Brett Farrey

I’m not a big fan of acquiring players via free agency, but this might be a year Ted Thompson might want to try and find a player or two. For starters, the Packers are no longer a team that’s rebuilding. The Packers are a team with few needs, and may only be a player or two away from doing something Super. The one player that comes to mind is Asante Samuel. Asante is a really good corner that has a lot of good years ahead of him. Samuel, Al Harris, and Charles Woodson would be one hell of a group of cornerbacks. Harris and Woodson are both over 30, and if they drafted another CB, they’d be sittin’ pretty. In my opinion, you can never have enough corners in the NFL. Also, the Packers currently have over $20 million in salary cap space, they could front-load a contract, similar to what they did with Woodson, and they’d be sitting in good shape for years to come.

I’m starting to wonder if Jessica Simpson is really a Packer fan. She seems to have shown up in Tony Romo’s life just in time for the playoffs. Woohoo! She went to her first game, which just so happened to be Romo’s worst game statistically to date. T.O. is starting to shoot his big mouth off about it, and there are rumblings that more Dallas players are upset about Simpson. If this continues, the Cowboys won’t even make it to the NFC Championship, let alone the Super Bowl.

Is Jessica a Packer fan? I doubt it, but she just may help out the Packers this post-season. Thanks Jess!

Many are predicting the Packers to have another dismal season, but I think differently. I believe the Packers are on the verge of putting together a team that can possibly take a shot at the Super Bowl. I know what you’re thinking, this guy is nuts!

Let’s take a look.

1) Defense. In the past, the Packers have won games with their offense, mainly due to the arm of Brett Favre. The Packers defense finished strong last year, and look to even be better this year. They have the potential to be top 10, maybe top 5 defense in the NFL. The defensive line and linebacker units may have more depth than any in the league, and although it’s still early in training camp it appears some of the youth is emerging in the secondary. If Woodson and Harris remain healthy, this will be a scary defense to face as the season progresses.

2) Offensive Line. Last year, at times they started three offensive lineman. This year, they have three very promising young players in Colledge, Moll, and Spitz, with one year of experience under their belts which will help solidify the line for years to come. If these guys can continue to grow, they will open holes for the running game, give Favre time to throw, and allow more receivers to run routes instead of staying in to block.

3) Running backs. None of these guys jump out at you, but I think they’re a solid group of guys that can make this running game work via a committee. Watch for Jackson and Wynn to accelerate up the depth chart.

4) James Jones. Greg Jennings was a bit of a fluke. It normally takes wide receivers a year or two before they become effective in the NFL, but it looks like Ted Thompson make have struck gold twice. Driver and Jennings will be the starters, but Jones will provide Favre a much needed additional weapon. The tight ends are weak, so the emergence of Jones will be huge.

There are a lot of “if’s” for any team, but if the Packers can stay healthy, and the young players continue to improve and contribute, I think the Packers not only go to the playoffs, but I think they can do something Super!

I’m not a big fan of free agency, but it would be nice to see Ted Thompson do something! TT has quite a few holes to fill. I’m not sold there is a starting running back on the team. The tight ends are a joke. They need more depth at WR. They  also need a quality corner behind Harris and Woodson.

I believe in building through the draft, but he has the money to fill some holes in free agency, and he’s doing next to nothing. Again, I’m not saying he should go crazy, but it would be nice to see that the team is improving. I’m sorry, it’s just a little frustrating.

I was quoted by Ben Popper in the Capital Times this week. Although I used work at madison.com, Ben doesn’t know me, and actually asked me to contribute based on my postings on madison.com’s forum. Go Packers!

I was mad about Charter not showing the Packer game, but now I’m livid. A buddy and I first went to Lucky’s on Regent Street. It was WAY too packed, so we decided to look elsewhere. We walked into the Echo Tap, which had a good crowd, so I figured they were showing the game. We order a pitcher, but then we realize they don’t have the game, but are playing the radio feed over the speakers. We finish the pitcher and press on. Main Street Depot….packed! Press on. We decide to head back to the West side. We checked The Bean. No game. The Draft House. Most packed bar we saw all night. I guarantee they were over capacity. Adlers. No game on tv, but they were playing a radio feed. We grab a pitcher of beer, some nachos, and decide to press on. Hooters. No place to sit and they want us to wait at the door. Lame, so we leave. J.T. Whitney’s. No game. Babes’ parking lot was packed. FUCK IT! It’s time to go home and shop for satellite tv. I’ll probably keep Charter for my Internet access, but they can take my digital cable and cram it up their ass. Charter didn’t want to cut a deal with the NFL network, and now they’re going to lose a lot of customers. Each and every person that works at Charter can be proud to know they work for an evil empire. Move over Clear Channel, here comes Charter Communications.

