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Packers WR Randall Cobb.

Breakout WR/HB/KR/PR Randall Cobb touched the ball 159 times and amassed a Packers franchise record 2,342 all-purpose yards in 2012.

It was quite the season for the second-year talent out of Kentucky, and very necessary. Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson all missed significant time with injuries. Cobb, along with James Jones, stepped up to fill the void left by Jennings and Nelson and helped negate the Packers struggles running the ball.

But 159 touches is a lot for a player who is 5-foot-10 and 191 pounds. Cobb injured his ankle and missed the season finale against the Vikings. He also managed just six catches for 31 yards in two playoff games and was taken off of punt returns against the 49ers, only to see rookie Jeremy Ross muff one deep in Green Bay territory that led to a San Francisco touchdown.

I was at the wild-card win over the Vikings and watched Cobb limp around on that ankle. He was hurting. The explosion wasn’t there.

With Jennings gone, it’s assumed Cobb will have an even bigger role in the offense. His role probably will be bigger, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll touch the ball 159 times again.

Cobb was targeted 104 times in 2012, the most since Jennings’ 125 targets in 2010. If Nelson stays healthy, and Jones repeats his stellar 2012 season, perhaps that number will come down a bit.  Read more... (632 words + 1 image, estimated 2:32 mins reading time)

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Desmond Bishop is one player the Packers have drafted and developed.

An interesting discussion about the Packers draft and develop philosophy broke out in the comments section of this post the other day.

The basic question that came out of the discussion was this: What does draft and develop mean to you?

Draft and develop might mean different things to different people. The various meanings appear to include:

• Having players on the roster who can immediately and adequately fill in when a starter is injured.
• When an upper-echelon player leaves the team (for whatever reason), there’s another player on the roster than can immediately play at a similar level of the departed star.
• Accumulating as much young talent as possible.

There is no right answer to the question, but if I had to select one of the above, I’d select the third option. However, that answer is a little broad. There isn’t a team in the league that doesn’t want to accumulate as much young talent as possible. That franchise goal isn’t unique to the Packers.

Perhaps I need to add a fourth option: Accumulating as much young talent as possible and having the patience to stick with that philosophy and actually make it work.

Draft and develop has paid off for the Packers because they didn’t ditch it at the first sign of trouble. It’s also worked because the front office appears to be on the same page as the coaching staff, which is a lot more rare than we think. (It’s also worked because the Packers have Aaron Rodgers.)  Read more... (481 words + 1 image, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

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After a two days of voting, the fans have had their say and the Packers’ Final Four players have been chosen. As a reminder this was a vote for the Packers’ BEST pure football players, not those with the most value to them.

I’ve also listed the top 20 vote getters along the way, in order – so these represent the players our readers consider the best 20 on the Packers roster.

1.  Aaron Rodgers
2. Clay Matthews
3. Randall Cobb
4. Josh Sitton
5. Casey Hayward
6. Jordy Nelson
7. James Jones
8. BJ Raji
9. Bryan Bulaga
10. Sam Shields
11. Desmond Bishop
12. Ryan Pickett
13. Tim Masthay
14. Jermichael Finley
15. Tramon Williams
16. Morgan Burnett
17. T.J. Lang
18. A.J. Hawk
19. C.J. Wilson
20. John Kuhn

Close but didn’t quite get there: Brad Jones, Jarrett Bush, Mason Crosby, Davon House, DuJuan Harris.

Any surprises for you?

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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

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Last weekend, we picked our “Packers Players Elite Eight.” As March Madness continues, we will parallel the NCAA Basketball tournament and have you vote for the four BEST Packers on the roster; the “Packers Players Final Four.”

The players you selected fore the Elite Eight (in no particular order) were:

• James Jones
• Aaron Rodgers
• Casey Hayward
• Randall Cobb
• B.J. Raji
• Jordy Nelson
• Clay Matthews
• Josh Sitton

This time around, you get to vote for the Final Four. So select who you think are the Packers’ BEST four football players from the list. As a reminder, this isn’t a vote for the player’s value to the Packers, but rather who are the BEST football players on the roster.

