May 23 2013
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Team History

NFL Draft Grades: 2008 Class

The Packers brought Josh Sitton and his flowing locks to Green Bay in 2008. How does the rest of the class stack up?

The Packers brought Josh Sitton and his flowing locks to Green Bay in 2008. How does the rest of the class stack up?

We’re a bit late with our NFL Draft grades, but you’ll be forgiving, right? Good.

Last year, I pointed out that everyone loooooves to grade drafts immediately after they happen, but that’s ridiculous, because nobody has even played a down yet. I operate under the premise that you should wait about five years to decide if a class was any good or not. Since we’re celebrating the five year anniversary of the 2008 class, it’s time to see how Ted Thompson and company did.

Here were the picks:

  1. Jordy Nelson – WR – Kansas State (2nd round, 36th overall)
  2. Brian Brohm – QB – Louisville (2nd round, 56th overall)
  3. Pat Lee – CB – Auburn (2nd round, 60th overall)
  4. Jermichael Finley – TE – Texas (3rd round, 91st overall)
  5. Jeremy Thompson – DE – Wake Forest (4th round, 102nd overall)
  6. Josh Sitton – G – Central Florida (4th round, 135th overall)
  7. Breno Giacomini – T – Louisville (5th round, 150th overall)
  8. Matt Flynn – QB – LSU (7th round, 209th overall)
  9. Brett Swain – WR – San Diego State (7th round, 217th overall)

Of the Packers’ nine selections, six were still in the league last season, including three with the Packers. The obvious misses were Brian Thompson and Brohm, but overall, it was a good draft.

Depending on who you ask, the best player from this draft was either Josh Sitton or Jordy Nelson. Sitton is perhaps Green Bay’s best offensive lineman, while Nelson may be their best receiver (although Randall Cobb could challenge for that title). Either way, both were pretty good values where they were taken, especially considering that Nelson was the third receiver off the board (behind Donnie Avery in St. Louis and Devin Thomas in Washington) and Sitton slid all the way to the fifth round.

Behind Nelson and Sitton, Jermichael Finley is easily the third best player. Though he’s inconsistent, you could safely assume that most teams in the league wouldn’t mind having him around. He’s an above average tight end, and for a third round pick, you’re probably feeling pretty good about that. But that being said, the Packers could have drafted the very solid Martellus Bennett (61st overall to Dallas) if they’d decided to pass on the eternally nondescript Pat Lee (60th overall) or Brian Brohm (56th overall), but we’ll get to them in a second.

Next up, Matt Flynn, who you might think was an incredible player given the hype he’s gotten, but he really only won the Packers a single game: the Week 17 shootout with Detroit in 2011. He didn’t produce in 2010 when Aaron Rodgers went down with a concussion (also against Detroit), and he had a massive brain fart at the end of the next week’s game in New England, although he did play much better. Still, there’s something to be said for being a relatively competent backup, and he managed to do that during his stay in Green Bay.

Grouping largely irrelevant players together:

  • Breno Giacomini was a giant (6’7″, 318 lbs.) but only played one game in two years with the Packers. How does someone that large go so unnoticed?
  • Brett Swain caught six passes for 72 yards and no touchdowns in two years.
  • Jeremy Thompson was undersized and played in 15 games (including three starts!) over two seasons, but never recorded a sack and only managed six solo tackles.

Pat Lee is a question mark. He managed to hang around for 32 games over three seasons playing mostly special teams. He broke up one pass and made 19 solo tackles, but never recorded an interception or a sack, which leads to the question: why couldn’t they find anybody better?

Finally, there’s Brian Brohm, who exists more or less only as a footnote in the Aaron Rodgers saga at this point. It reminds us of a time when we wondered if this Rodgers kid would ever amount to anything. And at that time, some of us (okay, maybe only me) were probably slightly too excited when a former Heisman Trophy-caliber player made his way to Green Bay. Sure, the Packers might have been able to draft serviceable players like the aforementioned Martellus Bennett or defensive end Kendall Langford (66th to Miami) or even cornerback Charles Godfrey (67th to Carolina). But maybe instead, we should remember Brohm as what will someday be a fun twist to the Rodgers Saga, hearkening back to that time when he was anything but the sure thing he is today.

Or we could just accept that he was a really, really, really terrible pick in hindsight. Probably that.

