Here's what DE Aaron Kampman said on his departure from the Green Bay Packers, from Mike Vandermause at the Press-Gazette:
Kampman acknowledged that the Packers were going to make him a contract offer, but he wasn’t interested in staying in Green Bay.
"The better fit was down here," Kampman said. "The direction of that organization didn’t include me as much as it had in the past."
Usually when I hear about a better fit and a team's direction, I assume it's all about the money. I was willing to make an exception in Kampman's case because he was a poor fit for the 3-4, and he'll be better off playing end in a 4-3 defense. But after reading Andrew Brandt's column, I think it was all about the money:
Kampman’s deal is being reported as four years, $26M with $11M guaranteed, again virtually the same deal as Vanden Bosch with the Lions. This is a far cry from the one-year deal offered by the Packers before the start of free agency.
The Packers were crazy if they expected Kampman to accept a one-year contract. It's a good idea to sign a player coming off a major knee injury to a short-term deal, but it was obvious Kampman would certainly receive a multi-year deal from some team. They had a lot of free agents to resign, but this has basically become a choice of LB Brandon Chillar and his four-year contract over Kampman. Chillar is a good middle linebacker, but isn't exceptional at anything while Kampman is their best pass rusher. Unless Kampman is done, and the Packers knew better than the Jaguars, I don't like that trade at all.