Upgrading the Packers

Blake will get more than the Packers can pay.

Hopefully Ty Summers will take a second year step, just like Blake did. Maybe Burks will finally get up to speed.

At any rate, we can find a run stuffer. What we need is a guy who can cover. Maybe move Fackrell inside.
Fackrell is also a FA after this year. He is a guy I suspect Packers probably let walk as a FA With the Smith Bros and Gary I can't see the the team wanting to pay him a increased salary to be a backup LB.
 
I'd prefer us going to a 4-3. That's not the issue. I just don't see how people can assume that their leading tackler, who plays nearly every down on defense, and directs the defense, is worthless.

If we do go to a 4-3, I don't care what they do. I just know they aren't going to find a work horse like Blake has been for less than a million dollars a year. I also don't see anyone coming in the draft who would be effective the first year, and don't know who we'd be seeing coming to GB to play ILB in the 3-4 for less than a king's ransom.

I guess we'll all just have to believe what we want.

EDIT: I do agree on him being worthless in pass coverage. I don't see any of our backers doing it well. Could part of it be our system?

TW,

I never said he was worthless. I am just not going to pay him 8-10M per year when he cannot cover TEs or RBs and makes tackles 3-5 yards downfield. Great he makes a ton of tackles. How many of those tackles are tackles for a loss or two yards or less? Not very many. He is worth 3M to 4M but not 8 to 10M.
 
TW,

I never said he was worthless. I am just not going to pay him 8-10M per year when he cannot cover TEs or RBs and makes tackles 3-5 yards downfield. Great he makes a ton of tackles. How many of those tackles are tackles for a loss or two yards or less? Not very many. He is worth 3M to 4M but not 8 to 10M.

Not referencing your post, or anyone else's specifically. It just seems to me that when you upgrade a team, you concentrate on upgrading it in such a way as to create a better team across the board than focus on positions that are already adequately filled.

If you grade the players on defense, based on their positions, I'd bet Martinez will not be among the top 3 positions that need to be upgraded. His dependability factor alone (never misses a game, and plays nearly every snap), is an asset. Look at what's happening at the other inside position. That's what we need to consider.

I don't know what Martinez is worth based on the cap to be honest. But I do know that if they want to get him in the fold for another contract, they'd better do it while they still can this year, to insure he won't reach out for free agency, because I do believe he's going to get a semi-load of money to sign elsewhere.

In a scenario where he leaves, you now have to fill 2 positions. His and the other inside linebacker. I don't count on any of the guys we have in-house to be able to fill either role to be honest. Do we really have anyone else who won't spend more time in the tent ,or watching from the sideline, injured? If one of them can, why hasn't that person been used in a capacity to give Martinez a breather once in a while? Why do the coaches seem to think Blake needs to stay on the field for every snap?

If you think about it carefully, there's something there that the Packer coaching staff sees, or they would have been working on creating a replacement for him instead of giving him the reins midway through his first year in the league.

As far as blown tackles go, I keep thinking about how many he makes, and how he has to be pretty darned tired by the beginning of the 4th quarter. Why do the coaches keep him in there instead of giving him a rest?

There's too much going on that we don't know, even if we think we're knowledgeable enough to judge his level of play.

As far as an offer in a contract, I have no idea what the Packers will or should offer, even if they do. I do expect that if they wait until the off season, he's gone.
 
I don't hae faith in summers to even make the team. Guy was borderline on being cut before injuries hit the LB group hard late in TC.
He's got size to stuff the run and speed to cover. Only reason he dropped in the draft was injuries. Question on him was if his shoulders could hold up.

As rookies these guys all need a year of development. Blake certainly did.
 
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Good point on Summers. He has a 40 time of 4.51, while Martinez is 4.71. Summers listed at 240#, while Martinez is listed at 238#. Both are somewhere around 6-1 or 2.

If he does have the skill set needed, does he replace Martinez, or do they want them in tandem? A lot of questions surrounding the positions. Ty is still untested under true game conditions, during a season.
 
Summers has 3 tackles all year. Guy is nothing but a ST player. I can't see him going from guy who never played on defense to contributor right away. He's another developmental player who probably would have ended up on the PS had the team not need LB's. He won't have any kind of guarantee to make the roster again next year if the keep Martinez as Martinez, Burks, a likely FA/draft pick, and maybe even Bolton could all be ahead of him. Bolton was looking pretty good in TC until he suffered his injury.
 
Summers has 3 tackles all year. Guy is nothing but a ST player. I can't see him going from guy who never played on defense to contributor right away. He's another developmental player who probably would have ended up on the PS had the team not need LB's. He won't have any kind of guarantee to make the roster again next year if the keep Martinez as Martinez, Burks, a likely FA/draft pick, and maybe even Bolton could all be ahead of him. Bolton was looking pretty good in TC until he suffered his injury.
Martinez didn't set the world on fire as a rookie either. These guys all need a year at that position.

Except for Curtis Bolton.
 
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