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Favre and Rodgers stand to represent nearly 30 years of elite quarterback play in Green Bay

While we are in between the NFL off season and the start of the preseason, football happenings are in short supply.  Well, at least the on-field happenings are.  With some added time to reflect, I’m reminded of the fortune that has befallen the Green Bay Packers.  Which fortune, you ask?  I’d argue that it’s the most important one for a football team to be successful:  the quarterback position.

2013 marks nearly 21 years since Brett Favre made his first career start, the first of just over 250 consecutive starts for the Packers.  Favre spent 16 seasons in Green Bay and played at a high level during each and every one.  It’s fair to say, save for the 1999 and 2005 teams, those Packers teams were, at the very least, good.

Quarterbacks like Favre come along only once in a great while, if you look at the general averages among all 32 NFL teams and their histories.  To have a signal caller of that caliber is something to cherish and I have made mention of that before.

Then came Aaron Rodgers.  Expected to possibly go #1 overall in the 2005 draft, we all know the story.  Rodgers fell to the Packers towards the end of the first round and spent his first three seasons behind Favre, learning the in’s and out’s of being an NFL quarterback.  The way that Rodgers fell wasn’t something that the Packers or Ted Thompson planned on.  No amount of convincing will change my mind on that thought.  There was an element of luck associated with that day and it is now one that not many of the Packers faithful will forget.  Read more... (866 words + 3 images, estimated 3:28 mins reading time)

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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)

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Who are your 2013 Green Bay Packers?

With the off-season activities now officially over with, we now turn our attention to the upcoming training camp and preseason.  The big question is:  What will the 2013 Green Bay Packers look like?

I’m taking a look at each position and listing who I think are the likely starters, as of today.  Training camp always tends to change that list quite a bit so this is obviously as of today, as it stands, and without having really seen many of these guys play.

Quarterback

Starter:  Aaron Rodgers

Backup: BJ Coleman

Bubble: Graham Harrell, Matt Brown

Quick hits: Rodgers is the league’s highest-paid player and let’s not forget he’s pretty good at what he does.  No question there and so the biggest debate is whether Coleman can leapfrog Harrell and will the team carry three active quarterbacks?  My thought is that if Coleman wins the backup spot, they will likely cut Harrell.  Illinois State’s Matt Brown could be a good candidate to land on the practice squad, much like Coleman did last season.

Running Back/Fullback

Starter:  DuJuan Harris

Backup:  Alex Green, Eddie Lacy, Johnathan Franklin

Bubble: John Kuhn, James Starks, Angelo Pease, Jonathan Amosa  Read more... (1485 words + 3 images, estimated 5:56 mins reading time)

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Packers RB Johnathan Franklin

The Green Bay Packers’ rookie class has yet to practice in full pads, but less than two months removed from the 2013 NFL Draft, fourth-round pick Johnathan Franklin already seems poised to have a long, successful career.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist, a brain surgeon or the mayor of Los Angeles to figure out whether or not a guy “gets it.” And get it, Franklin does.

Growing up in south-central Los Angeles, ten of Franklin’s close acquaintances were shot in killed during his childhood, according to JSOnline.com. But Franklin beat the odds and went on to have a successful four-year run at UCLA.

After racking up over 2,000 total yards as a senior in 2012, Franklin expected to hear his name called early on draft day. But as the picks kept coming, Franklin kept waiting.

“It was a humbling experience for me,” Franklin said June 13 in an interview with Packers Talk Radio Network. “I was hearing probably late first round, early second round or perhaps third at the latest. On (Day 2) I had my family over, I had cameras there and I didn’t get drafted.”

Franklin’s draft-day fall wasn’t quite as dramatic as Aaron Rodgers’ in 2005; Rodgers was the last player in the green room after being mentioned as possible No. 1 overall pick, whereas Franklin watched the draft from L.A. But nonetheless, few foresaw Franklin dropping to the fourth round.  Read more... (1185 words + 1 image, estimated 4:44 mins reading time)

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The partnership of Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy has reaped Super benefits for the Green Bay Packers and their fans.

Former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Holmgren once said he told a young and out of control Brett Favre the following to help buck up his raw but up-and-coming quarterback: “You and I are joined at the hip.”

It was that joining of the hip that led the Holmgren-Favre partnership to the top of the NFL in 1996.  Unfortunately, two years after winning Super Bowl XXXI, that partnership came to a close as Holmgren left for the Seattle Seahawks.

Luckily for Packers fans, the same can’t be said of the current quarterback/head coach tandem in Green Bay–that of head coach Mike McCarthy and quarterback Aaron Rodgers.   Like Holmgren/Favre, they’ve won one title and are in position to win more.  McCarthy and Rodgers also plan to stick together for a much longer time than Favre and Holmgren did when the coach left for more roster control in Seattle. Rodgers just signed a contract extension and it’s clear McCarthy has no interest in becoming a general manager.

With their partnership being so secure as well as fruitful, the question beckons: Is the McCarthy/Rodgers duo the best head coach and quarterback combination in the NFL today?  Read more... (907 words + 1 image, estimated 3:38 mins reading time)

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“We’ll be better; I promise you. You can write that down.”

That’s what Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy decreed in regards to the running game during a press conference on Tuesday. Whether the offense is successful in carrying out this objective is yet to be seen. Nevertheless, the commitment is being made, and it’s clear the Packers offense will have a different identity than it did in 2012.

We’ve seen a number of major changes occur so far in this offseason. First and foremost, the wide receiver corps will look significantly different with Greg Jennings out of the line-up. Fans can say what they will about his injury history, but his performance history speaks volumes. Not having him on the field isn’t insurmountable – they’ve handled things without him already – but it will change the nature of the offense. Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, and James Jones will now be the primary nucleus of the wide receivers.

Next, the Packers have two new ground weapons courtesy of Ted Thompson and the 2013 NFL Draft. Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin were a couple of big value picks and should add some much-needed “oomph” to the running game. Additionally, DuJuan Harris will be riding some of his rookie momentum while Alex Green looks to get healthy. (James Starks is still in the wings, but it’s hard to put much stock into him at this point.)  Read more... (708 words + 1 image, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)

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Bye Bye Bishop?

While nothing has been officially announced yet, by many accounts Desmond Bishop’s days as a Green Bay Packer appear to be over.

Speculation is rampant as to whether it’s strictly a “numbers” decision or if the Packers don’t believe he’ll ever be the same after a very serious injury. Bishop claims to be 100%, but has not participated in the Packers OTAs or mini camp.

Whatever the real reason, the big question is, now what?

I’ve seen a lot of  fans asking, “are we supposed to be happy with AJ Hawk and Brad Jones as our starting linebackers?”

My answer to that is, you won’t have to be. What you are likely to see is a lot of situational substitutions at the ILB spots. The Packers have a cadre of linebackers with complimentary skills. Dom Capers’ task will be to pick the right player/scheme for the specific situation.

Also remember the experimentation you’re seeing with Mike Neil and Mike Daniels being used in more of a linebacker role. The Packers suddenly find themselves very deep on the defensive line, and I would not be surprised to see some brand new defensive packages with fewer linebackers and more DL & DBs in the game.

We really won’t know until they line up against San Francisco in the first game that really matters, but you can bet they will have some new looks for Colin Kaepernick.  Read more... (850 words + 3 images, estimated 3:24 mins reading time)

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