Is Finley Right For the Packers?

franchise tag and then traded for a 2nd rounder. I really doubt they will bring him back next year, but they also will not let him walk away with nothing in return either.

but drop him (like so many of his passes lately)? I dunno about that… Let’s look at some other things the statline doesn’t say.

1. Finley is tough to defend. Like a lot of receiving tight ends capable of making big plays, Finley is a hard guy to put a body on and block out. Because of this, defenders have to be a little more circumspect when he’s out there and in this game one little step of hesitation will spring someone else. A lot of receivers have benefited from Finley’s presence for this reason.

2. A bad year does not make a bad player. Dallas Clark is tied for dropped passes with him (as someone pointed out to me elsewhere on this site). Should Indiana shuck him? Should Jacksonville ditch Marcedes Lewis because he hasn’t struck the right chemistry with Gabbert yet? He’s made some mistakes, but they’re correctible ones.

3. Know who else on the team drops a lot of passes but is still mustard? Donald Driver. What matters is performance when it counts, chemistry with the team and a willingness to not give up when you’re having a bad stretch. Driver hasn’t gotten the looks of seasons past, but when the team needs him, he shows up and has the kind of game he’s expected to have.

Jermichael ain’t going nowhere just yet. You’d have to make a damn compelling argument for that one to stick.

CUT FINLEY RABBLE RABBLE
CUT RODGERS RABBLE RABBLE

He clearly helps the team even when not getting many balls thrown his way. I’m not a fan of his attitude, but that is mainly from the whole Team Photo issue from the Super Bowl last year, for some reason that really pissed me off. I also really wish players would be like Rodgers and stay off Twitter during the season. I know he’s not the only player on the team that loves to tweat.

By reasonable I mean that he isn’t paid so much that it prevents other moves, but I don’t see TT and Co. doing that. If he does leave for some reason I’ll just remember that we won the Super Bowl without him last season and that things go on.

I wouldn’t want to ditch him yet. He can certainly be a dangerous weapon.

Someone far above me mentioned a sign-and-trade (Glenn’s Yank13), I’m not sure how that works in the NFL but if we can do it, I’m down. But I think we might have to use some money on a defensive player rather than Finley.

Not going to say Finley isn’t valuable or anything, but we did win the SB without him and he hasn’t been as much a factor this season as I expected. DJ Williams and Quarless are both waiting in the wings and Thompson finds TEs like squirrels find acorns. I’d rather spend a contract on a defensive player where we need help, rather than on offense where we won’t miss much besides a few spectacular catches where he splits the field down the seam (not many TEs can do that). Overall I don’t see our offense really missing a beat without Finley.

Long answer: YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

But format please, otherwise people may go…

But since I am a good dude…

It seems lots of people have been all of Finley lately and I don’t totally understand it. I know he hasn’t been as active in the offense but it’s no secret that Rodgers likes to spread the ball around. He also doesn’t throw it to someone when he thinks they’re covered (for the most part anyway it seems). From what I’ve seen Finley is very rarely not double teamed, and when teams play zone it seems like they tend to focus a lot of attention on him. A couple examples of this come to mind — the TD pass to Jennings against the Broncos where 3 defenders run to Finley and left Jennings wide open and the TD pass to Driver where the safety and underneath linebacker ran with Finley leaving Driver wide open.

He’s getting a ton of attention and Rodgers is taking advantage of it. It’s meant many single teams for Nelson and he has more than taken advantage of them. I can’t help but think that part of the offense being unstoppable this season is Finley’s return. I think Rodgers excellence is the main factor but having Finley back makes it hard for teams to slow down all our weapons.

On his hands — I’d still say they’re good. This is the first season he’s had problems with his catching. This is totally off memory and could be wrong but I think I recall Brandon posting a statistic from Football Outsiders about just reliable his hands had been (in 2009 and 2010).

And by the way, I think you make some valid points in your post. I don’t think it’s write to simply ignore what you had to say because you’re a new poster.

