FanPost

2011 Packers : Version 1 the offence, special team

The two most pressing items that must be taken care of are the CBA, which none of us has any control of, then the Draft, and this is the fun part as we can all express our opinions and desires the least of which is to return as champions. First of all i am not even going to attempt to mock a draft and i will just try to reason out what may or may not happen as far as personal. The most obvious thing about the draft is that it is just an educated crap shoot with many players not living up to their billings although from what i understand this is a very deep draft and could lead to deals made to pick up more choices. After winning a Super Bowl it is only natural for other teams to be looking at talent that Green Bay may choose to part with and many teams over the years trade for players that are not a good fit for their teams and only enrich the reigning champion (think New England). Whether or not trades are made it is very important to hang on to what we have unless a move up is necessitated. Starting with the special teams, they were really not very special and are a glaring weakness, the only way to improve on this is to have superior athletes who are able to learn and practice the plan well, or perhaps its coaching, either way this is the area of greatest concern to me. The offence is as potent as any in the league but no doubt that two or three choices in the draft will focus on the offence. The receiver position is very well stocked, i am including Finley here, but there are concerns with Drivers age and the possible loss of Jones so look for possibly one or two picks here as it is a deep class and the Packers usually pick up the receivers in the middle rounds. I can really see Jeff Meahl out of Oregon going undrafted because of size/speed issues but he is a player, and ultimately that is what should be focussed on when building teams. Look for the tight end position to not add any players through the draft, only some free agent signings here. The running back situation is one that i think will do quite well just the way it is now. Green Bay is not a team that relies on the run heavily so investing in an early pick at that position brings very little value. Platooning Grant and Starks with the odd ouch of KUUUUUUUUHN will give the team just enough in this department to make the defenses respect the run. Brandon Jackson is a very good situational back blocking well on third downs and has good hands out of the backfield, although this man is not really starting material he does have a roll to play and plays it as well as any body else in the league, TT and McCarthy know this and build their teams this way. We may need to draft a quarterback though as Matt Flynn may be traded.This is one fine young man with an amazing attitude and i will miss him. Possibilities here are Christian Ponder and Colin Kapernick. I have these two rated the highest of the group which overall i consider to be average at best and realistically none of this quarterback class may not go until the second round. The offensive line was just kick ass this year, Clifton is the best LT in the league and Sitton should have been on the pro bowl roster, Bulaga really stepped up this year and will only get better. This is the most important unit of the team, look what happened last year to us when Clifton and Tauscher went down, look what happened to P Manning this year. The draft class this year at the tackle position is weak and overrated, wouldnt waste a second rounder on any one except for Carimi but i doubt he drops this far. With possibly five OT going in the first round i feel that they will all be reaches and will take a few years to develop and possibly flop. I fully expect Tauscher to be back as well as Clifton but for how many more years i dont know. TJ Lang is a fine player who showed what he can do when he stepped in for Clifton. Look for Green Bay to select 27 yr old Danny Watkins out of Baylor where he actually played Tackle but was at guard in the all star game and fared well there also. There will probably be another selection made for the line as well later on in the draft. Green Bay does not typically go for the hyped up lineman and instead grooms their own from latter selections and have done quite well at this for a long time, look for this trend to continue.

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