Packers and Bears and a few players

Chicago sports radio is abuzz about the Ray McDonald signing.  I cannot blame them, this is an odd move for a team that really does not need the distraction.  Everybody deserves a second chance, but trouble keeps finding McDonald so something has to be up.  In all of this hubbub though, a really underrated signing happened with the Bears; ILB Mason Foster.  I cannot find terms of the deal anywhere but my guess is that it was not for all that much money given that we are in the middle of free agency.  So far, this looks like it might be the most bang for their buck move.  Foster has shown he can be a very good player if used properly and he fits the Will linebacker position.  I am not saying he is a guarantee because he has only had one really good season but he might turn out to be a steal. 

I am still not a fan of Pernell McPhee and I still feel like the Bears will need some pass rushers as I am not buying that Jared Allen will transition well to the OLB position.  They have a lot of guys that could make the transition but it is really going to be mud on the wall.   The Rolle signing helps the Bears secondary but they still need to keep bringing guys in so look for a CB to be drafted early.  The Bears also need to seriously consider finding some younger players on the OL so they may address that early. 

One name to keep an eye out for in the middle rounds WR Dezmin Lewis he is underrated.

The Packers have been their usual quiet selves.  They were smart to let both Tramon Williams and Davon House go; they were not worth the contracts they were given.  Clearly now, the Packers biggest needs in the draft will be Inside Linebacker and Cornerback.  Up until last year Davon House looked just okay and it looked like Casey Hayward and Micah Hyde had better futures.  Hyde is a nickle/dime/safety so he will not likely play the outside and Hayward has shown he can play so this may not be panic mode just yet.  There is a lot of talk that the Packers will just leave Matthews inside so it may not be quite the need that it appears.  Still, there are some players I would love to see on the Packers at both CB and ILB.  When the Packers drafted Carl Bradford last year I really thought he was more of an ILB and it took them all of training camp to move him there.  I still think he could be a dark horse candidate for the ILB position or one of those guys that Capers finds a special role for.

At this point, I would love to see Eric Kendricks in a Packers uniform.  Everybody seems to forget that Ray Lewis was actually undersized when he came into the NFL.  I heard him mention that he was in the 230-235lb range when he came out of college at 6-1.  I am not saying that Kendricks is Lewis but he has great desire and instincts and that is always a welcome addition.

I am also still pretty hot on Quinten Rollins, when I saw him at the Senior Bowl I saw a player who looked natural at the position yet he still has a lot of potential.  

Sifting through the start of a very strange and active start to the 2015 NFL Season

Wow, what a strange week and one that changes the priorities of a few teams.  In looking at what has happened so far with trades and signings the big question is who got better, who got worse, who made an oddball decision, and other such thoughts.  The basis of a lot of this will be how much bang a team gets for their buck.  It may also be interesting to look at who a team could have had or who they should have perhaps pushed harder for. (All salary figures come from http://www.spotrac.com/)

Starting with the Bears, who really knows what happens behind the scenes but I am very surprised with some things they did and did not do.

Pernell McPhee – The Bears overpaid for a player that has not actually really been anything but average at best when you really break it down.  This contract puts him as the 9^th highest paid OLB (though he is currently listed as a DE on NFL.com which does not make sense to me) based on average salary but he has 6 starts in 4 years, and his average sacks per season are a meager 4.5. Not what you are looking for as cornerstone of a 3-4 switch and I feel there were some better alternatives out there.  My question is, why not go after Jabaal Sheard who is younger, a better pass rusher (5.75 sacks per season average and was hurt last year), and has more experience?  To compound on this, most players that the Ravens let walk do not really turn out with the exception of Paul Kruger.   

One interesting player that is still out there and grew up in Chicago is Sam Acho.

Antrel Rolle – This was a quiet signing and may have been a pretty shrewd signing.  Rolle is getting old but he is still a major upgrade over anybody the Bears have had since Mike Brown.  At the 23^rd highest paid safety in the NFL, they got a deal.