But it was mentioned that we could slap the Franchise Tag on Finley and trade him. Then we can build on our defense. It sounds good on paper. It really does. Our team will look similar to how it did last year. The only thing is our running game would be better, but our D would still have question marks. We don’t know if the rookies would pan out. Anyhow, our 2010 Offense was not unstoppable like it is this year. Several teams managed to slow down our offense, but thankfully, our team got hot at the right time. Do you really think we are going to have a run like that every season? Definitely not.

We all understand that Finley’s stats are down this year. For starters, Finley is still drawing a lot of attention from the defense. Teams are forced to keep him in check. That is one thing that is helping our WR’s. Our entire offense is different without Finley. Jennings will now go back to being double teamed, etc. So even though Finley is dropping some passes, he is making sure our WR’s are getting open. That alone is the biggest reason why we are undefeated despite our defensive failures.

Does Finley have a big head? IDK, maybe…Apparently it hasn’t been big enough to disrupt our locker room though, and it hasn’t been bad enough to give us even a single loss this year. Maybe if he was unmanagable or uncontrollable, I’d say trade him. However, that’s not the case. Like you said, don’t fix something what doesn’t need to be fixed. Our offense is perfect the way it is. If you take away one of the most vital weapons on our offense, the entire complexity of our offense is different. We should resign him at a fair salary that reflects upon his career in Green Bay. I don’t think Finley will be the highest paid TE in the league.

I certainly don’t want to discount what Finley brings to the team. He’s a matchup problem for other teams and the talent is clearly there. I am disappointed in him this year, I thought this was going to be the year he staked his claim as a top 3-4 guy in the league. He did manage to stay healthy though which is HUGE.

Clearly, Thompson at least must have been considering life without Finley with all the TEs drafted recently. I have hope that one or two of them will become solid contributors and maybe more but to lose Finley right now would be tough I think. Next year, I am sure Driver will be gone so that leaves an opening in the WR group. We don’t want to lose too many pieces in the same year. I think Finley is franchised this year and probably kept. Its another chance for him to prove his worth.

I don’t have an issue with Finley’s attitude. He’s got a WR mentality…that shouldn’t be shocking because that is basically what he is. He wants the ball, nothing too crazy there…I think the media (and all of us) probably made a bigger deal out of the request for more passes thrown his way than Finley did. As I recall, he went to the coach with the request, not the media. The fact that the story got out there likely wasn’t his doing…unless he has Bus Cook as his agent, then maybe it was him!

A few points here. First, with Finley’s less than remarkable season statistically, the Packers may be able to sign him to a three year deal that is favorable financially to the Packers; or at least a contract based on performance plateaus that Finley must reach to get the big coin. Finley would have demanded more last season, despite his injury, based on “potential.” This season serves as a reality check for Finley and his agent, especially with several other tight ends in the league racking up stats that Finley doesn’t approach. Make no mistake, though; TT recognizes the impact Finley has on defenses and will pay Finley accordingly.

Second, I attended a preseason practice at Nitschke Field. I watched a TE drill done right in front of us. Rodgers and Flynn throwing either 10-yard outs or ins to all TEs while the safeties guarded the TEs. No comparison at all between Finley and the other TEs. The safeties had no trouble reading the breaks of the backup TEs and quickly jumping to the TEs’ shoulders for tight coverage. Finley, however, came off the line like a wide receiver. Repetition after repetition, Finley came out of the break with a three yard cushion. He’s so much faster off the line, more fluid, with some shake and bake. On Finley’s last repetition, his move out of the break literally had the safety falling down in the opposite direction.

Finally, Finley’s impact on defenses was clearly visible during the second half of the Viking game. McCarthy repeatedly put Finley out wide by himself, and the Vikings countered with a DB with a safety shaded heavily to Finley’s side. Rodgers was effectively playing 10 on 9 football on the rest of the field. I haven’t seen MM post Finley wide by himself quite that much in any other game, but certainly defenses are shading a safety to Finley regardless of where he lines up. Dude’s a beast and should be signed again. You can’t turn down mismatches.