Green Bay's 2009 free agents:

Mark Tauscher
Colin Cole
Michael Montgomery
John Kuhn
Brady Poppinga
John Bodiford - RFA
Ruvell Martin - RFA
Jarrett Bush - RFA
Atari Bigby - RFA
Jason Hunter - RFA
Tory Humphrey - ERFA
Tramon Williams - ERFA

I would keep Williams, Bigby, Hunter and maybe Kuhn. The rest can leave.

Poppinga is supposed to be a good fit in a 3-4 but i have no faith in his pass rush abilities. He isnt any good in coverage either and it would be good to let him go to make more room for the salary cap. He is already 29 with just 4 years of NFL experience behind him, he's not going to get any better. Cut him and try someone else.

Montgomery is just too meh. No pass rush ability at all. Been at the packers for 4 years and has not been able to establish himself in the team the entire time. Time to let him go methinks.

Martin is a decent WR but i'm sure Ted Thompson will find someone better to upgrade that 5th WR spot. But if he does not, i expect him to stay.

Cole is average as hell. Can't believe we offered him a fairly large contract. Thankfully he turned it down. We can do better. We couldnt stop the run at all or rush the passer at all so why would we want to keep him?

Tauscher will not get a large contract. His injury is too severe to offer him that. Wouldnt complain if we keep him if he accepts a small salary. He would provide squad depth and knows the system well.

Kuhn did well catching for a couple of TD's this season. I consider him to be better than Korey Hall so would try to keep him unless there are better free agents out there or have identified someone in the draft that can be picked up in the 6th or 7th round.

As for trades, We could trade any of these players for draft picks:

Harris (only if they identified a CB with equal or better ability to replace him. If a 24 years old is no better than Harris, no point in replacing him with a younger player for the sake of it.)

Lee (i think he is a good player but if there is an opportunity to improve the TE position, he should be traded)

Kampman. Whilst they say he should be excited with the switch to 3-4, he may be unhappy about it as he is a year away from FA and a big pay day. Ive read that OLB's get paid less than DE's so if his job description changes he could end up earning less if he accepts a new contract with us next year. He may demand a trade so that he can play in a 4-3 and get that big pay day. We would get a no.1 draft pick and that would makes things even more interesting. Imagine getting Raji and Jenkins for example!!

Malone, Pettaway, Hall and Moll could be used as trade bait but is extremely unlikely that a team would be willing to give up a draft pick for them. All they would have to do is wait for one of them to be cut from the training camp.

The defence would need to be overhauled and Capers will probably want to stamp his own mark on the team so don't be surprise to see many of our players leaving, especially our backups.

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I believed we re-inked Poppinga before the season started.

I can confidently say that there is no college CB entering the draft that will be better than Al Harris in 2009.

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Agreed... but there might be one on the roster that gives him a run for his money.. Tramon Williams.

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nice write up ... Al Harris is much better then williams IMO

I like Kuhn - wish we would use him more as a FB to block for grant or for another receiver for a screen etc ...

Did you mention donald Lee? I thought he was pretty decent this year

Williams has improved each year here.. accending player... if you asked me this season.. I would take Harris.. but if Williams continues his improvement that gap closes. Do I think Williams will be as physical as Harris is.. nope, but I truly believe we have a great one in the making. If he continues to grow and develop.

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good thread.

I'd agree with most everything, besides getting rid of Aaron Kampman. What have you ever seen or read that would make you think Kampman would skip town under contract, just to pursue a few extra dollars. I think that he will get a decent contract from us no matter where he plays. Ted has been pretty fair in contract offers, and if we are offering Cole that much money... you can bet your backside Kampman will get a fair offer. I see Kampman as part of the solution here, no matter the scheme.

And thats another thing... all this talk about do we have 3-4 type guys? Who's to say with out knowing what Capers has in mind. What typically is considered a good nose tackle in the common 3-4 might be useless in what Capers is planning. I know its something to talk about, but we really don't know what a good fit is until we know more about this scheme.

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re: the nose tackle. I've already read hints that Capers won't implement a system requiring a 2-gap nose tackle. I'm sure they will be expected to take a 2 gap responsibility some times, but what Dom talks about is keeping the offense guessing (THANK GOD), meaning gap responsibilities will change during games.

They say Pickett fits the bill perfectly. they could A) be telling the truth, or 😎 setting up a smoke-screen in order to position themselves to pick up a different NT...

Whatever it is, I do trust Capers to wring every last bit of talent out of our roster.

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Bozz with the assist.


Like Capers said in his first presser.... coming in here with a scheme and particular guys in mind is a recipe for failure. Thats what Sanders did.
You gotta move, disguise and confuse constantly to get pressure. Its what Philly does every single game, and it shows. And that recipe doesn't necessarily require certain ingredients that the typical 3-4 scheme would.

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I'm with you on that last part. I mean, I get that it's the offseason and people are just speculating, but I'm struck by the difference between what we're being told by coaches and league pros and what folks on these boards are saying. Is it just that the coaches are spinning the situation for us, or do they know more than we do? I'm going to be interested to find out, because the gap between the two stories seems mighty wide.

If I were a betting man, I'd probably lay my money on the coaches/pros understanding the scheme better than us fans, but that's just me.

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