We have had a lot of discussion about needing a threat at the tight end position. When the Packers had a threat at tight end, Jermichael Finely, these same folks bitched that Finley wasn't putting up gaudy statistics and didn't seem to realize how valuable he was to the offense.

Look no further than the Patriots Rob Gronkowski to understand the value of a great tight end opening opportunities for an offense. Patriots have a who-the-hell-is-who group of receivers and the key to their success is the presence of Gronkowski. Finley, while no where near the level of Gronkowski, did the same thing for the Packers -- more talented -- receivers of Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones and Jordy Nelson.

I'm not trying to shame those who bitched about Finley, rather, credit them for realizing how valuable Finley was and how the Packers need someone of his caliber at tight end once again.

Speaking of shame, I was one of the blowhards who was duped by Richard Rodgers late season success and felt he would progress from year one to year two.

The next threat at tight end is not on the Packers roster at the moment. Do the Packers target one of the guys entering free agency or do you have a draft prospect that you feel would be a good fit?

Some 2016 Tight End Free Agents (under 30)
[list]

Jermaine Gresham

Darren Fells

Chase Coffman

Bear Pascoe

Logan Paulsen

Coby Fleener

John Phillips

Tony Moeaki

Anthony McCoy

[*]Richard Gordon [/list]

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when you have a Gronk, you can do things you can't do with 90% of the other TE in the league. When you have a Megatron, you can do things you can't do with 90% of the other WR in the league. When you have Rodgers or Brady you can do things you can't do with 90% of the other QBs.

Problem is, there is only one Gronk, and only a couple TE that even compare to him active in the League. The problem I see is not our TEs. It is the way they are being utilized. What percentage of the passes you see our TEs catching over the last couple years have been them releasing into the flat catching a short dump off from a Rodgers rollout. And every time there is a defender right there to make the hit, and the sideline right there if they break the tackle. there is nothing overly special about any of those TEs listed and if they were put in the same situations our TEs are, I would expect pretty much the same result. Look what happened to Graham when he was utilized poorly.

Chumura was nothing special as far as talent. But he was utilized well. We don't utilize R.Rodgers or Quarless well. I look at the patterns that opponents use with their TEs against our defense and seldom do I see us trying the same things against other teams. And it is apparent that other defenses have seen this as well because they are cheating their coverages towards McCarthy's trends.

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I believe Dwayne Allen is a FA too. He is young and can block and stretch the field. Fleener is basically a WR.

Well.

The hell do I know??

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Well I don't believe losing Graham has anything to do with Wilson's or the Seahawks level of play. The way the rest of the receivers have kicked in, I definitely wouldn't want to face them with Graham also.

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That has more to do with the offensive line protecting Wilson now

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I agree that we could use an upgrade at TE. But if you expect Gronk like production, it ain't gonna happen.

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The thing with Gronk is Brady will throw a ball in a place where he knows it is a risk, but Gronk will win the battle for the ball every time or it will be incomplete. We have no player WR or TE that Rodgers trusts to do that with.

that was suppose to be an edit.

It isn't just Brady and Gronk. It is most good QBs, all of them we were throwing to guys who were covered as well as our defense covers their guys most of the time. Over the last couple years, Rodgers has gotten away from it. I think he got use to looking and if they were not really open he would move on and if all else failed, he would scramble and one of the receivers would come open. He has don't it a few times with Jones this year and with cobb but not like he should.

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