These last few weeks have had me thinking. I have had the opportunity, through an NFL Draft Special on ComRadio that's coming up on Draft Day(s), to research the team needs, based on current roster situation and previous stats, of two teams leading up to the NFL Draft. Believe it or not, none of those teams were the Packers. But from following certain forums and keeping track of the news articles from packers.com, there is one thing that's been irking me as of late. And yes, I've commented on this before (in fact, I addressed it the last time I made a blog post), but I feel the need to say it again.
Right now, we are a little over three days until the Detroit Lions are officially on the clock (although as you know they could sign someone before there's an announced pick).
Over the offseason, much has been made of the Green Bay Packers' defensive struggles last season (esp. against the run), and their inability to finish close games later on in the season, or even give Aaron Rodgers a lead to protect, instead of having him being forced to come back from behind all the time, so he will eventually crash and burn. After all, the graphics that you'd see on your TV screen at the end of games would involve the Packers' inability to win games decided by four points or less (they would eventually lose 7 of their total 10 games lost by such a margin).
So what do they do?
Ted Thompson and the management decide to fire the defensive coordinator, as well as nearly every assistant coach on the defensive side of the ball (save Winston Moss). Sounds like a good start, right? Of course it is! It was unfortunate that they had so many injuries during the season, but all those injuries did was expose the lack of depth and talent past our starting 11 on defense.
What's the next step?
They decide to hire Dom Capers, a well-respected defensive coordinator who can help turn around the defense. (I must note that Bob Sanders' defense in theory was not bad, but when dire situations hit as was the case last year with the injuries, the defense was just overwhelmed.) Capers' defenses in the past have taken teams to conference championship rounds, and could help the Packers get back to the playoffs.
But wait!
Most, if not all, of those defenses were of the 3-4 variety! Something that the Packers have never done!
And as every educated football fan knows, switching from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 is not as simple as picking up a controller and toggling between "4-3" and "3-4" in the "Defensive Playbook" settings in Madden. It's not as simple as just taking a DT out and putting in another middle linebacker.
And after the announcement of the defensive change, you would think that Thompson would change from his typical sit-on-his-ass style of GMing and actually make some real moves to support this, and not just sign a bunch of practice squad scrubs and backup safeties and D-linemen, right? As you may recall in this post, I expressed my discontent towards him and Frank Wren about this offseason (although that post mostly dealt with Wren). And it's not like he doesn't have the resources to do it; he's got $34 million under the cap to work with. And despite all this, this is all that Ted has done this offseason.
http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=300698
See the first post in the topic, and see under "Green Bay Packers" what they've done in the offseason. You would think that with such a drastic change, he'd actually go after some people who have been proven to succeed in the 3-4 (which were out there in the free agent market), but it's just silly that he thinks that he can just plug his current personnel in any of those front seven spots and it'll all be hunky-dory.
Yeah, Ryan Pickett could probably be put in at nose tackle, and Barnett and Hawk can play the inside linebacker position (as well as our current depth), but who's on the roster, other than Cullen Jenkins, who are big and quick enough to play the DE positions and tie up blockers and at outside linebacker? Last time I checked, the OLBs need to do a lot more than just rush the quarterback, including *gasp* drop back into coverage, something that there is no evidence that Aaron Kampman can do. And neither does he have a quick first step when he does rush the quarterback; most of his sacks have to do with his...dare I use this sports cliché again...willingness to keep playing until the whistle. Yeah, he played linebacker at Iowa, but once again: college...NFL...completely different animals.
That said, what makes Ted think that he can find everybody that he needs in the draft? Especially when, like I said in the last post, the last starter-caliber players he's drafted were Greg Jennings, A.J. Hawk and Daryn Colledge (all from 2006)? Yeah, let's all assume an effective OLB/DE, 3-4 DE, NT or an elite offensive tackle are gonna still be there when it's time to draft. And then when it is time for them to draft at No. 9, he'll wind up picking the best player available, even if it's yet another wide receiver.
I'm just tired of Ted just sitting on his ass during the offseason, when there are several opportunities that he could take to make his team better, but doesn't want to give up his precious second and third and fourth round draft picks for a proven player, and settles for 10-13 draft picks, where only 8-11 of them actually make the team, and only five of them even make a positive impact for the team.
Mike McCarthy also better watch his ass. I've already commented enough on this bum.
Goodbye.
~KG~
