Packers re-sign James Starks

[adambr2]

Contract averages that Ted has handed out to existing players in the last month:

Perry: $5M
Crosby: $4.025M
Guion : $3.750
Starks: $3M
Taylor: $2.075M

That's $18M a year dedicated to 4 backup/rotational players that we could have all done without and gotten by just fine and 1 mediocre kicker. Holy smokes, no wonder we can't afford to patch any holes in free agency.

Worst FA offseason that I can remember since Ted became a GM. He has been frustrating and careless this offseason and I'm extremely disappointed. He has become completely lost and rigid in his own thought processes.

Anytime again I hear 'Ted doesn't overpay', please. Ted just doesn't overpay for anyone outside the organization. He's the favorite uncle at Christmas to his own guys.

 

[CashInFist]

I swear i read 2 for 6?

I don't think he will ever see year 2 of that contract unless he restructures. Then it would be a new contract. lol

 

[4zone]

I look at it like James is better in GB out of the box because he has lived in our system for years now. This actually brings us more value than any other team that might have signed him. His knowledge of the offense is his highest value as well as how he fits into it. I think a solid signing but I expect a RB coming in the draft as well. He only got a two year contract. It gives a rookie time to come in and learn the system before Starks leaves in two years.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

eh... I consider him similar to Fred Jackson in Buffalo. Low miles early in his career. peaked late. And played well into his 30's. Very good player.

Starks deserves some respect for what he did last year when Lacy, Rodgers, and the WRs were struggling. Oh yea and TEs and Oline.... FB was good though. lol

 

[Vrill]

In comparison Danny Woodhead I would consider a much better option signed a what 3 yr. 8 m contract 2 years ago?? I don't understand how he TT doesn't make this happen for cheaper

Different types of backs. Woodhead is a 3rd down type of specialist. There is no way a team would start Woodhead and make him carry the full running load for a game. Starks on the other hand can start for you and carry the ball 20-25 times in a game if need be.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Contract averages that Ted has handed out to existing players in the last month:

Perry: $5M
Crosby: $4.025M
Guion : $3.750
Starks: $3M
Taylor: $2.075M

That's $18M a year dedicated to 4 backup/rotational players that we could have all done without and gotten by just fine and 1 mediocre kicker. Holy smokes, no wonder we can't afford to patch any holes in free agency.

Worst FA offseason that I can remember since Ted became a GM. He has been frustrating and careless this offseason and I'm extremely disappointed. He has become completely lost and rigid in his own thought processes.

Anytime again I hear 'Ted doesn't overpay', please. Ted just doesn't overpay for anyone outside the organization. He's the favorite uncle at Christmas to his own guys.

Packers all time scorer.... Crosby was a must. He is stability...
Perry was explosive and the defense looked noticably better when he was in there IMO.
Guion too. He was the one who stepped up late, when everyone is beat up and tired.
Starks too. Lacy got hurt. was basicly choking in crunch time last year. Starks came in and gashed defenses. made some very important plays, SINGLE HANDEDLY!!! Dude needs respect.

 

[ChesterfieldCheesehead]

Different types of backs. Woodhead is a 3rd down type of specialist. There is no way a team would start Woodhead and make him carry the full running load for a game. Starks on the other hand can start for you and carry the ball 20-25 times in a game if need be.

While I agree with you they are two different backs and Woodhead is not your every down back. To me it means nothing when it comes pay day due to production. Woodhead caught 80 balls last year. In my mind we are bringing Starks back for his screen play not for 20-25 carries a game. In that mindset we are actually paying slightly more for half the production (Starks caught 43) and I didn't realize this till looking but Starks while had good ypc and total yards running he only had 2 TDs even Woodhead had three. I'm just saying while two different types of backs you are paying for production whether running or passing and we are overpaying without a doubt imo

 

[rodell330]

Unreal, then again this is typical of TT to overpay for his guys. Starks is not worth 3 mil s year.

