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In my recent perusal of the internet for some Green Bay Packers news in the offseason, I came across an article at Football Outsiders by editor-in-chief Aaron Schatz. “Broken Tackles 2012: Defense” focuses on the best and worst defensive players when it came to broken tackles last season. Those of us who regularly follow the Packers know that tackling was a big point of interest after an abysmal 2011 season when, according to ProFootballFocus.com, they missed a whopping 109 tackles.

Naturally, I was intrigued to see how the Packers and some of their individual players ranked among the rest of the league for 2012. I braced for the worst, knowing the defense was lacking against opposing rushing attacks. (They gave up 132.6 yards per game, for 25^th in the NFL.) And then, of course, were the games against Adrian Peterson.

Imagine my surprise when I found out the Packers were in the top three best teams when it came to missed tackles.

Now, let’s clear something up first. Football Outsiders clearly defined their criteria for a “broken tackle,” which should not be confused with the PFF “missed tackle” statistic. (Though for comparison’s sake, the 109 missed tackles from 2011 dropped down to just 81 in 2012 as charted by PFF.) That aside, here is how FO defines a “broken tackle”:  Read more... (942 words + 2 images, estimated 3:46 mins reading time)

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Last week Clay Matthews III signed a new 5-year extension with the Packers that made him the highest paid linebacker in the history of the NFL.  The press release announced that Matthews was awarded a $66 million extension that averages $13.2 million yearly, which just barely eclipses Dallas Cowboy outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware’s 2009 extension that averaged $13 million yearly. However, as the title has mentioned I personally don’t feel that the contract signed by Matthews is worth it.  Furthermore, I’m a little surprised that so many Packers fans are okay with the deal.

What Packers fans should be doing is jumping up and down with joy.

For all intents and purposes, the Packers just got away with “grand theft Matthews”.  While initially it looks like Matthews was rewarded handsomely for his services and now can claim to be the highest paid linebacker in NFL history, if you dive deeper into the structure of the deal, it’s pretty obvious that general manager Ted Thompson and lead contract negotiator Russ Ball really got the better end of the bargain.  Read more... (1520 words + 2 images, estimated 6:05 mins reading time)

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March Madness: Packers’ Sweet Sixteen”

As March Madness was zeroing in on the “Sweet Sixteen,” the ALLGBP readers voted for the Packers best sixteen players over the weekend.

With the top 12 already selected, our readers voted for the last four to make the list of “Sweet Sixteen.”

Here are the 12 that made it by default.

1) Aaron Rodgers

2) Clay Matthews

3) Josh Sitton

4) BJ Raji

5) Ryan Pickett

6) Tramon Williams

7) Randall Cobb

8) Desmond Bishop

9) Morgan Burnett

10) Jordy Nelson

11) James Jones

12) Sam Shields

And now here are the voting results for the last four spots. (The percentage numbers represent what percentage of the voters cast a vote for that player.)

93% Casey Hayward

86% Bryan Bulaga

67% Jermichael Finley

50% Tim Masthay

47% T.J. Lang

24% Brad Jones (write-in)

23% Dujuan Harris (write-in)

20% Davon House (write-in)

17% A.J. Hawk

9% C.J. Wilson

7% John Kuhn

5% Mason Crosby

5% Jarett Bush

Other random players received a vote here or there, not much worth mentioning, except that Aaron Rodgers got a write-in vote. Either someone didn’t read very well or they thought he was twice as good as anyone else on the roster. I guess we’ll never know.  Read more... (319 words + 3 images, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

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March-Madness-Packers

As the NCAA Basketball Tournament is being played out across the land, I wanted to do something Packers-related with a “March Madness” theme. So here’s the idea:

We’re going to pick the 16 BEST players on the Packers roster.  And by we, I mean me and YOU – the readers. To make it simpler, I’ll pick the first 12. Then you will get to choose the last four from a group of 10 in the poll below.

This isn’t necessarily the Sweet Sixteen in terms of importance to the team (for example, Brett Goode might be in that group), simply the 16 best football players on the roster.

