I really hope we keep him.

Letting Sitton go proved to not hurt very much while saving a good chunk of money. Though, with how long our QB likes to hold the ball, we need to maintain a strong line as best we can.

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I agree. We got lucky with letting Sitton go. We need to keep TJ.

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I'm starting to think we'll let him go. There have been a few articles about how we pass block. It's alleged it's borderline illegal. Presumably, the technique we teach makes it easier to keep rushers at bay. If we believe the technique is so solid we may just let him go believing we can just plug and play. Don Barclay is the evidence to the contrary but wouldn't be surprised if TJ isn't back.

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This will be a classic case of letting a player go one year too early rather than one year too late. It's probably the best decision in the long run.

TJ Lang is a warrior. I want him to retire as a Packer. As injury prone as our team is, we need quality players who will play through any type of injury at a high level. TJ Lang has done that for us. I'll be pissed if we let him go to a different team.

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It's kind of funny how the opinion of Lang has changed over the past few years. Not long ago he was considered the worst link on the OL.

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September 2011 Sitton was 25 and got a 5 year extension with new money at 33.75/8.9M Guaranteed [6.75 per]. In 2011 the cap was 120M, now 168M, which puts Sitton’s hypothetical 2017 adjusted salary at about 9.45M per. I think 9.45M represents the MAX Ted will pay for a pro bowl type durable young Guard with some upside remaining in 2017.

………………Sitton……………………….Lang
Year……Age……Snaps%........Age……..Snaps%
2012…...26……….100……….….25………..90.7
2013……27……….100…………..26………...97.4
2014……28……....94.8………….27………..90.2
2015……29…….…99.3……..…..28….…….90.0
2016……30….……72.6……..…..29…………72.7

Sitton’s 99.3% snaps in 2015 can only be described as super-human. Sitton didn’t take many practice snaps and his back and foot got treatment 24/7/365 during the season. Ted knew that Sitton’s snaps would have been in the low 80s or worse if he was an ordinary OLman human.

Sitton was cut for that Saturday morning incident; but I suspect if that same incident occurred in 2012, he wouldn’t have been cut [Like when RBs Lacy and Harris broke curfew; but only Harris got cut]. But, knowing Sitton was breaking down and was not going to be resigned; Taylor and Tretter [on Linsley’s return] were ready; and faced only 600K in dead cap; they knew Sitton could be cut without harming the team.

Bigby is right, Lang is a warrior, but so was/is Sitton and Lang only played one season at about 100%, something OLmen take huge pride in. GB’s Med/training staff right now is in the best position to determine how many and how well Lang’s next 2-3,000 snaps will be. Is it fluke injuries or is his body breaking down!

Seeing there’s hardly a guard playing well over 30 in the league; that no Guard I know of got a big contract at 30 [Except Sitton; but Pace is a dolt]; that the above chart projects badly on Lang’s future snaps; and that GB’s OLmen need to be built to go 19-20 games, not 16 or 12. I cant see Ted paying over 5Mper x3 or 5.5Mx2 for Lang with injury protections, nor should he. So it’s really out of his hands.

Oh, and if all Bears’ interior guys [Long, Grasu] are projected to fully recover I expect Whitehair to move to G and Sitton will take a paycut or be cut. Half of Sitton’s 4.6M that could be saved if he’s cut is guaranteed on March 11.

Another real possibility is that GB is happy with Flores, Patrick, Murphy and Spriggs and they don’t want Lang back at any price.

Great post Barfarn, love TJ the guy made the pro bowl on a broken foot but the smart move is to let him go. Spriggs is a second rd pick he has to play.

Spriggs is a T, although Kyle Murphy could move inside. Might even do him some good.

Far as I'm concerned, Tretter is both younger and more versatile. Make him a reasonable offer. Let the Bears overpay Lang.

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I think we need Lang. I just always hearken back to the day we lost both Whale and Rivera. Too much interior pressure! I don't think we can rely on Tretter given his injury history. Like him as a swing player, but don't want to pay him starter money.

You think the Packers were lucky? So, you think they just said see ya without knowing what they had in the pipe shoot? I am going to be one of those silly people who thinks the Packers are more well-thought with there decisions and I think they knew there wouldn't be a massive drop off.

I do think re-signing T.J. Lang would be a good thing. The line as individuals is not great, but together, and healthy, they form a helluva five-some.

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My gut is telling me TJ will probably be gone. I think they saw enough in Spriggs this year to want to get him on the field. And you want to bring in the young guy when you have him surrounded by veterans which we have. That would give Spriggs a few years to build his experience before Bulaga's contact expires.

