Whoa nelly. I feel I am already level 5 scared on the first day of free agency with the Green Bay Packers. The reason why everyone around is getting better and we are at a stand still. Something needs to happen.
The Packers (unlike the Indianapolis Colts with Gary Brackett) were unable to sign left tackle Chad Clifton before free agency started. Now, I have been told by the power of Twitter, that Clifton is only visiting the Washington Redskins to drive up the price of his contract for the Packers. Many insiders believe that he would want to come back and be a Packer for the rest of his career. This is probably good news for a lot of Packer fans right now, but Bob Barker taught me a long time ago that if the price isn't right, you are better to walk away
Why might some fans be scared to death of not bringing Clifton back? The Bears have just brought in Julius Peppers who is one of the better if not the best free agent that was out there and now they form a scary defense with Peppers/Urlacher in their front seven.Not to mention, the zone blitzes that the Bears can run now makes them even more of a threat. If you are a Bears' fan you have to worry about the motivation that Peppers brings day in and day out, he tends to fall alseep at the wheel at points of the game, something Urlacher I assume fans hope will not allow to happen.
Now the Bears also brought in Chester Taylor, which gets new Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz his passing running back and Matt Forte truly fell off the map last season so Taylor could insert himself into the starting lineup. My buddy E theory behind the Bears also adding Brandon Manumaleuna who formerly was in Martz's system who just blocked and did nothing else, might correlate in swinging Greg Olson into a wide receiver for Jay Cutler to throw to. To me, that theory makes a ton of sense and could totally see it happening. Although all of this being said, I still am not convinced that their offensive line will be better and that was their downfall last year.
Also everybody's favorite dweller in the NFC North the Detroit Lions have made some big strides with their young team by signing Kyle Vanden Bosch and Nate Burelson. Before I explode about Vanden Bosch, Burelson has always been a reliable player for any team he has played for and he will be a nice second option for Detroit.
Vanden Bosch was a hell of player for the Tennessee Titans in the past couple of years and is just an aggressive kick-ass player. Further, he has never played in the NFC therefore the book on him isn't as concrete as a guy like Peppers who has spent his entire career in the NFC. Also this makes me wonder, do they draft Ndamkong Suh/Gerald McCoy or do they get Eric Berry? Vanden Bosch might be enough to shore up their front line, but adding those two guys could make their front seven monstrous. But Berry could also be a game-changer for the Lions. They are in a perfect position right now as a franchise, first time that's been said in awhile.
The question I have for Vikings' fans and Favre fans is does this influence BF4's decision to maybe step down seeing as the division will not be that easy plus the defenses of the Bears and Lions have obviously gotten better. I do not know if it does personally, but I think it might be a key factor in his process of making a decision. A final word on the Vikes, they will miss Chester Taylor way more than they probably believe they will.
Finally the Packers, I started writing this with the thought of Chad Clifton re-signing is a must. No longer do I think that way once again, thanks to Eric because he makes the point "the worst thing the Packers can do is overpay Clifton." I agree 130% because he has been known to be injured, he is much older and I, like Eric saw some promise in young T.J. Lang last year. I would be quite nervous facing Allen, Vanden Bosch, and Peppers twice a year with a young lineman but what if Clifton goes down again after we gave him a big contract? It almost seems like it's bound to happen so why not throw Lang to the wolves, draft a tackle high and see what happens.
-Charlie.
1 comment:
ill start with obviously cliftons plan worked lol, i still worry about how much he has left in the tank and can he still hang with the elite ends. And as far as being injury prone last year was the first time he missed multiple games. The bears signing peppers is big but not as big as everyone is saying unless he comes out and plays like he did against the vikings this year every game. He clearly has the talent to do so plus i like his length to swat/catch passes at the line of scrimmage. But with very few draft picks this year with a horrible wr core and crappy secondary they still are not viable contenders this year unless i am missing something. which probably is i got used to seeing a bear defense without urlacher and a decent pass rush. if favre comes back i still see it being a two horse race in the nfc north. I like where the lions are headed if they can find a way to improve there defense while accomplishing there number one goal which is protecting stafford. I still say the bears are a year or two from being legitiment superbowl contenders but will play a fun role in being spoiler potentially deciding who wins the north
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