My guess is most of the anti-Raji attitude is based upon expectations, similar to AJ Hawk. And it’s a little worse for Raji because unlike Hawk, he had a fantastic sophomore season. He hasn’t come close to that production since - 6.5 of his career 10.5 sacks (in the regular season) came in 2010. If Raji will accept a contract reflecting the ability of a good, young run stopper I think he should be re-signed. If he wants one reflecting a 9th overall pick who is a dynamic presence in the DL (something he is not), they can’t, and shouldn’t re-sign him. If I had to guess today I'd guess the Packers staff have a higher opinion of him than many of us do and they'll re-sign him.
I was
a little disappointed in Worthy but I agree he wasn’t that ineffective. I was hoping his first-step-quickness would translate better to the NFL. In addition IMO he needed to get stronger and I hope he’s been able to do that as he’s rehabbed his ACL. Here’s a blurb from a jsonline story in May of this year:
Through his rookie year, the second-round pick was not a full-time starter as the team initially hoped. Rather, Worthy worked into the defensive line on a rotation basis. As noted in the story linked above, Worthy finished with six pressures, 2.5 sacks and 23 tackles through his 443 snaps.
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/208406671.html
When he’s ready, Worthy replacing Wilson is a no-brainer IMO. Wilson is a try-hard guy who just doesn’t have enough natural talent. And for the Packers scheme Wilson needs about 20 more pounds of good weight. He’s about the size of a pass rushing/sub D lineman like Daniels and Datone without the pass rush or pass rush potential.
When I break out the two types of DL necessary for the Packers scheme – run stopping/block eating DL who allow the LBs to make tackles and quicker pass rushers who usually play in the 2-man DL in the sub packages, the good news is the Packers are well stocked for the future in the later: Daniels’ shoulder has healed and without the brace we’re seeing his quickness and added power, Datone Jones has looked better as the season has progressed and IMO it’s reasonable to expect he’ll continue to get better, and a healthy Worthy also has good potential. And Mike Neal is still available for this duty.
Right now the Packers have three very good run stopping/block eaters in Raji, Pickett, and Jolly. The problem is Raji becomes a UFA at the end of this season and Pickett has a lot of mileage on him. That’s the obvious spot that needs attention but that’s also one of the hardest to find. Thompson has said more than once that God only makes so many talented big men and he’s talking about NT types that the Packers call DTs on their roster (they label the other type of DL as DEs). I’m not a draftnik and to the extent I look at college talent before the draft I try to avoid Badgers because I’m a Badgers fan and biased. Also, I watch all the Badger games but don’t watch a lot of other college games so it’s hard for me to compare them to the rest of the talent in the draft. Having said all that, I love the idea of acquiring Beau Allen, particularly if he can be had for a 3rd rounder. He’s 6-3 and 325-330 pounds with a great motor.