AllGreenBayPackers.Com

Football is a young man’s sport and even more so with the Green Bay Packers.  Since the introduction of Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy as the Packers general manager and head coach respectively, the Packers has consistently fielded one of the youngest rosters in the league.  In particular, Ted Thompson’s acumen for finding talented college players coupled with his penchant for ignoring free agency usually means there are a lot of players with little or no previous experience in the NFL.  The Packers have also been ruthless with aging veterans, where seemingly no player is safe; Charles Woodson, Cullen Jenkins, Chad Clifton, Marco Rivera, Mike Wahle, Darren Sharper were big name players all dumped to the curbside in favor of younger, cheaper options.

There is one exception of course and that’s the quarterback; while Ted Thompson probably believes he can replace just about every player on his roster with someone younger who can be equally talented (and overall he’s been right), even Ted Thompson realizes that quarterbacks are a different breed and the best are diamonds in the rough.  Aaron Rodgers is one of those quarterbacks and Ted Thompson made is clear that he’s not going to be replaced anytime soon by making him the highest paid player in the history of the NFL.  Read more... (1014 words + 1 image, estimated 4:03 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Admittedly, the Packers can’t claim to have much depth at outside linebacker at the moment; of course they have one of the best in Clay Matthews III, another 1^st round selection they are high on and hope to see marked improvement in Nick Perry and a undrafted free agent looking to make a big jump in year 2 in Dezman Moses.  But that’s pretty much it in terms of actual experience; the Packers did draft Nate Palmer, a projected outside linebacker in the 6^th round from Illinois State (much to the chagrin of commenters apparently) but they also did lose Frank Zombo to Kansas City and interestingly Erik Walden to the Colts for a 4-year $16 million contract (this is after the Packers signed Walden last year to a veteran minimum contract worth $700,000).  There has been some speculation that either Brad Jones or Jamari Lattimore, both who joined the Packers as outside linebackers but where converted to inside linebacker last year, could again make the transition back to the outside.

However, one dark horse candidate making headlines in OTAs was Mike Neal.  Just from initial impressions, you have to wonder what the Packers are doing.  2012 1^st round pick Nick Perry was a little bit of a “square peg” weighing in a 271 pounds at the draft, but Neal outweighs Perry by a good 25 pounds.  Add to that Neal’s inexperience in playing from a two-point stance, and the multitude of extra responsibilities outside linebackers have (most notably dropping back into coverage) and Mike Neal is probably the last guy you’d think could have a shot at playing outside linebacker. Ironically most 3-4 outside linebackers in the NFL are converted 4-3 defense ends, but this is the only occasion I can think of where a college 4-3 DT has been asked to transition to 3-4 outside linebacker.  Read more... (1357 words + 1 image, estimated 5:26 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

“There’s two main components that a center needs to have, and it’s not quickness or agility or snapping or anything. It’s two things: One, he has to have a good height, and I’m talking about where his butt rests. It can’t be too low because I don’t wanna get deep in that stance and it can’t be too high so I feel like I’m standing up. It’s gotta be just right. He’s got that.  It’s a feel. My center in college was about my height and he’s real low in his stance. So it made me have to kinda duck down a little bit. It’s hard to get out of center. Scott Wells — my previous center — [and] Jeff Saturday: great height. Great butt height.  And the second is most important, and that’s sweating. How much do they sweat? The worst thing that you can have is third, fourth quarter on an October day where it’s 65, 70 degrees and he’s sweating through his pants. Because that is not a situation you wanna be in. You gotta change pants at halftime. Our backup center — great guy — Evan Dietrich-Smith, he has major sweat issues. And when you get that ball snapped up and there’s a lot of sweat that just splashes all over you and on your hands and the ball — it’s not a good situation. So he actually has changed at halftime before. So those are the two things you look for: butt height and sweating. Jeff’s doing really well in both categories. … Low sweat ratio and solid butt height.” – Aaron Rodgers  Read more... (1126 words + 3 images, estimated 4:30 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

“A couple of days before the draft, I heard the Cowboys were a threat to take (Kyle) Long in the first round, perhaps if they moved down from the 18th pick. I later heard from league sources outside of Halas Hall that the Colts (24th pick) and Rams (22nd pick) were very interested in drafting him. Some suspected the Packers (26th pick) also were in the Long market.” – Dan Pompei, Chicago Tribune

