Finding the future

[net]

I see there's the usual assortment of 'fire everybody' postings today after the (second) Cardinals loss.
The Packers proved this season that they can compete with the best of teams, but really aren't there with the elite teams. This is not a bad thing in total. Imagine being a Cleveland or Tennessee fan.
But there's an on-going problem that likely can't be fixed easily. It's called speed. Team speed. The Packers are built for power, but lose to the many teams that have exceptional team speed. The finest examples I can think of in the college ranks are Alabama and Clemson. They have exceptionally fast people at all the spots where foot speed is important. In the pros, look at Arizona, Denver, New England. Not a coincidence that those teams are also the elite teams.
This offseason, one way or another, the Packers need to find a tight end who can run. They need to find another linebacker who can run. They need to find a running back who can run really fast. Another cornerback with Sam Shields speed would be nice. Randall and Rollins are fast, but they're a tad short. They also badly need another speed burner at receiver, even with Janis. James Jones is a great guy, good possession receiver. But you could cover him with any pedestrian defender.
Ever since the advent of the West Coast offense in Green Bay there has been an emphasis on power over speed. When the other team stops your power, all you have left are less fast people competing against very fast people.

TT will try to fix things through the draft. He should also consider a free agent or two this offseason, or a trade. They need more team speed or they will continue to lose to faster teams.

 

[TomBrownFan40]

Hooray!!! net, thank you for a most cogent post. It's time to take a few deep breaths, take stock, and logically plan for the future.

General personnel upgrade comments: I agree totally on your need for speed! Other than our usual Inside Linebacker bugaboo, in the early rounds of the draft it is time to concentrate more on the offensive side of the ball. Our base offense cannot be the Hail Mary every week.

In addition to your excellent list, I would like to add more Offensive Tackle depth. I like Bulaga and Bakhtiari but, let's face it, it's been a struggle to keep both of them on the field. I want a better alternative than Don Barclay and kicking Tretter out to Tackle.
I agree about speed at the Running Back position. I don't want to see Randall Cobb back there anymore. A good 3rd down back with some smoke on the edge would be wonderful.
A taller, longer stride version of Rich Rodgers would be nice and even if Jordy and the gang all come back healthy, a deep threat would be helpful.

 

[andeftw]

Don't agree with you on WR. I think we're set at WR with what Janis and Abbrederis showed yesterday. Jordy is our deep threat and Janis is being groomed to be his replacement once he loses a step. New England doesn't have great speed at WR, Amendola and Edelman are the two fastest WRs they have and they're about as fast as Cobb is.
At CB, Randall is plenty fast enough to play opposite Shields. I agree that Rollins doesn't have the top tier speed, some additional depth would help but I would rather not spend an early round pick at CB unless it is clearly BPA.

OT depth is also a problem, but it could be taken care of in later rounds.

TE and ILB are clearly the biggest issues. With OJ Howard returning to Alabama there is little depth at TE in the draft, so I doubt we can grab a height/speed prospect unless we reach for one in the first round. There are quite a few good ILBs in the draft this year, so I think we can draft an instant upgrade at the position in the first two rounds. I like Jake Ryan, but he has plenty of work to do in coverage, and yesterday once again showed that the dime linebacker position is a problem.

RB is not our biggest need, but we should be able to find a good 3rd down running back in the mid-to-late rounds. A change of pace back with good speed and, most importantly, make-you-miss ability like a Kenyan Drake from Alabama.

 

[Carl]

This team showed a lot last night. Winning in Arizona is a very tough task, especially without their top 4 receivers, and we nearly pulled it off. We finally played the how we are capable of playing, which we hadn't seen much of the last half of the season. That's a strong testament to our young players stepping up and the coaching staff getting the team turned around.

We are set up to be a very good team next season. This will be the best returning defense we have had in years. Shields now looks like a true shut down corner and there's plenty of other young defenders who will only get better. Shields and Randall is going to be a very good combo. Jake Ryan showed last night he can be an ILB we need in the run game. I agree with the poster above that we need a dime LB for coverage situations.

Offensively, simply returning Jordy and Ty will make a huge difference. I see no reason why we won't rebound to being one of the best offenses in the league next season. Plus with Janis and Abby showing they can play, we could be back to having five deep at WR like we had a few years ago.

