The Green Bay Packers are where General Manager Ted Thompson is most comfortable with free agency, sorting through the second wave of players to augment the teams defensive front seven and other roster holes.
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In the first three days of free agency, Thompson lost out in his rare pursuit of a player who drew major interest on opening day, defensive end Chris Canty, and saw one of his players and a potential backup on the defensive line, Colin Cole, sign with another team.
Now, the Packers are looking at players who werent part of the opening-weekend free-agent frenzy, and thus might be had at more palatable prices.
The priority will be trying to augment the defensive front seven with potential starters or backups in the teams switch to the 3-4 defense.
Among the possibilities are possible 3-4 defensive ends such as San Diegos Igor Olshansky, Houstons Anthony Weaver, New Englands Mike Wright, Tampa Bays Kevin Carter, Baltimores Marques Douglas, Oaklands William Joseph, and Vonnie Holliday, who was cut by Miami on Monday.
The Packers also are in the market for a competent backup to Ryan Pickett at nose tackle. Their best candidate on their roster is Johnny Jolly, who is in the running to start at defensive end. The list of free agents who could fit that role is short but includes Atlantas Grady Jackson, San Franciscos Ron Fields and Dallas Tank Johnson.
Thompson and his scouting staff will need a keen eye to target the right players for help.
Who's available at DE
Olshansky (6-foot-6, 309 pounds) probably will draw the most interest of the group because hes young (26) and a former second-round draft pick, but hes coming off a poor season and that raises a red flag.
Weaver (6-3, 286) received a $12.5 million bonus to sign with Houston in 2006 but was a bust playing in the Texans 4-3 scheme after playing three of his first four seasons in Baltimores 3-4.
Carter (6-6, 305) is old at 35 but played surprisingly well last season and never has missed a game in his 14-year NFL career.
Douglas (6-2, 292) and Wright (6-4, 295) were part-time players in the 3-4 last season.
Joseph (6-5, 310) is a former first-round draft pick who has been a major underachiever but has the prototypical build for a 3-4 end, a position hes never played.
Holliday (6-5, 285) played in 66 games for the Packers from 1998 to 2002. He was Green Bay's first-round draft choice in 1998, the 19th player chosen in that draft. He had 46 tackles and 3 sacks for Miami last season and was strong against the run.
Who's available at NT
At nose tackle, Jackson still has surprising ability for short spurts and played in 15 of 16 games last season but at 36 and 380-plus pounds would be a major injury risk. He played in 34 games for the Packers from 2003 to 2005.
Fields, who has been a backup his four years in the NFL, already has drawn interest from Denver and St. Louis.
Johnsons performance in Dallas 3-4 defense last season suggests hes a questionable fit as a nose tackle.
Thompson was looking to fill a starting spot at defensive end with his pursuit of Canty, who signed a six-year deal with the New York Giants worth $42 million, including $17.25 million in guaranteed money.
The Packers tried to re-sign Cole before free agency as a backup nose tackle and defensive end, but he went to the open market and signed a five-year contract with Seattle worth $21.5 million, including $6 million guaranteed.
2 Packers players look elsewhere
The Packers also have two other free agents who have drawn interest from other teams, defensive end Michael Montgomery and fullback John Kuhn.
Montgomery will visit the Atlanta Falcons today in his first trip in free agency, according to his agent, Brian Overstreet.
Montgomery is a tweener for the Packers 3-4, but Overstreet said theyve expressed interest in re-signing his client. At 6-5 and 273 pounds, Montgomery has excellent height for a 3-4 defensive end but lacks bulk 3-4 teams want their ends to be at least 290 pounds and generally prefer 300- to 310-pounders. Hes not agile enough to play in space at outside linebacker in the 3-4.
The Packers appear to be waiting to gauge the market for Montgomery before deciding whether to try to re-sign him. Overstreet said he met with Packers officials at the NFL scouting combine in late February.
They have shown some interest in him playing in the 3-4, Overstreet said. But with this being his second deal, we want to make sure thats the best scenario for him.
Kuhn has drawn early interest as a restricted free agent and has visited the Arizona Cardinals, whose head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, and assistant head coach and running-game coordinator, Russ Grimm, were offensive assistants with the Pittsburgh Steelers when Kuhn played there. Kuhn was on the Steelers practice squad in late 2005, and was with them all of 2006, including the final nine games on the 53-man roster.
The Packers claimed Kuhn off waivers at the end of training camp in 2007, and hes shared the fullback job with Korey Hall and been a special-teams regular the last two seasons.
Kuhn visited the Cardinals on Sunday and Monday. A source said Kansas City also has interest in him.
The Packers gave Kuhn the low restricted free-agent tender of $1.01 million just before the start of free agency. That gives them the right to match a contract he signs with another team or receive a draft pick in the round he was selected as compensation. However, because Kuhn entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie in 2005, the Packers wont receive any compensation if they dont match.
Kuhns agent, Kevin Gold, said Arizona appears interested enough to offer a contract. The deadline to sign another teams restricted free agent is April 17, and the team holding the players rights then has one week after the signing to match the deal.
I havent heard anything yet, Gold said Monday, but theyve kind of wined him and dined him, so I assume (a contract offer) might follow. Again, theres a time frame and they have up until a week of the draft for this to happen. John loves it where he is, but on the other hand this is part of the process.