What's the precedent? Ted Thompson tried trading for Tony Gonzalez years back...same for Randy Moss. If there is the potential to add a special player, Ted Thompson will do his "due diligence". There is no way I can conceive of that he wouldn't be doing "due diligence" on the Graham situation. That guy changes games. Special player.

I find it odd that people are referring to Quarless and Taylor????? as SOLID? Huh? Wow, that is way overvauling your own. Quarless is JAG and Taylor doesn't and hasn't played on offense very much. Finley was an 8+ million dollar a year player, as valued by the Packers. I think most of us would say he was nowhere near an 8 million dollar player for us...ever. Quarless makes 7 times less than what Finley made as our #1 TE if we're talking cap hit. Jermichael's cap hit was 8.75 million last season, Q's is 1.25 million.

If you were okay with 8.75 million for Jermichael, I don't know why you'd have a problem to have a truly special player for a few million more.

EDIT: The current salary cap is 133 million. The salary cap jumped by 10 million from 2013-2014 and is expected to jump at least another 10 million next year. Projections are that it will likely be over 150 million by 2016. So, in essence, the Rodgers cap hit will be absorbed by the rise in the cap next year. We will have plenty of green to dole out for extensions to Jordy and Randall if cap is going up another 10 million.

Originally Posted by: uffda udfa 

What's the precedent? Ted Thompson tried trading for Tony Gonzalez years back...same for Randy Moss. If there is the potential to add a special player, Ted Thompson will do his "due diligence". There is no way I can conceive of that he wouldn't be doing "due diligence" on the Graham situation. That guy changes games. Special player.

I find it odd that people are referring to Quarless and Taylor????? as SOLID? Huh? Wow, that is way overvauling your own. Quarless is JAG and Taylor doesn't and hasn't played on offense very much. Finley was an 8+ million dollar a year player, as valued by the Packers. I think most of us would say he was nowhere near an 8 million dollar player for us...ever. Quarless makes 7 times less than what Finley made as our #1 TE if we're talking cap hit. Jermichael's cap hit was 8.75 million last season, Q's is 1.25 million.

If you were okay with 8.75 million for Jermichael, I don't know why you'd have a problem to have a truly special player for a few million more.

Our roster has been TE heavy for the past few years. Obviously, this franchise greatly values that position and it shows that they were willing to pay and pay big for a guy like Finley who has never produced like Graham. Finley has started 48 games and amassed 20 TD's. Graham has started 36 games and amassed 41 TD's. So, about every 2.5 games you can count on a TD from Finley. Meanwhile, in every game, on average, you can count on one from Graham.

Originally Posted by: uffda udfa 

It all boils down to one overwhelming obstical.

Graham won't get enough targets to cover the cost.

Rodgers has too many weapons and likes to spread the ball around too much.

That is why they didn't chase Jennings and Jones.

Originally Posted by: Dexter_Sinister 

The Jennings thing isn't true. Greg turned down an offer of over 11million from the Packers before the start of his last season with us, and then took less from Minnesota. We wanted Greg Jennings and were willing to pay the kind of money it would take to land Graham.

What I once thought was going to be difficult to do...sign Cobb and Nelson, is now really not that difficult only a matter of whether you want two big money deals in your WR corps. I'm not sure they want to do that. I wasn't aware the cap was going to go up as much as it's projected to go up. From 123 million in 2013 to over 150 million by 2016 gives you a ton of flexibility. I no longer believe we'd have to part with Jordy or Randall and we'd still be able to get Graham in here.

BTW, I realize two 1's is a steep steep price but given the odds of landing someone like Jimmy Graham with one of our 1st's would be unlikely. One first for him makes all the sense in the world to me even with his age. He could likely keep it going for 7 seasons and he will never lose his size. If we didn't have Aaron Rodgers or Clay Matthews would it have been worth it to you to cough up two 1st's to get either of them? I would do it because Graham is a known superstar who is getting better and better. We debated who you'd take if you could only have one... Jordy or Randall. If I could only have one between Jordy, Randall or Jimmy...I'd choose Jimmy.

One potential side benefit to landing someone like Graham would be his potential influence on a kid like Lyerla. We don't know all of Colt's story but Jimmy's is well documented. The amount of help Jimmy could provide to Colt would be immeasurable. If you are unaware of JImmy Graham's story you should take a minute to watch it as it: Jimmy Graham's Unlikely Path to the NFL 

Originally Posted by: uffda udfa 

I just don't know if trading away two first round picks and then mortgaging the future by signing three expensive players (Graham, Nelson and Cobb) to backloaded contracts to take advantage of an anticipated rise in the salary cap is the smart thing to do. Lets just say we do that and the cap doesn't go up as much as anticipated. we could be in a world of trouble. Yeah we may be fine with being able to keep those three guys but at the expense of which others. I just don't think it makes good business sense to play with unknowns like that.

The thing is I think there are a lot, well OK maybe not a lot but more than just one or two, of players who could do what Graham does if asked to do it. Make any athletically talented guy the focus of your passing game and he will most likely rise to the top and put up amazing numbers. I'm not saying we have one of those guys on our team now but who knows? I'd be willing to bet McCarthy and Rodgers could take one of our TEs and make him a top 5 TE in the league if they really wanted to. If not one of our own then any number of good TE's in the league that could be had much cheaper than Graham. If they wanted to make the TE the focus of our passing game and turn our TE into our top pass catching threat they could. Of course that would cut down on one of our strengths. That being our ability and desire to spread the ball around. Although, with the relative lack of experience in our receiving corps compared to the last few years it remains to be seen if we can still do that but I believe Rodgers can get it done.

The bottom line is you don't need a freakishly talented TE to make the TE your main focus in the passing game. You need a guy that can catch the ball but more importantly you need and offense built around that and a coach and a QB willing to make it so. I'm not sure we have that and I am not sure I want that.

I should add that I agree with Darkane in that you do give compelling arguments. Unlike so many similar threads that simply say crap like "we should do this because he is really really really good" Though I disagree with you I don't think it is as crazy as it may seem to some people.

Originally Posted by: sschind