Talib was traded for a 7th round pick, very low risk for the pats, after repeated legal issues. Not really a comparable situation.

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Aqib Talib is a free agent after this season.

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Sign Freeman,

Trade him for Byrd...


WIN!

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That and he wasn't looking to be the highest paid player at his position

IR ILB Francois (if he has a Torn achilles)

Sign TE Stoneburner to the 53 man roster.

And trade TE Finley to the Bills for S Byrd.



Not saying they should do that, just saying it's possible.

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I still can't understand why people seem to underrate Finley's importance to this team.

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Finley doesn't fit the image of "Packer People" to some of these guys.

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What does Davon House have to do with it? He's a Corner and Byrd a Safety.

If we got the guy, he would be basically a hired gun for the remainder of the season, then a free agent. Therefore, he isn't worth more than a mid-round pick at most. I'd do that, but I'm fairly sure Ted Thompson won't.

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Finley is important. But so would an amazing FS letting Burnett be amazing at SS again.

I just threw Finley out there because he's in his contract year just like Byrd is, and I didn't think Packers linemen in their final year would get the Bills interest enough. Though maybe WR Jones would. But he's also important as well. And with Matthews getting banged up / injuryed, Neal might be playing even more at OLB and other DL might be filling his shoes more on the DL.

Just throwing out an idea where it could be player for player.

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I'm just saying that trading or obtaining a player whose contract expires after the present season doesn't mean they player will walk away. If an organization wants to keep the player they obtained, they are very likely able to do so. That shouldn't be a huge factor in obtaining a player, imo.

Talib may be a free agent after this season, but he was resigned to another year contract after playing out the season he was traded. The Patriots could have signed him longer if they wanted, I'm sure. That was their choice. He's playing well lately, so he's probably going to get another contract from the Patriots, or get a nice deal in free agency. Moreover, he has some legal/character issues that brought down his value some. I think the Pats took a calculated risk with him and faced very little consequence in doing so. I sometimes wish the Packers could find similar risks to take.

The main point is, sometimes risks pay off and really help a football team. If no risks are ever taken, then the payoff from them will never come. It's debatable if the rewards actually out-gain the risks, but it's certainly worth considering. I'm sure Ted Thompson does consider all the risks, but I do think he can be a bit too conservative at times.

Again, I'm not using the Talib situation as a foundation to pursue any other player, but I just don't think a contract expiring after the present season is that big of a deal. If there was significant concerns about such, then it should come up during the investigation by trained eyes and the deal would never happen.

EDIT: Besides, how many players out there wouldn't want fair market value to play for the Green Bay Packers? I think many players out there would be happy to be in that situation, and the ones that wouldn't be shouldn't be heavily pursued in the first place.