The poll will be up through Sunday Night and the results will be posted on Monday.  Enjoy!

Follow Jersey Al:

          Follow @JerseyAlGBP           Add to Circleson

Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

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Pick the Packers’ Elite Eight

After a few days of voting, the fans have had their say and the Packers’ Elite Eight players have been chosen. As a reminder this was a vote for the Packers’ BEST pure football players, not those with the most value to them.

I’m holding back the order and percentages of the top eight (for now), so as not to influence our Final Four voting. Don’t fret, when this is all over, I’ll publish all of the results at each stage for your perusal and discussion.

I will show you the order and percentages of the eight that didn’t make it. And here’s a little nugget: the last player to make the Elite Eight was a full 14% higher that Bryan Bulaga, so there was no real battle for that last spot.

These are your Packers Elite Eight ( in random order):

VOTING RESULTS:

• James Jones
• Aaron Rodgers
• Casey Hayward
• Randall Cobb
• B.J. Raji
• Jordy Nelson
• Clay Matthews
• Josh Sitton

THOSE ELIMINATED:

• Bryan Bulaga  (34.49%)
• Sam Shields (31.02%)
• Desmond Bishop  (26.77%)
• Ryan Pickett  (24.20%)
• Tim Masthay (23.42%)
• Jermichael Finley  (23.17%)
• Tramon Williams  (22.65%)
• Morgan Burnett  (13.77%

The biggest surprises for me are Morgan Burnett being last (shouldn’t Masthay be last?) and Ryan Pickett not being higher on the list. Personally, I’d rate Pickett higher than Raji.

What do you think?  Read more... (280 words + 3 images, estimated 1:07 mins reading time)

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Tennessee WR Cordarrelle Patterson

There may not be a Julio Jones or A.J. Green at the top of this year’s wide receiver crop, but the position is among the deepest in the 2013 NFL Draft.

This year’s classes is led by former JUCO transfer Cordarrelle Patterson, who played at Tennessee in 2012. Patterson, although raw, is a freakish athlete with seemingly limitless potential. He’s the No. 1 receiver on my board, and his college teammate, Justin Hunter, isn’t too far behind.

Along with Patterson, West Virginia speedster Tavon Austin also appears to be a surefire first-round pick. Austin is more of a Percy Harvin-type matchup nightmare than a true perimeter wide receiver, but he may be the most explosive offensive prospect in the entire draft.

Many have Calfornia’s Keenan Allen as a first-round pick as well, but I’m not 100 percent sold. To me, Patterson and Austin are clearly the top two guys at the position, and after them, Allen is one of a handful of guys that could sneak into the end of round one or fall to the middle of round two.

Louisiana Tech’s Quinton Patton, Clemson’s DeAndre Hopkins and Southern Cal’s Robert Woods fall into the same boat as Allen.

The Packers certainly have a need at wide receiver. On top of Greg Jennings leaving Green Bay for Minnesota, the team faces uncertainty with Jordy Nelson, whose contract is set to expire after 2014, and James Jones, who is scheduled to be a free agent after this season.  Read more... (1732 words + 1 image, estimated 6:56 mins reading time)

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Pick the Packers’ Elite Eight

Last weekend, we picked our “Packers Players Sweet Sixteen.” As March Madness continues, we will parallel the NCAA Basketball tournament and have you vote for the eight best Packers on the roster; the “Packers Players Elite Eight.”

If you recall, we gave you the first 12 players last time and had you vote for the last four spots. The players you selected to include in the Sweet Sixteen were Casey Hayward, Bryan Bulaga, Jermichael Finley and Tim Masthay (just missing out was T.J. Lang).

This time around, you get to vote for the Elite Eight. So select who you think are the Packers’ BEST eight football players from the list. As a reminder, this isn’t a vote for the player’s value to the Packers, but rather who are the BEST football players on the roster.

The poll will be up through Friday Night and the results will be posted on Saturday.  Enjoy!

 
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