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A player that has been all over the place in the first and second round of mock drafts is Forrest Lamp. I am wondering if we let Lang go would we consider selecting Lamp with our first pick and push Bulaga inside? I would hate to lose a quality RT to G, but would it make some sense as it would allow Spriggs to play and allow another top quality player to develop.

Or you could plug Lamp in at Guard from day 1 and have Bulaga and Spriggs battle for the starting RT spot.

Wow....when I said "lucky", I didn't mean the Packers were stupid, or didn't know what they were doing. I meant "lucky" in the way that it worked out for them and it didn't end up destroying their o- line, and thus, their season.
I KNOW that they know a hell of a lot more then I know as far as football personnel moves.

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Lang is probably my favorite OL guy. Least for personality etc ... Goes in and does his work.

I hope we keep him.

Bad news, Today Lang said he's going to test the water.
Good news, he said he's giving Ted last look.

Overall I think this bodes well for your wish Dulak; but it means GB is not super enthralled about Spriggs starting and/or the depth behind him.

If they didn't have confidence in Spriggs, they would probably already be talking with TJ. This would be a sign that they do have that faith in him that they are willing to risk losing Lang.

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Spriggs is in no way an option to replace TJ at guard. The best options the Packers have outside of not signing TJ is bringing Tretter back.
Kyle Murphy? Maybe.

I would like TJ back because I believe he is the veteran leader of this offensive line and that is needed. He has battled through numerous injuries to stay on the field which is rare to see today. However, his price tag will be high. Some of the guards getting extended are no where near TJ's abilities and are getting around $8.5/year right now.

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I think GB offered a good deal, 3 years at about 5M per maybe with a SB of 3-4M and some bonus for playing time. The only contending team with cap space and need is NE and Bill don’t sign no 30 YO guards. So some loser stupid team [EG Browns] might over pay enough for TJ to leave; but I doubt it. I think Lang will be back.

Here’s the basis of my reasoning:

Tardif just got 8.4M per; but he's 26 and ascending; no comparison to Lang.

Lang is a physical mess. He rebroke his foot in Atl game and just announced he had successful hip surgery [a scope] in addition to the bad shoulders and knees all 30 YO OLmen have. That’s kinda scary; who announces they just had a successful scope unless the problem was substantial or it was more than a scope. It was supposedly to correct a genetic problem. If GB don’t like his medicals they may have offered less than 5M per.

There are very few Guards over 29 in the league! It is expected that Lang probably will not play to end of a 3 year deal he signs now. Of the top 32 Gs being paid right now all are under 29 except: 2 are 30YO; 3 are 31YO; 1 is 32 YO; 1 is 33 YO. Of the next 96 guards, 3 are 31 YO, rest under 29. This is a young man's position, this is a favorite spot for GMs to save cap space by inserting a 1st contract player.

Here’s the guys who are about Lang’s age or older and got new contracts. All other 30 YO guys who signed contracts prior to 2016 are already expired or terminated! Yanda is a HOF type player; he is no comparison to Lang and he only only got 7.9M per. Sitton was a stupid overpay and he’ll be cut/forced paycut if Long and Grasu are considered healthy.

Name, year and age when contract signed, contract terms
Yanda 2016 31 4yr/31.9M/9MSB
Sitton 2016 30 3yr/21M/2M SB
Icognito 2016 32 3yr/15.7M/3.4SB
Beadles 2016 29 3yr/9.75M/1.75SB
Foster 2016 30 3yr/9.6M/2.7SB
Slauson 2016 30 2yr/3M/.6SB
Babre 2015 30 3yr/4.35K/.6SB
Urbik 2016 30 2yr/2.5M/.25SB

In 2016 Chester (33) signed a 1 yr deal with Atl. For 2.35M; and in 2015 he (32) got a 1 yr 2.8M deal.

In 2016 Mathis (35) signed a 1 yr 4M deal with AZ played 2 or 3 games; in 2015 he (34) signed a 1 yr 2.5M deal; At 31 YO he was signed by the Philly dream team to a 5 yr 25.5M deal [2017 Equivalent to 5 yr/ 35.7M or 7.14M per] and he didn’t finish last 2 years of his deal.

In 2016 Jahri Evans (32) signed a 1 yr 1M deal

In 2015 John Jerry (29) signed a 2 yr/3.3M/.8SB

Levitre signed a big deal at 27 and at 29 had his deal cut. There’s talk of the same happening to 29 YO Iupati.