL history during their first five seasons.

And Bulaga is more than a journeyman.

 

[Ace]

That´s a little far-fetched as well. He ranks 11th in receptions, 12th in yards and 3rd in TDs among all players in NFL history during their first five seasons.

To be fair I did say "arguably" .

Point is he has had a top 10 start to his career of any WR in NFL history so to mention Davante and him together is way out there. In fairness to Davante, he has only had one season but with the other weapons we have he won't come close to Dez #'s.

 

[Mondio]

Bulaga has had his ups and downs, last year he played like the guy I thought he would be. I expect it to continue and he'll probably improve upon last year as well.