Jordy and Jones should be in their prime and I believe Cobb will more than replace Jennings. Boykins and the 5th and maybe 6th receiver should be as good as any we've had at those positions. Finley should at least be equal as he's been and Quarless could help. So receivers should be as good as ever. Three number one choices who were projected starters sitting out last year really hurt and we still have two of them out. I don't think any other team would weather that any better. Bak is the key at this point, if he can play respectably and we can stay relatively healthy from here on we should be OK.

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Lets not forget Finley broke the record for 61 Catches in a season in Packers history. Imagine 75, 85 catches a season by him, that would be amazing.

Rodgers has high praise for Finley this season. He mentioned his route running, film study, and catching has improved. He hasn't even tweeted since training camp started, maybe even a longer time span than that.

Hopefully Finley finally puts it all together. I like Finley a lot more than most fans do, and I would not be disappointed if we brought him back next year.

As for the WR replacement issue,

Jennings may have been out most of the last two years.. But he still managed to get ALOT more production than those two doofs combined.

Jordy has had 1 amazing season in his career, the other 4 years are really nothing special.

Cobb is for the most part, unproven, I personally use 1k yards as a benchmark for a "true #1", and he has yet to reach that point. (However close)

Jones is known. He can get 600-800 yards and some TDs.

^these 3 have been here so I don't really consider them a replacement

Jennings was, during his hayday, by far better than these 3. Posting 5 straight seasons over 900 yards (jordy and Cobb each have 1) and 3 straight 1000+ seasons (again, Jordy's only good year breaks 1k)

Boykin, has one first down catch in his career (one more in playoffs), and was previously an undrafted FA cut by the Jaguars. So forgive me if I'm not on board this hype-train.

Jeremy Ross, is another UFA cut by the patriots. He has no catches in the regular season. And already has earned some ire for his fumble in the playoffs.

Johnson and Dorsey have not done jack since we took them in the 7th.

And the rest are more UFAs... Who did go undrafted for a reason...

So basically we have a bunch of scrub players fighting for Driver and Jennings' old spots... Now maybe there is a diamond in this pile of droppings.. But I'm not willing to bank on it.

"B-b-b-but tyrone walker!"

Big whoop! 41 yards in a PRESEASON game against vanilla defenses doesn't mean jack. Lets just put that in perspective. Shall we?

Tori Gurly (9 for 81)
Dale Moss (5 for 51)
Diondre Borel (7 for 48)
Chasten West (3 for 45) (8 for 153)
Kerry Taylor (7 for 56)
Ryan Taylor (5 for 54)
Charles Dillon (8 for 99)
Brett Swain (8 for 164)
Patrick Williams (8 for 101)


All these guys have posted better numbers than that the last two preseasons, and what have they done for us? ... Exactly.

Thake off the goggles my peeps!

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Agreed.

J-Mike can easily put up 600-700+ this year

But I am more focusing on the WR position specifically.

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Driver was absolutely nothing last year he couldn't even make the active game day roster. Jennings last year pretty uneffective even when he did play. Jennings only had 11 less targets than Jordy last year and he had 330 less yards. Even before both of them started getting hurt Jordy was the one leading the team. Greg hasn't been the #1 on this team since 2010. Most teams don't go 3 deep on quality receivers. We got by plenty of games last year without Greg or Jordy and we will be fine again with the 3 we have. I don't understand the panic.

Worrying about arbitrary statistical benchmarks IMO is a little lazy and shallow. Jordy, JJ, and Cobb didn't get to 1000 yards last year but each one has proven the ability to take over a game or make a key catch or first down or TD. That's all you need. If you are expecting a team to keep 4 or 5 top quality receivers every year you've got some disappointment coming your way.

Well said. And if this team has any common sense, any slight drop-off in production from the wide receivers should be made up by increased production in the run game, which should also improve the efficiency of the passing game. One has to remember that the Packers didn't have a very good running game when comparing passing statistics from the past several seasons. I would expect the Packers passing statistics to go down a little as the rushing statistics go up. Or at least that's what I'm hoping for.

the sky is falling the sky is falling



seems like this happens every couple of years... good players go, waiting for new good players to step up.

But remember those good players that left weren't always good... they became good by growing into it.

Now we're just waiting for the new guys to grow into it.

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IMNSHO,
1. Jones is a stud. (#2A, possibly becoming a #1)
2. The only question about Cobb is length of his current injury. If healthy, he's a threat. (#2B)
3. Nelson, the only real question about him right now is his health. I don't think of him as a #1, unlike many here, but I do think he is a solid #2. (#2C)

I've said before that I don't think any of them are as good as Jennings is. And I thought it would have been worth it to overspend to keep him. I do think they'll miss him.

At the same time, I do think they have three solid #2 quality receivers. Four if you add in Finley. So there are still four threats that the other team has to deal with.

After those four, everyone else is "potential". But I'm not bothered all that much by filling the #4 and #5 WR spots (and the #2 TE) with potential. Four bona fide threats is still one or two more than most teams have. I'd rather have that than one mega-star and a bunch of guys.

If we were looking for Walker, Boykins, Ross, et al to step up to be another #2 or even a #3 for an entire season, it might be different. But at this point, we don't really need them for that.

Now if Cobb and Nelson are gone longer, then the team has issues at WR. But what team wouldn't if they lost not just their #1 to free agency but two of the next three to injury?

I don't expect any UFA or late draft choice to become a #1 or #2 or #3 receiver. I don't think anyone should. And I don't think TT, MM, and company are thinking that way. What they are looking for is 2-3 guys who can be a #4 and a short-term fill in for #3.

And given that the person throwing to them is the #1 quarterback in all of football, they probably only need someone who can be a #5.

I'd still rather have Jennings. With Jennings, IMO, the Packers would still have the #1 set of receivers in NFL. Without him, they're still in the top 10 though. And with Rodgers at the helm, that's equivalent to saying they're still in the top five.

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Not even close to my point... At no point did I say this was going to ruin the team, In fact, this year we landed players in some key positions that we needed (OT, RB, DE, + a healthy OLB)

The whole point of when I made this thread 5 months ago, was pointing out that where we currently have a weakness, we have inadequitly replaced the player that previously manned it.

The Jarius Wynn/ CJ Wilson combo for example... He have had these bad players in a position vacated by Cullen Jenkins because Mike Neal has not worked out. Leaving 1/3 of our line in the hands of people, who cannot handle it. As evidenced by their poor performance.

The "non CM3" LB has been a weakness for FOUR years, and had been manned by late rounders and UDFAs (sound familiar maybe??.) and was unaddressed until we selected perry. Unfortunately we had to wait a bit longer for him.

Is this team awful? Fuck no. In fact, I love the additions this year.. weve (supposedly) upgraded 3 of the __ positions i listed. But I defiantly don't believe "the best QB in the game" deserved to have his weapons come out of the "Erik Walden" pile. And that soon, the position will need to be addressed.

And as for my "artificial benchmark", it is hardly unfair for a team that passes as much as we do to have that.

Not all criticism lands into a doomsday scenario.

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Which is why I stay out of most posts where fans discuss GM stuff. Good points, but my head hurts when I have to evaluate on grand scales. I cannot imagine how hard it is being a GM in this league. So I just try to evaluate what we got against what other teams have from game to game and leave it there. Love the discussion here though!

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