Packers sign Big Bubba

Thank your lucky St. Vincents tonight before you go to bed folks.

Packers Plus is reporting that the Packers have reached a contractual agreement with TE Bubba Franks. The deal is believed to be worth $28 million over 7 years, which averages out to be close to what Bubba wanted in the first place.

Franks was able to force the Packers' hand as the tight ends who have been in camp have floundered for various reasons, including injuries and a severe lack of talent. Franks is expected to take part in the Packers' walk-through practice on Thursday in preparation for their preseason game Friday night. Franks may be ready for the final preseason game September 1, at Tennessee, as he has kept himself in great shape and actually dropped 10 pounds during the off-season.

Yours Truly on Sports Bloggers Live

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Plus, they'll actually schlep down to the common blogger and ask for their thoughts as evidenced by their most recent show. Yours truly was on SBL as a caller for their NFC North Preview segment. You should listen to the whole show, but if you only want to listen to the Packer-specific stuff; it comes on at about the 35 minute mark.

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Wow, that was bad.

Thoughts from the Packers-Bills game on Saturday:

Special(?) Teams:

Our not-so-Special teams were awful, giving up a number of big returns to the Bills. They forced our delapitated defense (that was missing FIVE starters) to play with their backs against the wall the entire first half.

The Defense:

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We looked like the crew that has been playing here the last couple of years...

We missed tackles, took the wrong angles, lacked penetration up the middle, couldn't get off blocks, and couldn't get off the field. Our specialty on defense seems to be shooting ourselves in foot, because we do it so frequently. When one guy steps up and makes a play another guy commits a penalty or misses an assignment.

We showed once again that all a team needs in order to beat our defense is a mobile quarterback. That's it. A running game and good wide receivers are simply gravy. We can't corral the Quarterback because IF WE DO HAVE A PASS RUSH, it's one guy--maybe two that's applying pressure. One reason the Bucs and Panthers do so well against Mike Vick is that the pocket closes in from all angles. All FOUR guys are there to keep him hemmed in. We just don't have that right now.

It's like going to a New York City ER on a Friday night. We are finding all kinds of ways to hurt ourselves.

On an individual basis...

Jason Horton is a pretender, not an NFL cornerback.

Ray Thompson played real well. He was all over the field and playing with a lot of fire.

I thought Paris Lenon played pretty well and had a great hit stuffing the rub.

The Packers need to get rid of Hannibal Navies right now. He's never going to get any better, he's taking snaps away from people who will, and his penalty that negated a safety was absolutely unforgivable.

Ahmad Carroll stinks. I understand that the Packers' coaches feel he's gotten better and has developed but that's only because he stunk so bad last year there was nowhere to go but up. He'll never be more than a serviceable nickel back in the NFL. And let's hope he only sees the field this year in the dime. Here's one thing you'll never hear in your life...Ahmad "The Blanket" Carroll. He's terrible and Mike Sherman should've never picked him...in any round.

Here's how I see the starting positions that are up for grabs panning out...

On offense, the guards will be Will Whitticker and, get this, Scott Wells.

On defense:

Safety

Earl little at SS and Nick Collins at Free

Cornerback

Injuries have hurt Joey Thomas' hopes of being the starter for the season opener. The Packers may have no other choice but to start with Ahmad Carroll as the other CB. Which means we can look forward to hearing a lot of these kinds of things...

"There are multiple fouls on the defense..." Illegal contact, number 28, that penalty is declined. Holding, defense number 28, that penalty is declined. Pass Interference, number 28, that penalty is accepted and will be enforced at the spot of the foul."

LB's

Ray Thompson at Will and Na'il Diggs at Sam will start. Along with Barnett in the middle, this is a crew that could get something done provided the DT's keep them clean.

Speaking of DT...

I think we have a couple guys who're playing better than the rest, but for the most part, it doesn't matter who we have at DT...NO ONE plays in the other team’s backfield. We just don't get good penetration often enough from the middle of our line.

Now IE Compatible

Even though Internet Explorer is only pulling about 88% of the "market share" for Internet browsers these days, we went ahead and made the Packer Podcast blog compatible with it.