So while the misses in the 2008 class can be spectacular (like Brohm) or barely remembered (Thompson), overall it’s a pretty good group. Nelson and Sitton have been instrumental in the Packers successes the last two or three years, and Finley hasn’t been that bad either, all things considered. If you drafted like this every year, you’d probably have a fairly successful team on your hands.

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May 21 2013
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Editorial

Annual OTA Warning

Here's Eddie Lacy looking good in practice. Notice the lack of potential tacklers.

Here’s Eddie Lacy looking good in practice. Notice the lack of potential tacklers.

Every year, we come to the start of Organized Team Activities and every beat writer on every team writes three words that apply to at least one player on the team he or she covers:

“He looks good.”

What they mean by this is simple: the player they’re discussing is exceeding the performance of other players in OTAs to the degree that they stand out (duh). The only problem is, they’re doing it while wearing nothing more than cleats, shorts, a jersey, and a helmet. You know, the things you wear during a football game. If you’re a spectator. And it’s July. And you have a football helmet and cleats.

The point is, anybody can look good during practices in May. Most guys can look good during training camp. But only 53 of them will make the roster, and there’s a good chance that 10 to 15 of the guys that actually do make the roster could be replaced at a moment’s notice by a similar player and nobody would know any different.

When you’re watching non-football football, it’s remarkably easy for your eyes to deceive you. You see a guy look fast or powerful, and it’s easy to forget that these practices are nothing like a real NFL game. Sure, you’ll see some football-like activity, but most of it won’t be anything close to meaningful to the casual observer. Even some coaches are fooled by a player who can “look good” while practicing in shorts. Some players carve out small careers based only on how good they can look in practice, regardless of how much actual football ability they may have.

Therefore, as you hear reports on social media, Packers blogs, NFL rumor sites, and so on, remember that just because somebody looks good now, it doesn’t mean they’re anywhere near a lock for making the final roster. There’s a long way to go and a lot of football to be evaluated before we approach something resembling an NFL team.

This public service announcement is brought to you by The Packer Perspective.

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May 20 2013
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Player Profile

Position Battles, Part Two: Outside Linebacker

Legally, this play never happened, but Mr. Luck probably remembers it anyway.

Legally, this play never happened, but Mr. Luck probably remembers it anyway.

Other than running back, the Packers’ most frequently mentioned need has been (and will continue to be) outside linebacker. Or, more specifically, an outside linebacker that can provide some pass rush opposite of Clay Matthews.

That’s not to say there haven’t been contenders through the years. Erik Walden looked like a find near the end of the 2010 season, but he never recaptured the magic we saw in his Week 17 performance that year. Like Walden, Frank Zombo went quietly into the night after a solid 2010 season. Nick Perry was supposed to be the next big thing, but we only caught a glimpse of him last season before a wrist injury knocked him out for the year. Dezman Moses stepped in for Perry, but he was relatively raw after playing his college ball at Tulane and only had a spotty impact.

All that brings us to this year, where a healthy Perry, a seasoned Moses, and an upstart rookie named Nate Palmer will tangle for the lion’s share of the playing time across from Matthews. Who ya got? Here are the contenders.

The Favorite – Nick Perry

How can Perry not be the favorite? He’s bigger, stronger, and faster than the other two, plus he has the benefit of being a former first round pick. While the Packers can tend to give less favoritism to former first rounders than other teams, you still want your top picks to succeed, and Perry will get every opportunity to do so.

His athleticism, by the way, might be the biggest reason he’ll get the best shot at the starting spot. Watch how he keeps contain on this play, then chases down Russell Wilson. Textbook.

The Likely Backup – Dezman Moses

Calling him a probable backup is no knock to Dezman Moses. Given how Dom Capers rotates players in and out of his defensive alignments, a top backup spot is almost as desirable as starting. And after his four sack season last year, you have to think Moses will be hungry for more, especially if he gets the chance to strip Matt Stafford again.

The Dark Horse – Nate Palmer

Physically, Palmer is almost a carbon copy of Dezman Moses (6’2″/248 lbs to 6’2″/240 lbs). He also has big school experience, starting his college career at Illinois before transferring to Illinois State. Like Moses last year, Palmer may be the kind of training camp star that ends up snagging a roster spot. Nobody at Illinois State can find a bad word to say about him, and if he has the talent to match his sterling reputation, the Packers may have found somebody worth keeping around.

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May 16 2013
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Editorial

Do the Shuffle

What once was left was turned right, and now is left again.

