#1 We have to study the injury situation. HAVE to.
It's an incredibly physical game and every team has a year here and there where injuries decimate the team, but we've had 3 years in a row where injuries have a played a major role. Figure that out and we save ourselves a lot of the other headaches.
#2 We have to get better up the middle on both sides of the ball.
The reason we can't run the ball is because our guards(Lang more so than Sitton) and center are not good. Go back and watch a lot of the games. When you have a hat on a hat, you have to be able to run for large chunks of yards. We have too many plays where the interior lineman aren't able to execute their 1 on 1 and the RB is tackled for 1 or 2 yards on plays where the numbers are in our favor. That's why teams are sitting back in 2 high. Also in pass pro, we're giving up way too much push from the interior. Rodgers was affected by this in virtually every game and it showed in his composure in the pocket. You can deal with pressure off the edge, but from the middle really disrupts things.
Raji has not been the plug we need at NT in a 3-4. I think 3-4 is the way to go, but we at least need a run stuffer to platoon with Raji, who is a better pass rusher. If you combine that situation with a healthy Mike Neal(I know) and Perry, the pass rush will drastically improve. If a run stuffer is found and Bishop is healthy, I think the run defense would be much improved up the middle as well.
I honestly believe if you fix those 2 areas, we are in great shape.
As far as moves go:
I believe Jennings is off to a new team, because he's interested in getting paid the max he can.
Driver is gone cause as much as I like him, there's just no room for him any more.
Woodson might be back if he doesn't retire(doesn't appear he will), but I don't believe it will be at his current price.
Finley I'm on the fence about. Just not sure where his head is at. He seemed to focus a little more at the end of the season to prove his worth and it showed. $8 million is a lot IMO for 1 year for Finley and I'm not sure the Packers ever really planned on paying it. We really have no replacement that brings what he can do though. Not sure what TT will do here.
Hawk has gotta be gone or restructured. We're overpaying big time for his talents.
I would consider trying to get James Jones signed for a 3 year deal or so. However, I think he's gonna want to try out free agency after having such a good year.
A Matthews deal should be coming as well.
Pickett could be a candidate to get cut if they keep a Finley or want to front load some new deals for Matthews or Jones or maybe even a deal to keep Jennings. He had a solid year but 5.4 mil is a lot for a guy that is old and playing a position that's brutal on the body.
Saturday will retire.
Shields will be kept. I thought Shields was in a pivotal year. He was bad last year after a really good 2010. This year he seemed to commit and improve and is an important piece. I think we could see a multi year deal worked out soon.
Walden and Jones will be brought back for cheap depth.
For the draft we need to stay the course. Get the best player we can in each round, not just need.