So now you can get your Packer Podcast blog in Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer.

Please let us know if you're experiencing any trouble loading the page with your browser or if something just doesn't look right.

This site is best viewed with Firefox.

Until we can work out the bugs, we recommend that you view the site with Firefox from Mozilla.org. Internet Explorer simply doesn't load it correctly. It's just one more reason to switch to the Fox.

Actually, I'm pretty confident that you'll never look back once you experience the tabbed browsing, live RSS bookmarks, and the handy search box available in Firefox. Plus, it's much more secure than IE and there's a bunch of little extensions available for download that make Firefox the best browser available (by far!).

And it's free.

Oh, and you can import all your IE bookmarks/favorites by simply checking a box upon installation.

Packers release Arturo Freeman, activate Chris Johnson

The Green Bay Packers have released safety Arturo Freeman and activated cornerback Chris Johnson, according to Packers.com. Ted Thompson announced the moves today.

That's certainly interesting.

Someone on this planet thinks that Mark Roman isn't the worst safety in the league. Apparently, that someone is Jim Bates.

Fergy to Philly?

This was sent to me a couple hours ago from Jim, whose serving in the United States Navy, stationed in Jacksonville, Florida.

"The Philadelphia Eagles reportedly are looking to acquire a wide receiver by trade and there's little doubt that Robert Ferguson of the Green Bay Packers is someone they would be considering." "...Although the 25-year-old Ferguson is five years younger than Donald Driver, the Eagles surely would consider Driver as well. Trading Driver would mean less of a cap hit for the Packers at $533,000 but also would bring higher compensation."

--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Ferguson could be of interest to Eagles
By BOB McGINN

What do you think? Should the Pack let Fergy go for some picks or immediate help on defense? How about Driver? Personally, I think Driver is just too valuable to let go at this point. But Fergy...?

Pack v. Bolts Pregame Post

Finally, gameday has arrived again. The Packers square-off against the San Diego Chargers tonight at Lambeau Field.

The biggest news coming out of San Diego is how many players aren't coming out of San Diego with the team.

Chargers' Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer announced that seven players, including starting linebackers Donnie Edwards and Ben Leber, as well as linebacker/defensive end Shawne Merriman, will not accompany the team to Green Bay.

Preseason games are pretty worthless, though, but at least it's 100% live. Well, it's at least live. I'm not sure how many established first team NFL players bust their humps in the first preseason game. I'm certainly not saying that they dog it, but I don't see the sense of urgency present during the regular season and playoffs. Nor would I expect to. If we gain a little crispness each week and avoid serious injury--that's a great preseason outing.

We really have to take note of individual performances during the preseason. This seems so foreign because football is the ultimate team game. It's hard not to analyze the defense as a whole. For example, after last week's scrimmage, most people thought, myself included, the defense's 2nd unit was an absolute sieve. While that was very accurate, the plain truth is that if all those guys actually ended up playing together, then something has gone horribly wrong. So who cares how the 1's or the 2's or the defense or even the defensive line looks? We need to find guys that can play.

One of those guys certainly appears to CB Mike Hawkins. Wow! What an instinctive athlete. I don't know what the Packers are paying Alonzo Highsmith, their scout that found Hawkins and insisted that they draft him, but it's not enough. Of course the biggest concern about Hawkins is durability. There's guys who play four years of college ball and hit the wall 3/4 of the way through their rookie NFL season. Hawkins played 5 college football games and some arena football. Plus, he only weighs 180 pounds. That's a huge concern. The Packers gave Craig Newsome some practices off during his rookie season to help keep him fresh. Hopefully, we can do the same here. Is he stout enough or will he just get flung to the side by big, strong receivers?

Another player who we want to keep our eye on is LB Roy Manning. He seems to have a nose for the ball and runs to it well. He also figures to get more reps with Na'il Diggs knee injury (thank goodness that Diggs stands a good chance of being back for the season opener).

Some other players I'm anxious to see...

LB 55 Ray Thompson: Is he going to make plays or just be a fast guy running around the field?

TE 87 David Martin: Can he take advantage of the incredible opportunity before him?