What once was left was turned right, and now is left again.

(Since the titles kind of rhyme, I’m using this blog post as an opportunity to link to this song. Moving along.)

It’s pretty rare that an NFL storyline that develops in May has any real bearing on the season, but this is an exception. The Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein explains:

The season opener is four months away and a lot can happen between now and then, but the Green Bay Packers are starting the off-season with some major changes on their offensive line.

The most noteworthy is that right tackle Bryan Bulaga is moving to the left side to be quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ blind-side protector, replacing last year’s starter Marshall Newhouse.

In addition, the coaches have flipped guards T.J. Lang and Josh Sitton, moving Lang from left to right and Sitton from right to left. Newhouse, 2012 undrafted free agent Don Barclay and 2011 first-round pick Derek Sherrod will all have a shot to start at right tackle.

The left side of this new arrangement is going to get the most headlines for obvious reasons: Aaron Rodgers signed a contract this off-season worth approximately Sudan, and given that he’s a pretty okay player too, the Packers want to protect him. It makes sense to put your best protectors at the positions that do the most protecting.

That said, I think the battle at right tackle is the most interesting development here, because it opens the door for a three way race rather than just two. If things had stayed the same, Don Barclay would have been penciled in as Bryan Bulaga’s backup at right tackle, while Marshall Newhouse and Derek Sherrod slugged it out for the right to protect the blind side. But now, Newhouse, Sherrod, and Barclay will fight for the slightly less important right tackle spot.

It’s hard to handicap that race, but traditional wisdom would say that the Packers would prefer Sherrod to win the spot. They spent their 2011 first round pick on him, and presumably they’d like a return on their investment. He also probably has a higher upside than Barclay, based solely on the fact that nobody thought enough of Barclay to draft him. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess as to who comes out a winner.

Finally, it’s probably worth noting that the Packers seem pretty settled on Evan Dietrich-Smith, who I’m required by Packers Blogging Bylaws to describe as “squatty.” Whatever his stature, EDS seems locked into the starting center spot, despite still being listed as a center/guard on the Packers’ website. Currently Green Bay only carries Dietrich-Smith and undrafted free agents Patrick Lewis and Garth Gerhart at the center position, which would seem to give Dietrich-Smith a pretty substantial inside track to securing the starting center job for good.

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May 14 2013
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Uniforms

Offseason Uniformity: Dolphins Duds

Remember three weeks ago or so when the Dolphins revealed their new uniforms? Well we’re evaluating them now.

If I had to describe the new Miami uniforms in one word it would be “white.”

Dolphins Uniform

The white road uniforms appear in almost all the publicity shots for the new outfits, and they’re kind of boring, almost like a bizarro world version of the Sharks from Any Given Sunday. Very plain, very little color, and very little significance to the design.

In fact, the design really didn’t change all that much. Nike seems to have just taken last year’s uniform and removed most of the stuff on it, including most of the orange color. That’s odd, considering that the first thing the designer talks about when it comes to this uniform is the color, of all things.

“Yeah, the colors are awesome, but we wanted less of them,” he seems to be saying. Mixed messages.

This is most noticeable on the helmet, where instead of an orange stripe down the middle, there’s just aqua, navy, and a smidgen of orange.

Miami Dolphins Helmet

 

Overall, I’m not too impressed with the new look. The whites will probably look alright in the sun, but it’s a pretty “meh” design altogether. In my mind, it’s the third best of the three new sets this offseason.

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May 13 2013
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Editorial

Position Battles Part One: Running Back Dilemma

james starks

What are the chances James Starks makes the roster this year?

Every year every team goes through some serious transitions at a handful of positions, and the 2013 iteration of the Green Bay Packers will be no different. Due to various contract situations, draft pedigrees, and past performances, the Packers have a number of decisions to make at running back, wide receiver, and outside linebacker, to name a few. Between now and the start of training camp, we’ll take a look at some of these situations and try to handicap what’s going to happen.

The first and most logical place to start is running back. For years, writers, analysts, bloggers, and fans have been pleading for the Packers to invest in a running game, and this year, they’ve finally done it, spending two draft picks on running backs in this spring’s draft. But the story doesn’t end there: Green Bay has several backs on the roster with significant experience and/or a draft pedigree that will make them difficult to cut. We’ll take a look at those backs in order based on how likely they are to make the roster.

