The Green Bay Packers and the rest of the NFL are now into week two of free agency, and most of the top players on the market have been scooped up. There are only a handful of cornerbacks left unsigned at this point, and with the Packers needing help in the secondary, that group appears to be in short supply.
In fact, among the Top 100 Free Agents list from SB Nation, 16 players are cornerbacks but just four have yet to sign a contract: E.J. Gaines (formerly of the Buffalo Bills), Bashaud Breeland (Washington), and Justin Bethel and Tramon Williams (Arizona Cardinals).
To be fair to general manager Brian Gutekunst and company, they have been expressing interest in several of the top options at the position; they were connected to players like Trumaine Johnson, Bashaud Breeland, and Rashaan Melvin. Furthermore, they sign the Bears’ Kyle Fuller to an offer sheet, but under the terms of the transition tag Chicago was able to match.
The effort is there; now it is up to Gutekunst and company to refocus on the next tier of cornerbacks and to perform some serious scouting on rookies in the 2018 NFL Draft class.
Through the Lens: Getting up close with long glass | Packers.com
Any photographers among our readership should appreciate this feature by Packers team photographer Evan Siegel. This edition features his work with telephoto (aka high-zoom) lenses.
Did Packers make it too easy for Bears to keep Kyle Fuller? | Packers Wire
The Bears had five days to decide whether or not to match the Packers' offer for Kyle Fuller. It only took them about two hours, largely because the deal the Packers struck with the transition tagged cornerback wasn't very challenging for the Bears to absorb. With that said, it would have been a tall task for the Packers to make it so, since the Bears have significantly more cap space than they do.
Jordy Nelson shares fate of other top Packers WRs | Packersnews.com
Many of the Packers’ other leading men at the wideout position — including two of Nelson’s former teammates — had relatively unceremonious ends with the team. The Packers cut other great players like Antonio Freeman and Carroll Dale, and they let Greg Jennings and James Jones walk in free agency with minimal effort made to keep them.
NFL free agency 2018: 8 moves that changed this year’s draft - SBNation.com
Not surprisingly, the Packers' struggles to address the secondary are listed as one of the biggest issues that face teams in the upcoming draft.
Raiders trade WR Cordarrelle Patterson to Patriots - NFL.com
Patterson is headed to New England, where he'll surely harness all the potential that he has exuded (and has failed to live up to) since entering the league with the Vikings.
Weight and Injuries | FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS
This is an interesting little study which finds that in general, the heaviest players at each position have a higher injury rate than their lighter counterparts.