We aren't going to lose many guys to FA.

Of course, there probably will be an injury or two to key guys, but next year is looking good.

 

[andeftw]

This team showed a lot last night. Winning in Arizona is a very tough task, especially without their top 4 receivers, and we nearly pulled it off. We finally played the how we are capable of playing, which we hadn't seen much of the last half of the season. That's a strong testament to our young players stepping up and the coaching staff getting the team turned around.

We are set up to be a very good team next season. This will be the best returning defense we have had in years. Shields now looks like a true shut down corner and there's plenty of other young defenders who will only get better. Shields and Randall is going to be a very good combo. Jake Ryan showed last night he can be an ILB we need in the run game. I agree with the poster above that we need a dime LB for coverage situations.

Offensively, simply returning Jordy and Ty will make a huge difference. I see no reason why we won't rebound to being one of the best offenses in the league next season. Plus with Janis and Abby showing they can play, we could be back to having five deep at WR like we had a few years ago.

We aren't going to lose many guys to FA.

Of course, there probably will be an injury or two to key guys, but next year is looking good.

Completely forgot about Ty. I think he play a similar role to Cobb when he lines up in the backfield, so perhaps drafting a 3rd down back is not as much of a need, but rather something we do if there's a good value pick in the mid-to-late rounds.

 

[Carl]

Completely forgot about Ty. I think he play a similar role to Cobb when he lines up in the backfield, so perhaps drafting a 3rd down back is not as much of a need, but rather something we do if there's a good value pick in the mid-to-late rounds.

Ty as a 3rd down back is a good idea. I believe he did line up in the backfield a few times last time he played also.

 

[dbain21]

They always talk about a balanced attack and some speed + power sounds like a good balance to me. Jordy also has tons of speed...and its deceptive, so again not to beat a dead horse but the loss of Jordy resulted in a loss of some speed for the offense.

 

[longtimefan]

Rb speed

Starks was clocked at 21 mph? It was vs Rams... on nfln Terrell Davis made a comment where he was surprised how fast Starks was

So maybe we have that fastback?

 

[Premontre1969]

Give Jeff Janis a shot next season opposite Nelson. We could use two deep threats.

 

[Voltron]

Don't agree with you on WR. I think we're set at WR with what Janis and Abbrederis showed yesterday. Jordy is our deep threat and Janis is being groomed to be his replacement once he loses a step. New England doesn't have great speed at WR, Amendola and Edelman are the two fastest WRs they have and they're about as fast as Cobb is.
At CB, Randall is plenty fast enough to play opposite Shields. I agree that Rollins doesn't have the top tier speed, some additional depth would help but I would rather not spend an early round pick at CB unless it is clearly BPA.

OT depth is also a problem, but it could be taken care of in later rounds.

TE and ILB are clearly the biggest issues. With OJ Howard returning to Alabama there is little depth at TE in the draft, so I doubt we can grab a height/speed prospect unless we reach for one in the first round. There are quite a few good ILBs in the draft this year, so I think we can draft an instant upgrade at the position in the first two rounds. I like Jake Ryan, but he has plenty of work to do in coverage, and yesterday once again showed that the dime linebacker position is a problem.

RB is not our biggest need, but we should be able to find a good 3rd down running back in the mid-to-late rounds. A change of pace back with good speed and, most importantly, make-you-miss ability like a Kenyan Drake from Alabama.

I agree with you, if anything good came out of yesterday, its that Janis and Abberdaris played well. When Cobb went down everyone expected us to be done at that moment. AZ had to adjust bc the two were getting seperated and their defense was getting tired. They ended up going to zone coverage, bc man to man was not working. I think we should focus on TE and ilb

 

[andeftw]

Rb speed

Starks was clocked at 21 mph? It was vs Rams... on nfln Terrell Davis made a comment where he was surprised how fast Starks was

So maybe we have that fastback?

If I'm not mistaken so was James Jones when he had that long TD catch and run early in the season. I'm not so much referring to top end speed (Starks ran a 4.5 after all) but rather short-term quickness/explosiveness which is all acceleration.