DT 95 Donnell Washington: How is a guy with his measurables third on the depth chart? Can he play with a sense of urgency?

RG 79 Will Whitticker: He's worked with the 1's some this week as he's starting to get a grasp of the offense. He's a mountain at 6-5, 338 ponds. The coaches say he's pretty agile for a guy that size. He'll have to be to play guard. Can he pull it all together at once and fill one of the huge holes we have at guard?

DT 90 Colin Cole and 99 Corey Williams: Can these two guys build on the performance they had last week and provide the Packers with solid depth at DT and position themselves to take over as starters should Grady and Cletidus not see the light?

Of course none of these questions will be answered in just one preseason game, but we can start to look for those answers tonight.

The game will be televised on ESPN. Kickoff is 7:00PM, Lombardi Time.

Not-so-Sterling, even less Sharpe

Not-So-Sterling:
Listening to Sterling Sharpe ramble on about J.P. Losman's "physical mistakes" and "mental mistakes" was nauseating. So much so, I think it even got to Sterling himself.

On the Bills second possession, Losman was flushed from the pocket by Corey Williams and he scrambled for a gain of a couple yards. Not-So-Sterling remarked that Losman's decision to run instead of pass to a wide-open Josh Reed (who had broken off his route to come back to his QB) as "another physical mistake." Now, I don't know what it's like on Planet Sharpe, but here on Earth when someone makes the wrong decision in a football game, it's a mental mistake.

How is deciding to run with the ball instead of looking downfield for an open receiver a physical mistake? Did Losman overthrow a receiver, mishandle the ball, or use improper technique? No, of course not. Losman just decided to run instead of pass. If it was a mistake at all, it was a mental mistake.

Even Less Sharpe:
How in the world could Mr. Good-For-One-Dropped-Ball-Per-Game himself call Ben Steele's full-out, diving touchdown reception as "routine"? After the touchdown catch, The Ostentatious One said, "He made it tough. He made a real routine catch look real tough."

What?!?

Ya know Sterling, they have this thing called instant replay up in the booth so when you're thinking about how unbelievably great you were when you should've been watching the game, you can see what you missed before you open your mouth.

Packers 2005 beta version 0.9, fails public release

Thank your lucky St. Vincents that Friday night was just a scrimmage. The Packers were sorry on offense and defense. We turned Family Night into Fright Night.

Please allow the women and children to exit the stadium first.

The biggest question on everyone's mind was, "Is the defense going to be any better?" The short answer to that is, "Not so much."

J.P. Losman had time to go through his progressions and find the open receiver. The Packers' first unit also allowed the Bills to convert third downs (and second and long) into first downs on their first possession. However, the Bills were stopped at the Packers 37 on a third and 6. Buffalo had exhausted all 9 of its plays for that possession, so ball automatically went over to the Packers. We should get other teams to play by these rules in the regular season.

But I don't think it's fair to judge strictly on results in this first taste of "live" action. I'm encouraged that the defense showed better fundamentals especially in the area of tackling. Packer defenders consistently wrapped up and put the ball carrier on the turf. I don't recall any big plays or first downs converted as a result of a missed tackle. So after the first live action of the season, we're back to where Ed Donnatel had us. No pass rush and good enough to get to third down but not fourth down.

I'll take it for now. Last year, Bob Slowik's defense wasn't even good enough to get to third down (see Colts, Eagles, and Christmas Eve Vikings games).

Individuals who I thought helped themselves were Colin Cole, Corey Williams, Roy Manning, and Mike Hawkins.

Established players I thought played well were KGB and Na'il Diggs.

The offense sputtered and was largely ineffective against the Bills' blitzing defense, which was to be somewhat expected as the line is still trying to find itself. I was pretty surprised that the Bills were blitzing as much as they were and from as many places as they were. A meaningless scrimmage seems like a strange time to give everyone a little preview of your scheme. Since it was a charged event, scouts from other NFL teams could attend the scrimmage. Oh well, it ought to help the offense amp up its level of preparedness for the preseason games, having already witnessed firsthand a bevy of blitzes.

Favre: "I cheated myself."