Eddie Royal – WR is turning into a really interesting position and Royal is a slot guy.  This contract puts him at the 24^th highest paid receiver in the league.  While that is most likely an overpayment he is probably worth it because they Bears are pretty thin at WR.  However, if I was the Bears, I would have seriously considered making a major play for Andre Johnson.  Not that Johnson is Jerry Rice, but his situation reminds me so much of Jerry Rice where the 49ers were pretty much done with him and he still had some gas in the tank. 

One player that the Bears should have really thought about is Bryan Bulaga.  While I am a Packers fan and I am happy he stayed, Bulaga is from Chicago and they could have made a pretty good pitch to lure him down here.  Who knows what happened during the legal tampering period but I did not hear a peep.  Two guys that I think the Bears should bring back are Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman.  However, Briggs needs to move inside to the Mike and Tillman needs to move over to Safety.  De La Puenta and Britton may also not be a bad idea.

As for the Packers, they did what they usually do; re-sign their own players that are worth it.

Randall Cobb – Cobb is an interesting one because his value to the Packers is not just as a WR or returner but he also lines up in the backfield and his chemistry with Rodgers is pretty amazing.  That is part of the reason always love former QBs playing other positions.  With this new contract he is the eighth highest paid WR in the NFL.  I would take him over Maclin who is 2 years older and received $1M more. 

Bryan Bulaga – Bulaga is the second highest paid RT in the league now.  He is pretty good but I am not sure that he is the second best in the league.  Then again, the highest paid RT in the league is Gosder Cherilus…Regardless, with the money the Packers had and Bulaga being a pretty steady player this was okay.

Scott Tolzien – I loved Tolzien, but he is not the future at back-up anymore.  I would have preferred to hang onto Flynn and draft a young guy this year.  While Flynn is still a possible re-sign, Tolzien was given a bit more money than he should.  But then again, we are talking about a back-up QB.

The best move the Packers made was the one they did not make.  Davon House is now the 24^th highest paid CB and was not worth the contract that the Jags gave him.  House started to play consistently better last year and did play well against Calvin Johnson.  However, he just never seems to make the plays he should and he is not the best of athletes.  He also may have the worst hands I have ever seen on a CB.  I hope for the best for him but he was not worth that money.  The only problem is that it puts the Packers in a precarious situation.  Now they really need to bring Tramon Williams back.  Williams bounced back after a rough beginning to 2013 and had a solid 2014 but he is getting up there in age a bit. 

With all of that said, the CB market is really inflated right now.  House might be better than the likes of Brandon Flowers who is enigmatic, Buster Skrines who is really more of a slot CB, Chris Culliver is talented but has an attitude that seems to rival Darrelle Revis and is a bit inconsistent, and I am not sure why Byron Maxwell received as much as he did.

Ted Thompson tends to wait it out and then look to see if there are some bargains out there.  I do not see a lot out there that excites me but you never know.  Perhaps brining in Casey Matthews who I always thought was more of a 3-4 Will Linebacker.  The Packers have some free agents that I would like to see back on the team: John Kuhn, B.J. Raji, Jarrett Bush

So outside of the two teams I typically write about I wanted to bring up a team that has made some quietly good moves and a team that has made loud bad moves.

The Raiders have been very active and brought in some very good players that will help them.  It was not that long ago that Curtis Lofton was considered to be a great player for the Falcons and he was being praised as a shrewd signing by the Saints, plenty of gas left there.  Dan Williams is just a run-plugger but he is stout and will help to clog the middle but his stats will never reflect his value.  Nate Allen is just kind of average but will most likely start.  Malcom Smith has had his moments and they are not really paying him all that much (36^th highest paid OLB).  Even though he is just like an extra lineman out there, I like the Lee Smith signing.  Hudson is worth the gamble as he is relatively young.  Helu will probably not make the team but is a situational pounding RB. 

