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According to several reports, the Green Bay Packers avoided any looming franchise tag battle by re-signing free agent tight end Jermichael Finley Wednesday with a two-year, $15 million deal.

Pro Football Talk first reported the agreement per a league source, and Finley confirmed the report through his Twitter account shortly thereafter.

Many have speculated that the Packers would be forced to use the franchise tag on Finley, who at 24 years old looked ready to command a top tight end salary on the open market if he remained unsigned by March 13. It was also widely assumed that Finley would argue for the receiver franchise tag tender, which is about $4 million more than what a tight end would receive from the tag in 2012.

This deal avoids any mess that a franchise tag battle could have created between the two sides.

With a two-year deal at around $7.5 million a year, the Packers might have gotten the best of both worlds.

While the money splits the franchise tag numbers for tight ends and receivers almost down the middle, a two-year deal allows Finley to show the Packers brass that he is worth a longer-term deal down the road. Finley will be just 26 years old when he re-enters free agency again in 2014.  Read more... (415 words + 1 image, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

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Packers free agent C Scott Wells might get the chance to test the open market.

Quarterback Matt Flynn and tight end Jermichael Finley have commanded most of the free agent spotlight this offseason in Green Bay, with it being widely assumed that the Packers would eventually come to a deal with highly valuable free agent center Scott Wells sometime in the process.

Not so fast, says Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

While mostly speculating on the issue, McGinn said his best guess would be that “the Packers will play with a new center next season.”

His reasoning?

A bull-headed approach from the Packers on the value of Wells, who has started 100 regular season games for Green Bay since being drafted in seventh-round of the 2004 draft, combined with an equally hot-headed response from the veteran center, who obviously thinks he deserves top-5 money at the position after a Pro Bowl season in 2011-12.

Simply put, the Packers do not think Wells is worth as much as the he and his representation do. Undersized and 31 years old, the Packers have some leverage in the talks.  Read more... (659 words + 1 image, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

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Tagging Jermichael Finley is one option for the Green Bay Packers this offseason.

Starting today, all 32 NFL teams will have the ability to place the franchise tag on one player of their choosing. The deadline for applying said tag is Monday, April 5, eight days before free agency begins.

The underlying purpose of the franchise tag is for teams to have the option of retaining a player with an expiring contract if a long-term agreement can’t be had before free agency begins.  Unlike previous seasons, in which a franchised player would receive the average salary of the five highest paid players at his position, the NFL’s new CBA introduces a complicated formula that now controls what the number for each position will be.

For 2012, the numbers figure out as such:

QB: $14.4 million in 2012; down from $16.1 million in 2011

RB: $7.7 million in 2012; down from $9.6 million in 2011

WR: $9.4 million in 2012; down from 11.4 million in 2011

TE: $5.4 million in 2012; down from $7.3 million in 2011

OL: $9.4 million in 2012; down from $10.1 million in 2011  Read more... (1057 words + 4 images, estimated 4:14 mins reading time)

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Packers GM Ted Thompson traded back into the first round to take Clay Matthews in 2009.

The day was April 25, the Saturday of the 2009 NFL draft, and Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson had a franchise-altering decision staring him in the face.

As he sat in the Packers’ war room, having already acquired nose tackle B.J. Raji from Boston College with the ninth overall pick, there was a name he couldn’t shake and a need he knew he needed to fill.

The name was Clay Matthews, and the need was 3-4 outside linebacker.

Matthews, a wavy-haired overachiever with Hall of Fame bloodlines, remained available as the first round came to a close. A walk-on at USC who didn’t play full-time until his senior year, Matthews was an ideal pass rushing outside linebacker for his new defense. And Thompson knew that if there were two positions most important to making the Packers’ new 3-4 defense under defensive coordinator Dom Capers work, it was nose tackle and outside linebacker. Raji was the answer inside, Matthews could be the same on the edge.

In his hand was a weapon he rarely held, and uncharacteristically, Thompson pulled the trigger.  Read more... (1290 words + 1 image, estimated 5:10 mins reading time)

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Receivers often gained yards after the catch against the Packers because of poor tackling.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look back on the Green Bay Packers 2011 season and identify the obvious reasons for their defensive collapse.

Cullen Jenkins was sorely missed at right defensive end, little to no production was received from outside linebacker opposite Clay Matthews and Nick Collins’ season-ending neck injury handicapped the back end.

But one factor that gets overlooked is just how poor the tackling was for the Packers defense, especially in the secondary.

Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus effectively laid out just how bad it was for the Packers secondary in 2011.

According to the site, which reviews and grades every single play for every single player, the Packers trio of cornerbacks—Charles Woodson, Tramon Williams and Sam Shields—was the worst tackling cornerback trio in the NFL.

And believe it not, the numbers weren’t even close.

Woodson missed 15 tackles on 87 attempts, Williams missed 16 on 80 attempts and Shields missed 10 on 40 attempts. Altogether, the three missed 41 tackles in 2011—a number that ranks them significantly above any other cornerback trio in the NFL.  Read more... (647 words + 1 image, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)

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Packers WR Donald Driver is willing to take a pay cut to stay in Green Bay.

Speaking a day after his team had lost to the New York Giants in the NFC Divisional Round, Green Bay Packers receiver Donald Driver wasn’t having any of the speculation that he may be retiring after 13 NFL seasons.

And without actually saying it, Driver made it seem clear that continuing his career in another city had become a viable option.

“If the Packers don’t want me, I’ve got to go somewhere else and play,” Driver said. “I don’t have a choice. I’m not ready to hang the cleats up.”

That sound-byte from Driver probably caught Packers GM Ted Thompson a little off guard. A fair number of observers had envisioned 2011 being the 37-year-old’s final season.

The plot added another twist last Friday.

At a breakfast banquet in Milwaukee, Driver said that he’d be willing to take a pay cut to stay with the Packers in 2012, a statement that seemed to contradict his earlier feelings on wanting to play elsewhere if the Packers weren’t willing to keep him.  Read more... (1099 words + 1 image, estimated 4:24 mins reading time)

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Morgan Burnett

1) Introduction: Drafted in the third round of the 2010 draft, Burnett won himself the starting safety job alongside Nick Collins to begin his rookie season. Just four weeks in, however, Burnett blew out his ACL and missed the rest of the year, which included the Packers run to the Super Bowl. The knee was back to full strength in time for the start of Packers’ training camp.

2) Profile:

Morgan Burnett

Position: S
Height: 6-1
Weight: 209 lbs.
AGE: 23

Career Stats:

3) Expectations coming into the season: There were a good number of talking heads that thought Burnett could be the Packers breakout defender in 2011. A healthy knee, plus the ball skills Burnett showed both at Georgia Tech and during the four games of his rookie season, gave him a real chance. And despite the Packers giving backup safety Charlie Peprah a two-year deal after the 2010 season, most fully expected Burnett to resume his starting role next to Collins in 2011.  Read more... (564 words + 1 image, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

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