Fox Sports has an interesting article online that quotes Brett Favre as saying, "I felt like the last two or three years I cheated myself," when referring to his off-season conditioning. Thus, the reason he worked with a personal trainer this off-season.

Packer Podcast for Aug 2, 2005

Click on the title above to listen to this week's Packer Podcast.

Packers Sign TE

Yesterday, the Packers signed another tight end not named Bubba Franks.

This one is named Tory Humphrey. The 6-foot-2, 257-pound rookie played his college ball for Central Michigan. Humphrey originally signed (non-drafted FA) with Indianapolis April 29. However, the Colts waived him June 14.

Humphrey is listed fifth on the depth chart, behind four other unheard of guys (not counting Big Bubba).

Unfortunately for the Packers, Bubba wants more than what the market says he's worth. Hopefully, we can strike a compromise with him, because we have not done a very good job of building any depth behind him.

Bubba Franks is a dependable, hard working, team-first, high-character, great blocking, and good pass-receiving tight end. However, if that were the bench-mark for guys to pull down 4.5 million per year, even the NFL would have a hard time paying them all.

Packer fans love Bubba Franks and for good reason; however, he's not worth 4.5 million per year. The market has stated that quite clearly this summer. If he was worth it, a team would have signed him for that already. Just for the record, I don't buy any of this bunk I keep hearing about the transition tag scaring teams away from signing players. That's just an excuse floated by agents.

If another team signed him and the Packers didn't want to match it, the Packers wouldn't have received SQUAT from the new team except a big whole at TE. Fortunately (or not), we have a few restricted free agency examples to provide us the proof that the transition tag stigma is pure myth. Consider: Where was this FEAR that the Packers would match the offer when the Lions, Eagles, and Vikings signed Na'il Diggs, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, and Aaron Kampman, respectively? Where is it written that other teams are AFRAID that their offer will get matched? SO WHAT if the original team matches your offer? Are you any worse off than you were before you signed the player? NO.

Sometimes I think that sports columnists, reporters, anchors, and--especially--agents actually think sports fans are all a bunch of mind-less drones from the Macintosh 1984 commercial.

The bottom line is that if Bubba were worth 4.5 mill as an UNRESTRICTED free agent--he'd get it.

The other bottom line is if we don't get him signed in time to contribute real soon, we'll be in a world of hurt with the cast that's occupying the TE position now. I hope Ted and Andrew loosen the purse strings a little to reward the man for his talent and hard work but not for considerably more than he's worth.

Defensive Fire

Everything I'm reading about the defense says that they're with more fire and less confusion. What stands out to me is the fact that they're actually making plays--tipping balls, picking off passes, forcing fumbles, etc.

Nick Barnett is evolving from a middle linebacker to a team leader. Hopefully, he doesn't bring back that stupid dance every time he makes a tackle. Nick Collins is a stud, and it's only a matter of time before he takes over one of the safety positions. Ahmad Carroll and Cletidus Hunt even earned some praise from the coaches.

It's too early to tell, but I think our defense will be much better this year. I'm going to step out on the limb and say that the Packers D finishes in the top 15 in the league.

Favre: In His Own Words

If you haven't caught the hour-long special on the NFL Network, In Their Own Words: Brett Favre, it's a great way to spend a couple of hours (you'll watch it twice and want to to watch it a third time). If you don't have the NFL Network (ya, right!), then you can check out NFL.com for an eight minute clip of the show.

I'm not sure how long it will be available, so this link could be broken soon.

Why Can't I Get My Stocks To Do This?

Thanks to all of you who have subscribed to the Packer Podcast. It is growing quickly as is my desire to do these podcasts more often. I'm putting one together now.

The Kid is in Camp

Aaron Rodgers was in camp on Sunday, having agreed on a 5-year deal with the Packers. The deal is backloaded with incentives as to coincide with when he could become the Packers' starting quarterback.

As for his Sunday workout, he reportedly looked sharper than he did in the June minicamp, which is encouraging.

Rich Campbell, the most recent quarterback the Packers selected in the first round, looked overwhelmed the moment he got off the plane back in 1981.