Packers Game Changing Moves: Player and Coaches Retention

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I'm a big fan of good teams that keep their roster and coaching staffs intact. In a general sense, the players and the coaches that don't have to spend a lot of time learning a new scheme can instead work on making a good team better. 

At the beginning of 2009, the Packers made a big move by hiring Dom Capers to change to a 3-4 defense. I've read repeatedly that the OTA practices have gone smoother for the defensive players this year because they don't have to learn a new defense. The only coaching change made in 2010 was a minor shuffling on the special teams. The offense and defense were great last season, and instead of scrapping them both they can focus on fixing what went wrong with the pass defense in late season games at Pittsburgh and Arizona, and give the players another chance in 2010.

Speaking of the players, 87% of the guys that ended last season with the Packers are still with the team. According to Mike Sando of ESPN, that's the 4th highest retention rate in the NFL. This is another non-move that makes a lot of sense: keep the same quality players you had last season. There has been one major departure this season, and there's certain to be some training camp battles on the horizon from the 22 rookies currently on the 80-man roster, so it won't be completely static. But one of the youngest rosters in the NFL won't be getting that much older. And that's good considering the promise the team showed last season. 

There are still a couple hurdles to overcome, they need to beat the Vikings and take control of the NFC North, but it's better they gave the same guys another chance instead of blowing up the roster.