The Locks - Eddie Lacy, Johnathan Franklin

Lacy and Franklin (which I am claiming here, on May 13, to have jointly nicknamed as “The Lawfirm” (note: I secretly hope Johnathan Franklin is the starter, because “Franklin and Lacy” sounds a little better than “Lacy and Franklin”)) are locks to make the 2013 roster for two reasons: their draft status and the allure of their “potential.” NFL teams simply do not cut their second round picks unless they are abject failures, and even then they’d think long and hard about it. Eddie Lacy, therefore, is probably completely safe. The same goes for Franklin, whose status as a fourth round pick puts him in very good standing in the Green Bay Packers’ organization.

What’s more, we have yet to see both of them on an NFL field, so everything we (including, for the most part, the coaches) is based on conjecture and what we perceive to be their potential. Since neither of them have yet had the opportunity to show whether what we think of them is accurate or not, they’ll likely get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to making the roster.

The Good Bet – DuJuan Harris

Harris benefits from being the best answer to the question “what have you done for me lately?” Out of all the running backs on the roster right now, he is the only one who has performed at anything resembling a successful level in the NFL, gaining 157 yards on 34 carries in the regular season and another 100 yards on 28 carries in the postseason. Those are hardly groundbreaking numbers, but he was the one the coaches turned to in the playoffs, not Alex Green and not James Starks.

The Slightly Less Good Bet – Alex Green

Alex Green benefits from once being a third round pick. Alex Green is hurt by the fact that he was a third round pick three years ago. He is also hurt by the fact that he hasn’t been productive when he’s been healthy, and he hasn’t been that healthy that often. Other than that, you know, he’s doing pretty well. In all seriousness, Green’s most redeeming quality at this point might be that he’s a former high draft pick, because he hasn’t produced when called upon.

The “We Like Him…When He’s Healthy” Guy – James Starks

Everything Starks has done so far in the NFL has seemingly been followed by an elipsis and a harsh qualifying statement. He was drafted despite missing a significant amount of time in college…and then he couldn’t get on the field because he didn’t put enough effort into recovering from injuries suffered early in training camp. He was a significant cog in the Packers’ 2010 Super Bowl run…and then he couldn’t unseat Ryan Grant to become the full-time starting running back. He earned the right to be the number one guy in training camp last year…and then he had so many injuries there was some question as to whether he’d make it out of training camp on the roster. He ran for more than 60 yards in three out of four games in November and early December last season…and then he got injured (again!) and never saw the field the rest of the season.

The thing is, Starks might be the most physically gifted running back the Packers have had since Ahman Green was in his prime, and he’s used that reputation to stay on the team despite never really staying on the field. But now he’s 27, and the clock might be running out.

The Mystery – Angelo Pease

Quick, go to YouTube and find all the Angelo Pease highlights you can. Go on, go. I’ll wait.

(waiting…waiting…waiting…)

Okay, you’re no doubt back by now. I’m betting you didn’t find anything, really, other than this:

And that’s really hardly a highlight. But a lack of highlights aside, Pease has at least two things going for him. First, at 5’11″ and 211 pounds, he’s built like a small truck. Think of Pease as a Chevy S-10 to Eddie Lacy’s Ford F-250. Or Cadillac Escalade. Or the other large truck of your choice. Whatever the case, Pease has a solid build and seems to have the athleticism to at least get noticed at an NFL level.

Secondly, Angelo Pease has the most important thing an NFL player can have: the support of the head coach. Yeah, it’s only a rookie minicamp. Yeah, it was one practice. But when Mike McCarthy emotes like that, it’s significant, and for that reason alone, Pease will be worth watching this summer.

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May 09 2013
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Fun

Aaron Rodgers Likes Gray Suits, Vol. 2

You’ll no doubt remember a few weeks back we talked about how much Aaron Rodgers apparently loves gray suits and only gray suits. Consider this more evidence.

First, Aaron Rodgers attended the Kentucky Derby and helped a tiny man ride a horse. What did he wear? You got it.

Rodgers Derby

Second, our favorite Packers quarterback will make a cameo appearance on The Office tonight, and guess what he’ll be wearing. If you guessed “a gray suit,” you are correct. If you guessed anything other than a gray suit, you don’t understand how this game works.

Rodgers Office

We’ll update you on this situation as it develops.

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May 02 2013
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Hall of Fame

Gilbert Brown: The Gravedigger

gilbert brown“Why is he wearing that black thing?” I remember asking my dad one Sunday, after seeing the dark-tinted visor Gilbert Brown had attached to his helmet. “Does he need sunglasses?”