 

[adambr2]

Packers all time scorer.... Crosby was a must. He is stability...
Perry was explosive and the defense looked noticably better when he was in there IMO.
Guion too. He was the one who stepped up late, when everyone is beat up and tired.
Starks too. Lacy got hurt. was basicly choking in crunch time last year. Starks came in and gashed defenses. made some very important plays, SINGLE HANDEDLY!!! Dude needs respect.

Eli, please stop quoting the 'All time leading scorer' as the reasoning that keeping Crosby was a must. It's such a horrible argument for paying big bucks for a guy.

Myself and many others have already given plenty of statistics that prove Crosby is an average kicker at best. Any kicker that is in Green Bay long enough will become the 'all time leading scorer'. Before it was Mason, it was Ryan Longwell, but we still let him walk. Chris Jacke is our 4th 'all time leading scorer'. It's such a worthless title to use for handing out a contract.

 

[4zone]

Cr

last month:

Perry: $5M (Possible Future Replacement for Peppers)
Crosby: $4.025M (Starter)
Guion : $3.750 (Starter)
Starks: $3M ( Starter)
Taylor: $2.075M (Strictly Depth)

That's $18M a year dedicated to 4 backup/rotational players that we could have all done without and gotten by just fine and 1 mediocre kicker.

Remember the cap keeps going up at a rate of about 7% every year and salaries go up with it. You are now getting second tier QB's getting sick money in the range of AR's now. It's just how it goes in this money driven sport. You also have to remember these are guys who have been around through their first contracts already. They aren't rookies or UDFA's. There are several guys on the roster who are making chump change while the AR's and Clay Matthews make the huge bucks. And that's 18M for 5 players, not 4. Averaged out over a 53 man roster that puts us in right around the salary cap.

When we get done with a season, we look at the team and say 'we need x, y and z to win the super bowl.'. But our premise always comes with the idea we will have all the other guys on the team from the year before except for the guys that need to be replaced by x, y and z. If we lose c, j, m, r, s, t, x, y and z and only replace x, y and z, then we are worse off than where we ended the season before. It's a delicate dance TT must dance and none of us have a real clue as to what all that involves. We are spectators only. We don't have the inside info. We don't have the expertise built up over years inside the industry.

So go ahead and chew on TT or MM or aplaud them or just sit back and watch. This is our area of expertise, armchair QB's, HC's and GM's. We are the expert on fan commentary and grouch. Enjoy it for what it's worth, but don't be rediculous and think you know any one of these people's jobs better than they do. Comment on it all ya like, but remember, we are the fans, they are the pros!

 

[PackerDNA]

Contract averages that Ted has handed out to existing players in the last month:

Perry: $5M
Crosby: $4.025M
Guion : $3.750
Starks: $3M
Taylor: $2.075M

That's $18M a year dedicated to 4 backup/rotational players that we could have all done without and gotten by just fine and 1 mediocre kicker. Holy smokes, no wonder we can't afford to patch any holes in free agency.

Worst FA offseason that I can remember since Ted became a GM. He has been frustrating and careless this offseason and I'm extremely disappointed. He has become completely lost and rigid in his own thought processes.

Anytime again I hear 'Ted doesn't overpay', please. Ted just doesn't overpay for anyone outside the organization. He's the favorite uncle at Christmas to his own guys.

Total in hits vs the cap; (2016 from overthecap.com)

Perry- $4.875
Crosby- $2.400
Guion- $3.516,666
Taylor- $1.45

Total- $12.241,666

No cap figure yet on Starks, although an interesting note is the contract is nearly twice as large as the one he signed 2 years ago.

 

[gopkrs]

I think it is great. Have always liked Starks and if he got better blocking he would be off to the races more often...especially on the end run. People seem to forget about what a gamer he is. Down the stretch of the Super Bowl year he was a giant cog in the machine.