Levens just signed a contract with the Packers, just so he can retire a Packer. I love it when players do this. Because of the way the NFL is setup, it’s difficult for players to stay with one team their entire career. After leaving Green Bay, Levens played for the Eagles for a year, the Giants for a year, and then the Eagles again for another year. He won’t be actually playing for Green Bay again, but he gets to retire a Packer.

Levens didn’t have a phenomenal career, but he had some solid years in the mid-late 90′s. He came into the league with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He originally played for Notre Dame, but for whatever reason, fell out of favor the coaching staff. He transferred to Georgia Tech. He was drafted in the fifth round by the Packers, where he paired up with Edgar Bennett to create a pretty lethal one-two punch. I’ll always remember Edgar crunching out the tough yards early in games, and then Dorsey pounding the defense later in the second half. After Bennett left town, Dorsey really turned into a good all-around back for a few years, before injuries took a toll on him.

Me, and I’m sure many other Packer fans, are happy to see Dorsey retire wearing Green and Gold; so to speak.

Javon Walker says his days in Green Bay are over, except he has one more year left on his contract. Walker “wanted” more money, but now he just wants out of Green Bay.

Walker has had one good season and believed last year he deserved a huge contract. If Walker had gone about it another way last year, he might have gotten a contract extension. Instead, he relied on Drew Rosenhaus to bully the Packers, which ultimately failed and Walker ended up blowing out his knee.

Now, Walker says he’d rather retire than play another game in Green Bay. One thing I know for sure, Walker won’t retire at his age and give up millions. Remember, this about money for Javon. Two things: Either Javon is just plain stupid, or he’s bluffing badly. If Green Bay doesn’t trade him and he holds his ground and doesn’t play another game for Green Bay, his career will be over. Not only would it be over, but he’ll lose his salary for the upcoming season, he’ll be fined, and he’ll still be under contract for one more year with the Packers.

I believe Walker is bluffing and will come back to play just enough games to get him out of his contract, just like Mike McKenzie. Even if he does this, Thompson could place the franchise tag on him the following year, and at that point, he’d be making lots of money, but it would only be a one year contract, and he’d still be wearing Green and Gold.

I’m surprised Thompson hasn’t allowed Walker’s agent to shop him around, but I’m glad Thompson hasn’t been giving in to any of his demands. As of right now, Thompson doesn’t really have a lot of options, except to wait and see. There have been rumors that maybe Denver might be interested in a trade, but no offers have been made at this point.

If I were Thompson here’s the choices I’d give Javon:

1) Perform well this year and you’ll be a rich man.

2) Sign an extension now with tons of escalators protecting the Packers if he doesn’t perform.

3) Trade him for a 1st round pick or nothing at all.

4) Otherwise, make him play out his contract, franchise him next year, and then trade him.

At least I hope so.

Barring any trades, I forsee the Packers picking Mario Williams. Williams wowed the scouts at the combine, which should soidify him being selected by the Packers at #5. Scouts are comparing him to Julius Peppers, and most recently Reggie White. Actually, Williams had a better vertical leap(40 inches) and 40 yard dash time(4.71) than Peppers.

Williams is a 6-7 295 athlete that’s very lean. He weighs 295, but that’s all muscle(7.6% body fat), and since he’s coming out as a junior, he’s poised to get even bigger. He has long arms and big shoulders which will allow him to get even bigger and stronger.

This past season Williams had 14.5 sacks. He has 25.5 sacks total in his college career. Williams also hasn’t had any problems with injuries, starting all 36 games in college.

In the NFL, I truly believe games are won on the line of scrimmage. If your team’s line wins the battle, it opens the door for the rest of the team to execute. Every team that made the playoffs this year had at least one first round defensive line player. The Packer’s defense needs playmakers, and I believe Williams is their man.

Ted Thompson must find a way to stop the bleeding. The Packers lost several key players last offseason, including guys like Darren Sharper, Mike Wahle and Marco Riviera, and if Thompson is looking to actually improve this team, he must find a way to stop losing players.

The Packers dragged their feet all season long on getting Kampman a new contract, and it sounds like he’s ready to see what he’s really worth in the open market. Kampman figures to be one of the top defensive ends in free agency this year, and should get nice offer from someone.

I guess what I don’t understand is the Packers have a lot of holes to fill, have 20 million in cap room, and yet they’re letting their best defensive lineman hit the open market. On top of that that, Grady Jackson could be gone, which probably leaves Colin Cole and KGB as the starters. KGB is a one-dimensional pass rusher and Colin Cole is no Grady Jackson.

Thompson could be banking on selecting Mario Williams in the draft, but that’s not guaranteed, and forces him to draft for need rather than taking the best player available. Regardless, I can’t think of a scenario where having Williams, Kampman, and KGB on the same team would be a bad thing.

If Thompson loses Kampman in free agency, he’ll have created yet another hole that needs to be filled, and there are already too many.