Fucking 503 error ... again.
Steven Jackson is not even worth mentioning because he wanted to be a Falcon, or would retire. Regardless, he was NOT worth his contract to the Packers.
Osi Umenyiora played DE in a 4 -3 and I believe went to a team where he will again play in a 4 - 3 with the Falcons. Remember Aaron Kampman? He couldn't make the transition, I'm not saying he'd fail because Kampman, I'm just saying it's not as easy as plug and play.
Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool
I guess the point is, Alan Branch and Marcus Spears may have been huge signings before entering this draft. They both fit the scheme and were affordable. Adding those two players to our roster may have afforded us a bit more flexibility in this weekend's draft, with two bases covered. Clearly, we looked to Steven Jackson to be a weaker team than ATL, with less of a chance of winning the SB. Why?
We don't add marquee talent. We just don't. We draft and we draft, and we wait for some of these players to develop into marquee talent. The only players not named Rodgers and Matthews who have turned out to be so are just a handful. Jordy Nelson. Tramon Williams. Josh Sitton. Anybody else? I mean, a top player in the NFL at his position still with this team? Randall Cobb certainly has potential, as does Finley, Raji, Shields and Hayward. But they are not there yet, and for some, it has been many years with this team.
Brad Jones re-signing with GB is a potential-based signing. The guy did OK last season. He did not come close to burning the house down in any respect playing ILB. 2 sacks. 1 FF. 4 PDs. Measure him against our competition. How is re-signing him making us a better team, at nearly $4M per season? We could have added one of the aforementioned FAs, and paid half the salary of the other for that. This is where I think the "develop" part of the equation goes south. When we overpay, simply because we drafted them. Finley is another prime example.
I wish Draft & Develop = Performance & Reward, with more consistency. If we are not getting the performance from the players, but they are rewarded with outrageous salaries, that, to me, is a problem. It is no different from playing in FA on a high salary player and losing. Seems the percentages of hit vs. miss are very close, both in drafted players and in FA players.
We eliminate one avenue for adding talent to our team entirely, holding so close to draft & develop. And, I think that adversely affects how we draft, and our chances at -ultimate- success. We really blew it in 2011. I hope that doesn't happen again, and look for us to have an incredible draft over these next few days. We're going to need every bit of it.