 

[El Guapo]

I agree that $3M is more than most of us envisioned. However, NONE of us know what New England may have offered Starks or where the market was trending. I have zero doubt that had we let him go and Lacy got hurt in Week 2, the vocal majority would be on this forum bashing TT for 'not having a plan' at RB, similar to the backup QB situation a few years ago.

I don't see Crockett as an every down back. Who knows where (or if) we are might draft a RB this spring. Eddie Lacy hasn't been the sure thing that we all had hoped for a few years ago. Re-signing Starks was a priority. Yes the contract is for more than we wanted, but you can't control the market. If NE offered Starks $2.5M, and now you're TT debating the gamble on Lacy, what do you do?

 

[AmishMafia]

Whats funny is a short while ago many thought RB was a need. Now we sign a decent player who is familiar and successful in our system.

It is a grass is greener situation. If Starks played for another team some of the same people complaining we just resigned him, would be clamoring for TT to go after bim.

 

[PackerDNA]

I'm surprised in that I figured backup RB would be taken care of in the mid-later part of the draft, where you could probably get a good one (C.J. Procise?), also younger and cheaper.

 

[adambr2]

Whats funny is a short while ago many thought RB was a need. Now we sign a decent player who is familiar and successful in our system.

It is a grass is greener situation. If Starks played for another team some of the same people complaining we just resigned him, would be clamoring for TT to go after bim.

For 3M a year? Not a chance. I wouldn't have wanted CJ2K at 3M either and he's had a lot more of a successful history than Starks.

 

[Vrill]

For 3M a year? Not a chance. I wouldn't have wanted CJ2K at 3M either and he's had a lot more of a successful history than Starks.

Would you have rather paid Forte 4-5m a year? Because that is what he got.

I think people are prisoners of the moment and having the "Grass is Greener" syndrome, honestly.

 

[rodell330]

Would you have rather paid Forte 4-5m a year? Because that is what he got.

I think people are prisoners of the moment and having the "Grass is Greener" syndrome, honestly.

I hope you're not comparing Starks to Forte.

 

[adambr2]

Would you have rather paid Forte 4-5m a year? Because that is what he got.

I think people are prisoners of the moment and having the "Grass is Greener" syndrome, honestly.

Are you happy with this deal, since you said this morning he'd get around $1M a year? Hard for me to imagine a scenario in which a player got triple what I expected and I was happy with it.

I absolutely would have taken Forte at $4M a year instead of Starks at 3M if that was an option. You're comparing way different qualities of players.

 

[mkonyn]

Can he play DL?

 

[Vrill]

I absolutely would have taken Forte at $4M a year instead of Starks at 3M if that was an option. You're comparing way different qualities of players.

I hope you're not comparing Starks to Forte.

At this point in Forte's career, sure, why not? Forte has entered the part of his career where any given season his production can fall off drastically. It happens a lot with RB's once they reach 30 years old. Especially RB's that have a lot of wear and tear like Forte does. And remember, we are talking about the Forte of today. Not what hes done in the past. This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league. So we'll see if Forte actually has a good year for the Jets. I'm willing to bet that its 50/50 if he does or not.

Its also worth mentioning that Forte isn't a bell cow 20-25 carry RB anymore. He is best suited for platoon and spot duty (just like Starks is)

 

[Deleted member 6794]

$3 million per season for a backup RB??? Absolutely ridiculous. Fans liking the contract because they can't accept Thompson does anything wrong??? Equally ridiculous.

 

[PackerDNA]

I wanted Starks back, but I don't like the contract at all.

 

[Jerellh528]

I have a hard time believing this deal was at market value, especially with his case of the fumbles last year. TT seems to be overpaying his guys all offseason.

 

[proudsoftballdad]

I would have zero problem with this move IF Ted would have addressed the much more prominent needs of this team ,D line Inside linebacker and TE 1st but for Ted to sit on his hands to help cover needs and a open wallet for vets on the roster at position of less or little need is ?..... just don't get it