This recent bit of news caught my attention claiming that Kyle Long was actually a very hot commodity in the 1^st round with at least 4 other teams, including the Packers, were willing to take the multifaceted offensive linemen, who will begin his career as a guard.  The only reason that this struck me as a little odd was that this exact same story popped up after last year’s draft, again involving an offensive guard.  In 2012, Kevin Zeitler was selected 27^th overall to the Cincinnati Bengals, one spot ahead of Nick Perry, who was selected by Packers with the 28^th overall pick.  Again the Packers were rumored to be in love with Zeitler and were distraught when the Bengals stole him away with the pick before theirs that they dejectedly handed in their card for Perry (so the story goes).  Read more... (1126 words + 2 images, estimated 4:30 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

It’s a little early, but the 2013 draft might contain a special treat for Green Bay Packers fans, namely a shot at a Packers rookie getting the prestigious Offensive NFL Rookie Of The Year Award.  Last year’s draft was basically all defense with only BJ Coleman and Andrew Datko getting picked in the 7th round, and both spent the year on the practice squad (although 2nd round pick Casey Hayward almost got the defensive NFL Rookie Of The Year Award, but that’s a different story).

In 2011, Randall Cobb was a good candidate but going up against a loaded wide receiver core with Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson and James Jones, Cobb ultimately didn’t end up seeing much of the field during his rookie season.

In 2009 and 2010, the Packers didn’t really have a logical candidate as the early parts of the draft were filled with linemen and defensive players.  This year however is a little different where the draft has fallen in such a way and the Packers have drafted in such a way where I think rookie running back Eddie Lacy actually has a pretty decent shot at winning the award.

The Rules    Read more... (2192 words + 14 images, estimated 8:46 mins reading time)

1. In the last 20 years, only two offensive players who won were not drafted in the rounds 1 or 2 have won the award.  This makes sense as high round rookies are likely to see the field early and often, while lower round picks are often given more time on the bench to develop.

---- Get AddToAny

I actually got my first shot writing for AllGreenBayPackers.com when Al allowed me to post my draft rationale on his site and 3 years later I’m continuing the tradition.  As before I’m not going to be assigning draft grades or projections, I agree with the idea that grading picks now is something akin to being graded on a test you haven’t taken.  In this article I want to point out some more broad observations I noticed during the draft

Aaron Rodgers dictated the Packers 2013 draft: And Clay Matthews III to some extent as well.  Simply put the Packers are now in a mini-rebuilding year, not due to a lack of talent but due to a lack of money.  While Rodgers’ $110 million and Matthews’ $66 million contracts were both necessary and in my opinion great deals for the Packers, let’s not kid ourselves and think that the Packers are going to be awash with saved money over the next couple years, Rodgers and Matthews are still two of the highest paid players in the NFL and that will have financial ramifications down the road; maybe not as bad as Joe Flacco and DeMarcus Ware bad, but Ted Thompson probably isn’t going to be able to keep everyone he wants.  This is why I think this is the start of a mini-rebuild; teams typically trade down and stockpile draft picks in order to stock the team with young, cheap players who can be the foundation long term and perhaps become stars.  Read more... (1368 words + 1 image, estimated 5:28 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

With the 125th pick in the 4th round, the Packers select Johnathan Franklin, RB UCLA

PLAYER DETAILS: 
Johnathan Franklin
RB
UCLA
5’10″/205lbs

CAREER NOTES:Franklin was a little-known three-star recruit out of high school and redshirted in 2008 before becoming a four-year starter for the Bruins. He produced quality numbers as a freshman, sophomore and junior and needed a strong senior season in order to grab the attention of NFL scouts.  That’s exactly what Franklin did, setting new school single-season records for rushing yards (1,734), all-purpose yards (2,062) and career records for rushing (4,403), all-purpose yards (4,920).  Franklin thrived in 2012 as part of UCLA’s zone-read offense, routinely making something out of nothing with his fast, tough and energetic running style. Although he doesn’t have the frame to get much bigger than 205 pounds, he has good muscle definition and has stayed durable over the years, leaving UCLA with 45 career starts.  Franklin loves to bounce runs outside with this vision and explosive lateral movements, reminding many of another former Bruin running back with a smaller stature, but very balanced attack (Maurice Jones-Drew).

COMBINE: 

4.49 40 yard dash, 18 bench, 31.5″ vertical, 115.0″ broad, 6.89 3 cone, 4.31 20 yard shuttle, 11.33 60 yard shuttle

SCOUTING REPORT:
 Read more... (470 words + 1 image, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

• While Eddie Lacy doesn’t fit the mold of a Packers running back, Franklin definitely does.
• More of a one cut and go runner but shows some wiggle

---- Get AddToAny