porky88 said:
Again I can't take this seriously at all. It looks like a blog to me so I'll believe this when I see it.
Reported on Ben Maller that the Packers are talking to both the Giants and the Cowgirls who both need kickers. Atlanta was mentioned as well. It was said it could be very good if the Pack could get two division rivals bidding against each other.
I think TT is definately going to try and leverage the depth at kicker and DT right now before the roster has to be set and keeping both would require a sacrifice.
Now is the best time for this move so the fact there is talk of TT negotiating something is not surprising to me.
below is an article from the Journal Sentinal by Tom Silverstein, the Packer beat reporter. In it he states that the interested teams MIGHT be.....not that there are any talks at the moment
Green Bay - As the kicking battle between Dave Rayner and Mason Crosby reaches its conclusion, the Green Bay Packers know much more about who will be interested in offering a trade proposal.
The teams most likely to be interested in a kicker appear to be the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys.
The ultimate scenario for the Packers would be if the Giants and Cowboys both decide they want one of Green Bay's two kickers. Getting two teams in the same division to bid against one another could result in the Packers getting far more than they ever thought.
The Giants' situation is the most desperate after their two kickers, Lawrence Tynes and rookie Josh Huston, combined to go 1 for 4 on field-goal attempts Saturday in an exhibition loss to the New York Jets. Coach Tom Coughlin said after the game that he definitely would be exploring the market.
In Dallas, veteran Martin Gramatica pulled a hamstring on a kickoff against Houston Saturday night and his status remains up in the air. Gramatica, who received a $200,000 signing bonus when he re-signed with the team in the off-season, missed one extra point and had an extremely poor kickoff before exiting against the Texans.
His competition, sixth-round pick Nick Folk, has hit all three of his field goals in the exhibition season, including a 52-yarder, and has been consistent. Like Crosby, he has not kicked in a regular-season game and hasn't faced the weekly pressure of performing in the National Football League.
The Cowboys probably would be interested in Rayner, who has a year as a kickoff man and a year as a full-time kicker under his belt, more than they would Crosby. But if Gramatica's hamstring injury isn't serious they'll probably stand pat.
The Falcons are going with veteran Billy Cundiff at this time. Cundiff has been outstanding on field goals, hitting on five of six, but he does not have a strong leg and his average distance on kickoffs (66.2 yards) ranks 30th among kickers in exhibition play.
Opponents are averaging 41.6 yards per return on his five kickoffs.
Rayner beat out Cundiff last year in Packers camp and might appeal to the Falcons if he's available. Rayner ranks first in the NFL in average kickoff distance with a 71.6 mark.
For the summer, Crosby has hit 85% of his field-goal attempts in practice and Rayner has hit 81%. Both kickers are 3 for 3 on field goals in exhibition games.
As for keeping both Rayner and Crosby, the Packers won't rule it out, although coach Mike McCarthy refused to get into the specifics of how that would work.
"We continue to talk about keeping the best 53, and the way those two guys are kicking the football, you could make an argument for that," McCarthy said. "We'll see what happens."
