Some of those potential busts are still on the team
. As are some potential hits. Hayward and Worthy are a wash as far as TT VS Capers. But you are right, is it the chicken or the egg? Personally, if the defense fails this year, I think its time to make an omelette and let them both hit the frying pan.
Boy, TT's draft success has really tailed-off the past few years, something that the recent JSO article on the subject clearly documented. So much of TT's recent draft efforts have been devoted to defense and yet we still have been seeing chronic mediocrity on D having become the persistent reality year after year. While an elite DC might be able to squeeze better performances out of average players than a jag DC could do with the same level of talent, I'm convinced that there's just no effective substitute for genuine talent out on the playing field.
I'm also disappointed with what a Capers-led defense can't seem to do well, especially at crucial times, feeling very much similar to quite a few others who have regularly opined on this subject via the forum. I get it. But I'm slightly-less willing to condemn him equally to the GM in this matter because TT and his staff have given him a whole lot of chicken "stuff" from which he's supposed to whip-up gourmet (SB capable) chicken salad. Injuries are not an excuse since TT chronically rolls the dice on UDFAs, as well, for providing much needed roster depth. Instead of acquiring a few more mid-level FAs with valuable NFL experience to fill at least a few more of those ever-present holes in the roster, he has mostly leaned heavily towards cheaper the UDFAs with the compounding flaw of them also lacking in adequate NFL experience.
That lack of experienced backups just adds to the lack-of-talent problem IMHO, and we're not talking about the elite, high-dollar type of FAs that garner the biggest salaries. Thankfully, he stepped out of character because he went after more FAs than usual during this offseason. A tip of the hat his way for bending a little. I hope that actually translates into greater success for 2017. In Bennett's case he's a player that's much closer to elite status than we're used to seeing out of a TT pick-up (unless that player is already over-the-hill...Ahem, Saturday). Peppers did not fit the mold of a Saturday but the clock may strike Midnight for him in Carolina this season. Here's hoping that Jahri Evans is at least a season away from receiving his own Father-Time knock-out punch.
I like the Packers much more as a whole than I dislike the GM and the current DC, and I always will. It was my pattern long before those fellows ever got here and I will continue to do so long after they've moved-on, Lord-willing. Therefore, I'm hoping that the team succeeds regardless of who's in charge of what and when -- recent playoff disappointments notwithstanding. The 70's and 80's are still too fresh in my mind to take the greater successes compiled over the past 25 years for granted.
I wish TT and Capers nothing but the best, although the fact should remain that TT is always on the clock -- same as any other GM -- past present or future. The DC should also be under some scrutiny himself. Tom Clements was not sacrosanct and I seriously doubt Capers is either.
, so I'll refrain until the next money game defensive clusterf*ck.