“Well, supposedly it’s to stop people from poking him in the eye, but I think he just likes to look tough,” came the response.

It worked.

Though I’ve watched literally hundreds of players in my time as a Packer fan, I can’t think of many more intimidating, at least in looks, than Gilbert Brown. Between the mammoth side, the dark visor, and the alarming quickness he displayed on the field, you never wanted to be the one trying to sneak past Gilbert “The Gravedigger” Brown to the end zone…or to a Gilbert Burger.

Ah yes, the Gilbert Burger. According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia, it was a “Triple Whopper with extra everything, cut in half with extra cheese and no pickles.” If you’re going to be a folk hero, you might has well have your own signature food.

And a folk hero is exactly what Gilbert Brown was. Never a statistically dominant player, he nonetheless remained incredibly popular throughout his career, and maintains a presence in Green Bay today.

To me, though, the word that comes to mind when I think about Gilbert Brown is sacrifice. After a big season in 1996, he took less money to stay in Green Bay than he could have earned somewhere else. Then, when his weight became a problem late in his career, he took a year away from the game and came back thinner, but better than ever. That same year, he squished Jeff Garcia in the Packers’ first round playoff game, his first sack since 1997 (which you can read about here).

And finally, when he tore his biceps early in what would turn out to be his final season, he didn’t shut it down. He gutted out fourteen games with an extremely painful injury because without him, the Packers’ defensive line was ridiculously thin.

So while the black visor and the tackle celebration are fun, beneath the pro wrestler image, there was more to Gilbert Brown. The Gravedigger got the headlines, but Gilbert Brown the sacrificial teammate is the one really worth remembering.

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May 01 2013
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Uniforms

Offseason Uniformity, Part 2: the Minnesota Vikings

We briefly mentioned last week that the Jaguars, Vikings, and Dolphins all (intentionally or unintentionally) announced their new uniforms on the same day.  You’ve already seen the Jaguars’ new threads in detail, but we haven’t taken a look at the Vikings or Dolphins yet. Since the Vikings are our neighbors to the west, it seems only fair and hospitable that we examine their uniforms first.

The jerseys themselves aren’t that bad, and they’re a definite improvement over the Arena League-quality costumes they’ve been sporting the last few years. From  straight on, they’re admittedly pretty nondescript, but you’ll immediately notice the different typeface for the numbers. It looks okay on certain numbers, like Peterson’s jersey below, but on others (especially with repeated numerals) it looks weird.

vikings jersey

The sleeve stripes have improved, although when you can’t see the side, the two stripe appearance looks a little funny. Here’s a side detail.

vikings sleeve

The pants are where things get a little bit weird for me. Although I sometimes like it when teams go with just two stripes on their pants (like the Eagles and Redskins), the asymmetrical look just isn’t doing it for me.

vikings pants

I will admit that it is a unique look, though, and not necessarily a bad thing. Here, though, it just feels like being different for the sake of being different.

On a bad note, though, the uniform set does include a pair of purple pants, which opens the door for this monstrosity…

vikings disaster

Please, please no. Minnesota, you look bad enough in purple. You don’t have to exacerbate the problem by adding more purple.

Overall, I think the new uniforms are a marked improvement. Although a bit plain, they represent an acceptable modernization of the Vikings’ classic uniforms. I think we can give Nike a hesitant thumbs up on their effort here.

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Apr 29 2013
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NFL Draft

Draft Weekend Recap

johnathan franklin 2Counting draft picks and undrafted free agents, the Packers added 23 players to the roster since Thursday. We had all the information about each and every one of the Packers’ newest players, and for your convenience, we’ve lumped the weekend’s worth of information together here. Say hello to the 2013 Draft Class and their UDFA counterparts!

First, there’s Datone Jones, the Packers’ first round pick.

And Eddie Lacy, the sledgehammer running back picked in the second round.

After trading back through the  third round, the Packers added two offensive linemen, another running back, and a linebacker in the fourth.

Three more defensive players joined the team in the fifth and sixth rounds.

Finally, the Packers added two wide receivers and another linebacker in the seventh round.

After the draft was all said and done, the Packers signed a dozen undrafted free agents and offered tryouts to two more.

Here’s a photo gallery of all the newest Packers. Best of luck to each of them as they try to make the 2013 roster!

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