Pro Football Focus's List Of The Top 50 Free Agents

by Brandon on Feb 14, 2012 4:00 PM CST in Green Bay Packers Free Agency

PFF's Top 50 Free Agents | ProFootballFocus.com. It seems like most unrestricted free agents who leave for another team turn out to be a high priced flop, so I'm glad that there aren't even a lot of tempting options out there for the Green Bay Packers. Matt Flynn will be playing elsewhere in 2012, but otherwise the best course of action might be to just re-sign their own free agents anyway.

The Packers could really use a pass rusher, but the best ones are defensive ends like Mario Williams, Robert Mathis, John Abraham, and Cliff Avril. And they're all better suited for a 4-3 defense rather than the Packers 3-4 scheme that relies heavily on their linebackers. Maybe Williams is the exception, he played well as a 3-4 LB for the Texans before a torn pectoral muscle, but the Packers don't have the cap space to make a serious run for him.

I don't exactly know how they did it, but some teams have an insane amount of cap space. The Chiefs and the Buccaneers are $60 million under the salary cap. I don't know why they wouldn't each target one of the top available free agents and make an immediate upgrade. Though the Chiefs might spend a lot of money if they just re-sign their top two free agents: CB Brandon Carr and WR Dwayne Bowe.

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I don't buy that Matt Flynn is the 12th best free agent. How could he possibly be,

with the inflated worth of QBs in this league? Not to mention that he looks like a franchise QB.

...BRANDONJENNINGSSUX!!!

by TwoShoesMcGooze on Feb 14, 2012 4:31 PM CST reply actions

Flynn has been all over the place

I"ve seen him listed as the best free agent, the 12th, and even down into the 30s. And that probably has a lot to do with how little game film is available on him. But Vince Verhei made a great point: mediocre QBs are never as good as Flynn was against the Lions. He’ll be a good quarterback for someone, and he’s got the potential to be a Pro Bowl caliber player.

by Brandon on Feb 15, 2012 12:49 AM CST up reply actions

The Bucs have a ridiculous amount of cap room

because the Glazers’ are loathe to hand out huge contracts. It hasn’t always worked out for them, either. The Bucs were 7-9 a year after winning the SB in 2003, 5-11 in 2004, 4-12 in 2006, 3-13 in 2009, and 4-12 in 2011.

Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
Yes, I am on twitter. If you have to ask, you're streets behind.

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Feb 14, 2012 10:45 PM CST reply actions

And they've drafted bad

The guys they drafted in 2005-2008 are the guys they should have been re-signing for big bucks. Players drafted in those years by the Packers who are getting paid a lot are Rodgers, Collins, Hawk, Jennings, Nelson, Sitton to name a few. For the Buccaneers, they spent too much money to re-sign Davin Joseph last year, and that’s it. Arguably the best player they drafted during that time was Barrett Rudd, and he just finished up a one-year deal with the Titans.

by Brandon on Feb 15, 2012 1:01 AM CST up reply actions

I think that Davin Joseph signing was to reach the salary floor, if I recall correctly.

13.

"Skip, once again, stop it; Be an analyst; don't be a douchebag."

by Wiedmann on Feb 15, 2012 1:53 AM CST up reply actions

They'd have re-signed Michael Clayton to 0$ if they were allowed to.

It’s kind of ridiculous just how bad they are when it comes to keeping impact players. Their contract situation in 2004-05 was terrible because of some enormous $$$ they had handed out in 2003 after winning the SB.

Author at Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog, and Editor at BT Powerhouse, a Big Ten Basketball blog
Yes, I am on twitter. If you have to ask, you're streets behind.

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Feb 16, 2012 11:44 AM CST up reply actions

"ridiculous amount of cap room "

How close are they to the [new] salary floor?

"Perfection is not attainable,
but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence!"

After further review,
The Munsters of the Midway still suck,
Skol is a four-letter word,
abd those upstarts in Detroit couldn't beat the Little Sisters of the Poor.

by NorthStarr on Feb 17, 2012 1:40 AM CST up reply actions

Ahmad Brooks or Manny Lawson

I wouldn’t mind signing one of these guys, but I’m not holding my breath on it. It’d be nice as we can focus more on DE and the Secondary, but I trust TT will make the right decision as he usually does.

One game at a time...

by Jabooty on Feb 15, 2012 7:39 AM CST reply actions 1 recs