I'm not sure. One of them says AFTER and then the other says ALWAYS. My head hurts.

---

GREEN BAY - Sources say the Packers have begun the process to try to keep wide receiver Donald Driver.

According to TODAY'S TMJ4's Lance Allan, sources on both the Packers and Driver's side say they have offered Driver a restructured deal.

The Packers have expressed desire for Driver to take a pay cut, and the 13-year veteran seemed open to that in order to stay with the team.

Driver and his agent were taking at least part of Friday to think about the proposal.

---

He still has to make the team.

---

and that is not a given nor a guarantee. except Uncle Teddy is awfully sentimental these days. He does keep players with no usefulness left in them. :-"

---

I'll take the bait: Was Clifton worth his millions last year, playing 5 games and getting benched in the playoff game? There are still ass clowns that think Tauscher should still be on the team. I don't care how many of you buddies of mine in here are against me on this: stick a fork in Driver and give his reps to Jones and Cobb.

---

Clifton was not worth his pay. I didn't really want him back last year. The choice wasn't mine to make.
The real question is WHY did he make the team? Do you think Ted was sentimental? I don't think so. I think he looked at who he had at OT and wanted the security blanket that is Clifton. I think they needed a grizzled vet on the team to help teach the young pups. So from that stand point he may well have been worth his pay.

I don't think it is as important for Donald to be on the team to teach the younger wideouts. that said if he makes the team he makes the team. I can live with it. ESPECIALLY if they go with 6 instead of 5.

---

How did Chad Clifton perform in 2010? Who did the Packers have with experience or belief that could fill Chad Clifton's shoes in his absence? Prior to saying Marshall Newhouse, keep in mind that even Aaron Rodgers publicly admitted he was less than thrilled when he found out Newhouse was taking over LT.

Quit using hindsight as a source of genius and understand a broke clock is right at least once a day.

---

It isn't hindsight, it's called foresight of old manitis. Driver had the dropsies all year last year. And since nobody ever takes me at my word, here's the fricken link. Read it for yourselves nostalgia boys. Driver is losing it and another year of putting him on the field and holding back a young guys development is beyond moronic.


http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/01/17/drop-rate-2011-which-receivers-are-dropping-the-ball/ 

---

of course Driver is losing it. He is getting to be an old man. I doubt even he would disagree with it. My contention is Ted is not sentimental when it comes to deciding who is on the team. Some of the fans may be but they don't get a vote in the matter so it doesn't matter what they think. As for me I have said over and over I don't mind if he doesn't make the team and if he does Uncle Teddy has done a good enough ob over the past few years I won't complain.

---

I was calling for Thompson to start seriously looking for Clifton's replacement at least a year before the Super Bowl season. I wasn't calling for Tauscher's that early because his decline seemed to happen all at once...one year he was their best lineman, the next year he was operating on fumes.

Driver is a different case. We're not talking about letting the "starter" go. No one seriously wants him as the starter. The question is not whether he offers more than Jennings, Nelson, or Jones. Nor is it Driver vs. Cobb. It's about whether Driver has enough to offer to let a practice squad or another player with "potential" go. Does anyone think Borel or Gurley or Smithson or _anyone else that might be replacing Driver has any real shot to beat out any of the top four in the next three years? Seriously?

We're talking about "wily veteran with declining skills" vs. "potential #5 WR plus special teams player". That's all.

Frankly, there are examples of the latter floating around this time of year every year. And there always will be. If Driver gets beat out by a better "special teams player and #5 WR," then by all means, its time. But until he does? Bah.

Letting Flynn go and hoping for Harrell et al to fill the shoes when Aaron Rodgers goes down? That's a gamble. Letting a practice squadder miss "valuable reps" because you're hanging on to DD for the preseason? That's a dime-a-dozen non-worry for a GM of Thompson's caliber. Any GM that find a #5 receiver/special teamer in seventy-two hours should be stuck with the Vikings or Redskins or Bears.

Hanging on to a starter too long is a far different thing than hanging on to a #5 receiver too long. Heck it's a far different thing than hanging on to a #3 or #4 receiver too long.

Now, if Gurley shows himself to be the next Gary Lewis/Ted Hendricks this preseason, _then_ I would cut Driver in his favor. Frankly, based on his kick blocking abilities, it wouldn't have surprised me last year -- because that's a major special teams skill you see very little of today with the post-Lewis rule changes. (Finding even a gunner is less difficult.) But frankly, unless some #5 shows serious special teams skills like that -- and I don't mean just showing the "potential" to be a good coverage guy; or if you really believe that last year's playoff game was DD emptying the last bits from his tank -- you don't get rid of DD.

Me, I'd rather have a wily veteran leader and character guy with marginal skills as my #45 game day player than some practice squadder with potential for ST and #4WR.

---