The Eagles are just blowing my mind with their moves.  In my mind the Eagles have traded away their top two players on offense and it sounds like McCoy really did not get along with Chip Kelly.  I thought the Bears should have made a play for Foles but bringing in Bradford was a real head scratcher to me unless they really butcher up his contract.  I am not the biggest DeMarco Murray fan because he seems fragile and moody.  A lot of professionals are talking about how great this backfield is going to be but I keep thinking about how bad the Carolina Panthers messed up their organization when they were paying three RBs a lot of money.  Is there anybody out there that really and truly thinks that the Eagles now have the Second and Eighth best CBs in the NFL?  Because they are paying two guys that the Seahawks had no problem casting off as top 10 corners.  I think Kelly has officially bit off more than he can chew.  The strange thing is that I am saying this and I like him and his approach to coaching a lot.  But right now, it just does not make sense to me.

As for the Dolphins, it starts and ends with Suh.  There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that Suh is a dominant force on the defensive line.  But how much does he change the game?  Let’s put this into perspective a bit.  JJ Watt is a bigger difference maker right?  Did he make the Texans a playoff team?  How about this, there are only 4 QBs in the NFL that have a higher average salary than him.  Let’s be honest here too, he is a DT, how much of a difference does DT make?  Okay, let’s keep going with this, a ROOKIE DT had more sacks than him (granted Aaron Donald has three other first round picks around him to take the pressure off).  Or that three other players in the NFL had twice as many or more sacks then him.  Sorry Dolphins but you lost with Mike Wallace and you will lose with Suh. 

The Jaguars have a lot of money to spend and they spent it, not well but not horribly.  They need to build a base set of good players and they did that but almost everybody they brought in was overpaid.  I am really starting to think that the TE position is being highly overrated now.  Still, you need to give them credit for doing what they can to make a change.  I am surprised that they did not bring in a veteran WR though.

There is a lot of buzz around the Seahawks trade for Jimmy Graham and I keep wondering who won out on that one.  Jimmy Graham is the best receiving tight end in the league right now and has put up receiver like numbers.  On the other hand, Max Unger is in the top 5 centers in the league right now.  Seattle is really putting their team at risk by not having a smart and quite good C to lead the line.  This also helps New Orleans with their salary cap a bit so that needs to be factored in.  Giving up the 31^st pick  and picking up a fourth rounder in the process is not a bad thing for the Saints either.  The one thing to consider is that Seattle has been very good at finding replacements along the OL and making average players work.  I give a slight edge to the Saints with this one, but really, it was good for both.

To me, the biggest steal this week is the Foles for Bradford trade.  There are some interesting nuances to this trade though.  So Rams get Foles, a 2015 4^th round pick, and a 2016 second round pick.  The Eagles receive Bradford and if Bradford does not start 8 games they get a 4^th round pick back from the Eagles.  If Bradford gets injured then they get a third round pick.  If I was looking at this I would say that the deal should be reversed and Foles is the bigger value player.  The Rams have been playing with 4^th and 5^th level starters when Bradford has gone down and still been okay.  With a very strong defense Foles can work on mistake free football with a few slingers out there.  I think the Rams pulled highway robbery here.

Mason Foster is an interesting player to me and he has not signed with anybody yet.  He looked very good early in his career but was not a good fit for Lovie Smith’s system apparently.  He might be a surprise diamond in the rough for somebody.

Rob Housler could be another interesting player that surfaces with somebody and turns out to be a quietly smart signing.

Stefen Wisniewski was a player that I thought was pretty good but the Raiders had no problem dumping him.  Bears might be shrewd in signing him.

I already touched on this but I think Casey Matthews needs a change of scenery and that he has always been more of a Will linebacker in a 3-4.

That is all for now but I will update periodically!  Thank you for reading!

