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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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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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Jennings says there is no love lost between he and the Packers

Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings played his first seven seasons for the Packers and was an integral part of the team’s rise to their latest Super Bowl championship in 2011.  After the 2012 season, Jennings became an unrestricted free agent and signed with the Minnesota Vikings.

Packers General Manager Ted Thompson had to consider that Jennings will turn 30 this season, which is an unspoken benchmark for a skill player’s abilities to begin to erode.  In 2012, Jennings missed half of the season with a core injury that required surgery and extensive rehab.  Legitimately, there were questions as to what Jennings’ value and contributions would be over the next five seasons or so.

Thompson decided that his biggest priority was to work on extending the contracts of quarterback Aaron Rodgers and linebacker Clay Matthews and offered Jennings considerably less than Jennings was seeking.   It’s hard to argue that decision and the long-term contributions that both Rodgers and Matthews, if healthy, can provide the team.  It seemed all but certain that Jennings would be leaving to play elsewhere.  When free agency started, Jennings had stated that he was looking for a long-term deal in the neighborhood of $5-$7 million per year.  He received little interest and there was a real possibility that the Packers would end up being his only and best option.  The Vikings then swooped in and gave Jennings a fiver year deal worth $45 million and just over $17 million guaranteed.  Read more... (1328 words + 3 images, estimated 5:19 mins reading time)

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Eddie Lacy signed his rookie contract with the Packers on Wednesday

Eddie Lacy has agreed to his rookie contract with the Green Bay Packers.  Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette sent out the news via Twitter today and reported that it was first announced by ESPN.

Per the new CBA, all rookie contracts are for four years with the exception of first round selections.  Lacy was a second round pick in this year’s draft.  Terms of the deal have not been disclosed and the team will likely make an announcement of the deal on Thursday of this week.

This leaves first round pick Datone Jones as the Packers’ only unsigned draftee.  The team must sign Jones for a minimum of four years, but may opt to add a fifth year to the deal, should those terms be agreeable.

Jason Perone is an independent sports blogger writing about the Packers on "AllGreenBayPackers.com

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Neal saw more time at outside linebacker at Tuesday’s OTA’s

The Green Bay Packers resumed OTA’s and one of the big stories from today’s practice was defensive end Mike Neal, who lined up at outside linebacker during a portion of today’s activities.  He was also with the OLB’s as well as the defensive ends during position drills.  Neal spent some time at OLB last week as well.

It should be noted that there are some question marks at outside linebacker, especially in those who are proven at the position.  Behind starter Clay Matthews is Nick Perry, Dezman Moses, Nate Palmer and Andy Mulumba.  Perry is expected to re-assume the other starting OLB spot when the season begins, although he still is not 100% back from a wrist injury that ended his rookie season after just six games.  Moses filled in some last year after being signed as an undrafted free agent, but doesn’t appear likely to make a big jump.  Palmer was the Packers’ sixth round selection in this year’s draft and, while the team seems very high on him, he has yet to play a down at the NFL level.  Mulumba was an undrafted free agent that the Packers signed immediately following the draft and, like Palmer, has yet to play a down at the pro level.  Green Bay lost OLB’s Erik Walden and Frank Zombo to free agency.

It’s too early to tell if the team has seen enough to think that Neal can move outside on a more regular basis, but he clearly did enough last week to get another look.  Read more... (760 words + 3 images, estimated 3:02 mins reading time)

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A healthy Desmond Bishop is likely to be the biggest boost to the 2013 Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers drafted two running backs in the first four rounds of this year’s draft after many had been calling for the team to find more production in the run game.  With the addition of draftees Eddie Lacy and Johnathan Franklin, some would argue that each will end up playing a key role in the 2013 Packers’ storyline.

With Packers GM Ted Thompson having once again been very quiet in free agency, the draft was seemingly the team’s biggest chance to add to their existing roster.  Those draft picks, along with a few undrafted free agents, have garnered a lot of attention.  Actually, they have seen nearly all of it this off season, minus a few tiny contract situations that were recently ironed out.

Lost in the shuffle of all that is new, it’s what is “old” that I am anticipating will make the biggest difference when the smoke clears and the 2013 season is in the books.

Linebacker Desmond Bishop emerged as one of the team’s top defensive players during the team’s 2010 Super Bowl season.  That year, Bishop jumped from a career high of 29 tackles to 75.  The increase in playing time was a factor, but it’s hard to argue that Bishop became one of the team’s most productive defenders until a torn hamstring ended his 2012 season.  Read more... (542 words + 3 images, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

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Undrafted rookie running back Angelo Pease

It’s only been a few days and already the rookies are making an impression on Green Bay Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy.  That’s what players are supposed to do and especially guys who are anything but guaranteed a roster spot.  That, alone, isn’t earth-shattering news.

But as we have seen before, this team has had success finding some gems in the undrafted free agent pool.  One such player is running back Angelo Pease.  During the first day of drills, McCarthy was so caught off guard by one of Pease’s runs that he thought he was watching second round draft pick Eddie Lacy.  It’s pretty safe to say that Lacy is a lock to stick on this year’s roster.  For Pease, who rarely saw the field for a very good Kansas State team last season, that comparison is a good early sign.

Here is what McCarthy had to say after practice:

“That’s a big time cut. Frankly, I thought it was Eddie Lacy, the way he dropped his weight and hit the hole,” McCarthy gushed. “Those are things we’re looking for.”

Now again, it’s only one moment and one practice.  There is a long way to go, but if he’s worth a mention in a post-practice recap, we may want to keep an eye on him.  Read more... (448 words + 3 images, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

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