General manager Ted Thompson has stuck to his guns in free agency again this year by staying away from signing high price players from other teams. He was able to retain two key players in Randall Cobb and Brian Bulaga to shore up the offense again this year but while keeping the offensive side of the ball in tact he has lost a couple key players on defense. Davon House signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tramon Williams left for the Cleveland Browns so what was once solid position in the secondary is a injury away from being a disaster. Both House and Williams were way over paid by football standards so Thompson did the right thing by letting them walk but where he is sleeping in free agency is by letting a few of the bargain corners (as I like to call them) get away.
Patrick Robinson (1-year, $3 mil), Alan Ball (1-year, $2 mil) and Sterling Moore (1-year, $1.525 mil) while these guys are not a Williams or even a House they could have been good plug and play corners for depth, along with the draft Thompson could have made a scary situation a little more comfortable in case of injury to the guys I imagine will be starters this year in Casey Hayward, Demetri Goodson and Micah Hyde along with core corner Sam Shields.
McCarthy stated at the owners meeting he is expecting his young players to make the next step to fill the positions they were drafted for. Hayward has shown he is capable of being a good corner as long as he can stay healthy, Hyde has also moved from safety to slot corner in certain packages so its not like they don’t know the system, this will be their chance to become the starters. Goodson is still raw not seeing a single snap as corner last season but he played on special teams so he should know the playbook well enough to be a decent back up.
Inside linebacker is where most fans are freaking out about also. I, on the other hand, don’t believe its that bad and may even be better with the release of Aj Hawk and Brad Jones. Sam Barrington showed he is a solid starter, we all know Matthews saved the season last year with his move inside and if all else fails they have that option available this year as well but I think their ILB is already on the roster with the likes of Carl Bradford, Nate Palmer, Joe Thomas who I really liked last season before he injured his knee, he was making a case to be on the 53 during preseason so with him coming back and playing on the practice squad the latter part of last year he could make a run for the job again this season, they also signed a player from the IFL – Bruce Gaston who, from what I have seen on some video is a thumper with speed. So as I said ILB may be on the rise this year but I am sure Thompson will draft one of the big names to shore up the position.
My position of choice to be concerned for and the one I believe should be addressed in the first 
round is the middle of the D-line, Raji and Guion are uncertain players this year and it looks like Thompson agrees or he would have signed one or both by now, There are a few big guys that will be around at #30 like Eddie Goldman, Jordan Phillips and Carl Davis who could be great additions to the run defense this year and with a solid middle on the line the ILB position is a lot easier to play for the rookies!
Well these are just a few idea’s thats been running through my brain lately let us know your thoughts about this off season in the comments below or on our facebook fanpage!
Go Pack Go!
Thanks,
Jeff
I totally agree with the D-line specifically the nose being the biggest concern. I sort of targeted Goldman as our guy. However it’s very early to be talking about the draft.
Where do you stand on the O line? So happy they resigned Bulaga. Depth is still an issue there. Barclay is coming off of the knee injury. Tretter showed nothing when he was brought in as another TE on goal line situations. I would really like to see another tackle taken late. Maybe with one of the compensatory picks?
All indications last year were that Raji was practicing at a very high level. McCarthy praised him several times, adding that he expected him to return to 2010 form while back at his natural NT position. So I don’t agree that he’s questionable, especially with a year off to avoid wear and tear. He stayed in GB and helped coach all of last year too. Raji is exactly the type of person/player/leader that I feel GB should be looking to commit to.
Even if we sign Raji, I think NT has to be our biggest concern in the draft, both for the future and a backup now. None of the NTs in the draft that are likely to be available at pick 30 impress me as plug and play starters. But it shouldn’t take long to get a rookie NT up to speed, if he has the talent.
CB is another huge problem for a different reason. It will have to be addressed in the draft too. While this draft is fairly deep for talented CBs, the only position harder to learn in the NFL is QB. It’s asking the impossible for any rookie CB to successfully start in the NFL. I’m not disappointed that we didn’t sign Williams or any “bargain” CBs. I am disappointed that we didn’t try to keep House and sign Cromartie. Had we done so, we’d be in a great position in the draft to address NT and ILB. The chances of finding 4 gems in 1 draft are slim to none. In my opinion, House is a perfect example of drafting and developing a player for another team. He was our best cover corner last year against Julio Jones, Marshall, and Calvin Johnson. Had we signed these 2 guys, our secondary would have been better than last year. We had plenty of cap space to do so, which blows my mind. No way Tramon Williams was worth $9 mil last year and Davon House wasn’t worth $7 mil this year.
I agree that we’re an injury away from a disaster at CB. Hayward is a very good slot corner, but I don’t have confidence in his speed on the outside. I don’t trust Hyde on the outside much either. Will be interesting, if scary, to see how this plays out.
I’m hopeful that Thompson has a plan. I’m always nervous at this time of year as I watch other teams improve with key players while we sit idle. Hard to argue that Thompson isn’t much better at evaluating offensive draft talent than defensive. I find it disheartening that after 3 straight primarily D drafts, we’re still full of holes. Go Pack go!
David I agree 100% on they should have paid House I was dumb founded when they let him walk just like last year when they lost Rolle, But not signing Cromartie I can live with. I can also understand your caution about Hayward on the outside but I think he has the ball skills and speed to do better than Williams this year! TW lost a step this year and was getting beat way to often by young receivers.
I can live without Cromartie, but think he provided a veteran at the LCB position while we developed someone else. Now we don’t really have that option, as (likely) Hayward and Hyde with be thrown into the fire.
My concern about moving Hayward to LCB is that it potentially creates 2 problems if he doesn’t perform well there (Hayward at LCB, and Hyde in the slot also unproven). Ideally, I’d like to keep Hayward in the slot where he’s been a ball hawk, and either move Hyde to LCB or find a replacement in the draft.
Hayward’s lack of speed is the one thing that most every article I’ve read highlights as an issue. Ironically, Hayward’s 40 time was slightly faster (4.43) than Williams’ in his prime (4.47). So we’ll see what happens.
But anyway you slice it, we now have serious depth problems at CB which will have to be addressed in the draft. Unless Glover-Wright, Goodson, and/or Sebetic turn out to be gems at CB, we’re hurting.