Quick thoughts on the Packers, Bears, and Draft Prospects

The Packers did what they must and basically cleaned house at ILB.  They have Sam Barrington who played well last year and a Dark Horse candidate in Carl Bradford, who I thought was a better fit as an ILB in the first place.  I don’t think Bradford is ready but he could get some time so that leaves an obvious need.  Barrington is more of a Mike Linebacker so they need a Will.  I am firm believer that good players are good players and sometimes you need to step away from the measurables (though those are important).  It has been interesting to hear comments about London Fletcher over the past decade and a half or so.  There are a few other quiet needs and a few needs being blown out of proportion.  So while we are far off from the draft I wanted to throw a few names and thoughts out there.

#1 The Packers do not need a tight end as bad as many seem to think.  Richard Rodgers looked better than Jermichael Finley did in his rookie year. 

#2 If the Packers lose Randall Cobb, it will hurt, but there are still plenty of good players left.  The Packers drafted three WRs last year that have potential to be difference makers. 

#3 If the Packers lose Bryan Bulaga, they have a possible replacement in JC Tretter that nobody knows about.  But he may also just be a tease.  If Don Barclay re-signs he can also fill the gap (he did so in 2013). 

The Packers do need at least two ILBs, a difference maker on the DL, a CB, another pass rusher, more OL depth, probably another RB/FB too.

Here are some early thoughts on some players I like so far:

ILB Eric Kendricks UCLA – Like I said, good players are good players, I love him as the Packers Will Linebacker.  Also, the Packers did not interview him.  Thompson rarely shows his hand with the players he really likes so I have a good feeling about him.

Jordan Phillips DT Oklahoma and Carl Davis DT Iowa – there has been some talk that the Packers would be interested in both of these players.  Both are gambles to me but have incredible potential.

RB/FB Tyler Varga Yale – If you watch the Senior Bowl, he might be the MVP that nobody is talking about.  He was involved in three TDs: 1 rushing, 1 receiving, lead block for another.  What role he plays in the NFL?  Who knows?  But the kind of guy you want on your team

FB Mark Weisman Iowa – Same boat as Varga but he is going to be a more traditional Fullback.  Why do I like FBs so much?

OT Rob Havenstein Wisconsin – I was focusing in on him at the senior bowl and the combine.  He looks ugly in shorts and somewhat unathletic.  But nobody is talking about him on the field.  He does not seem to make any big mistakes and just does his job out there.  On the field, this guy looks good.  A very quiet sleeper in the Mark Tauscher mold.

OT Jake Fisher Oregon – I have a feeling people will look back at him a few years down the road and say, “We should have been able to see that he was the top tackle”.  He just needs a little bit more weight.

TE MyCole Pruitte Southern Illinois – I need more information on him but he may be a later round steal, more like a #2 TE but one of those X factor type of players.  In a weak year of TEs you need to take a chance on somebody and he may be the one.

TE Cameron Clear Texas A & M – Look for this name a few years down the road, he might be playing OT by then.  Just an interesting prospect to me.

Two of the most intriguing players in this draft to me are Quinten Rollins CB Miami of Ohio and Nick Marshall QB/CB Auburn.  Rollins is the better of the two by far but both have some intriguing skills.  I could see where a team may fall in love with either and overdraft them.  Still, Rollins looks like he might be legit and that he has as much potential as anybody.  He reminds me a bit of Brent Grimes.  On the other hand, Marshall has the QB mentality so if he can pick up on the nuances of CB it will be a major asset. 

Quick Thoughts on the Bears with Today’s news:

The Bears trading away Brandon Marshall was odd to me in a way.  However, if you are going to trade away a wide receiver, this may be a good year to do so as there are a lot of good wide receivers in this draft.  Furthermore, you still have Alshon Jeffery so you have a number 1.  One thing to consider, is Jeffery going to be able to take the lead as a number 1 wide receiver or will he fall back into his old ways? 

That is all for today!