We’ll let the voting run through the weekend and announce the results on Monday? Sound good?

Disclaimer:  My top 12 are not necessarily ranked in order, they’re  just in the order in which they came to mind.

Green Bay Packers Sweet 16 – Best Football Players

1) Aaron Rodgers

2) Clay Matthews

3) Josh Sitton

4) BJ Raji

5) Ryan Pickett

6) Tramon Williams

7) Randall Cobb

8) Desmond Bishop

9) Morgan Burnett

10) Jordy Nelson

11) James Jones

12) Sam Shields

That last one was tough. I could have gone with Bryan Bulaga or Jermichael Finley, for example, but I’m still amazed Shields did not get drafted, with all the athletic ability he’s shown.  Read more... (326 words + 3 images, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

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One of the hardest things for the average fan to comprehend is how NFL contracts work and how they apply to a team’s salary cap. There are many complicated elements, rules, and exceptions that can be hard to sort out. In this series, my goal is to help you better understand how this whole system works, plus what it means to the Green Bay Packers’ current salary cap and contract concerns.

Before reading, make sure to check out the previous article(s) in the series:

• Part 1: An Introduction to the Basics

Our second article focuses on A.J. Hawk and his current contract restructuring. Make no bones about it, this is a pay cut for Hawk; however, it’s not like he’s getting peanuts for the deal. The point of most restructured contracts is to take an original deal and adjust it for cap reasons. A lot of times, teams are looking to push money into the future for present cap relief, though it’s not unheard of to take advantage of current cap room and relieve some of the burden in later years.

We’re going to start by taking a look at Hawk’s original contract. If you’ll remember, the Packers cut Hawk in 2011 to avoid a $10 million base salary, only to turn around and offer him a new five-year contract. Take a look:

   Read more... (735 words + 3 images, estimated 2:56 mins reading time)

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Packers LB A.J. Hawk

A.J. Hawk has agreed to restructure the final three years of his contract with the Packers, according to Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

In 2011, the team cut Hawk before re-signing him to a five-year, $33.75 million deal.

Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweeted that Hawk’s contract was, in fact, restructured, and that the result was a pay cut. Silverstein went on to say that Hawk wasn’t thrilled about taking a pay cut, but the move will allow him to play in Green Bay for three more years.

Hawk was the fifth overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, the pick after the Jets took tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson and just before the 49ers took tight end Vernon Davis. He hasn’t performed up to his draft position, but he’s only missed two games in his seven-year NFL career.

One could argue that 2012 was Hawk’s best season as a professional. Although he failed to come up with an interception for the second year in a row, he racked up 120 tackles and three sacks, according to NFL.com.

Hawk was a standout player at Ohio State University, starting 38 of 51 games. He was a unanimous All-American as a junior in 2004 and as a senior in 2005. Hawk also won the Lombardi Award during his senior season at OSU.  Read more... (298 words + 1 image, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

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Jones has garnered much interest in free agency. If he departs, Jones could create a big void at inside linebacker for the Packers

With free agency somewhat underway in that teams are free to contact players’ agents to discuss a deal, much of the talk in Green Bay has centered around wide receiver Greg Jennings.  Jennings is unquestionably the marquis name out of Green Bay that has very solid potential to be wearing a different uniform this next season.  He has even been debated as the top free agent receiver on the market with Pittsburgh receiver Mike Wallace the other half of that conversation.

But lost in the shuffle are some of the other free-agents-to-be in Green Bay, one of which is linebacker Brad Jones.  According to a piece published by Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel, at least eight other teams have already contacted Jones’ agent.

Jones filled in for the injured DJ Smith in week six last season and remained the starter for the balance of the season.  He did an adequate job in that role and gained some valuable playing time in the defense.  With 2012 being Jones’ fourth in the team’s defensive scheme and with his contributions on special teams, Jones has become a stronger veteran presence on this roster.  Read more... (886 words + 3 images, estimated 3:33 mins reading time)

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