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this article should be very popular with the "sky is falling" crowd:
link to full article.
link to full article.
personally, i think this article is a little overly pessimistic.
link to full article.
Don’t let one splashy signing — tight end Martellus Bennett — fool you, the Green Bay Packers haven’t improved themselves since the NFL’s free agent feeding frenzy began a month ago.
For sure, the Packers did get some things done in free agency.
Despite losing Jared Cook, they got better at tight end by signing Bennett and Lance Kendricks. They also acquired some solid veteran depth by signing defensive lineman Ricky Jean Francois and cornerback Davon House.
Closer to home, they retained outside linebacker Nick Perry, though at $59 million for five years it wasn’t cheap. They also kept guard Don Barclay, halfback Christine Michael and outside linebacker Jayrone Elliott as insurance policies.
Every one of those moves was worth making. However, they weren’t enough to make Green Bay a winner in the first month of the offseason. In fact, the Packers are nowhere near as good right now as they were when the season ended. At this point in the process, the incoming talent hasn’t matched the outgoing talent.
The Packers did manage to offset the loss of Cook and did roughly the same with departed slot cornerback Micah Hyde when they brought back House after two years in Jacksonville. But they have done little to replace the other free agents they lost: guard T.J. Lang, center JC Tretter, halfback Eddie Lacy and outside linebackers Julius Peppers and Datone Jones. Nor have they replaced No. 1 cornerback Sam Shields and backup halfback James Starks, both of whom were released due to injury concerns.
With free agency slowing to a crawl and the attention turning to the upcoming draft, it’s time to take stock of what the Packers still need to acquire if they hope to improve a team that reached the NFC Championship Game before crumbling under the weight of a substandard defense.
As it stands now, the Packers have four gaping holes in an otherwise solid roster. They need a workhorse, between-the-tackles halfback to replace Lacy, a physical right guard to replace Lang, an explosive edge pass rusher to replace Peppers and a shutdown cornerback to replace Shields. They don’t need roster-fillers at those positions, either. They need difference-makers.
Currently, there is no one on the roster to adequately fill any of those needs. And what remains on the free agent market isn’t likely to help, even if general manager Ted Thompson is inclined to dabble even more in free agency.
That leaves the draft, where the Packers own their seven picks in addition to a fifth-round compensatory pick. As usual, they will select late in every round, which only adds to their degree of difficulty on draft day.
Here’s the problem: The chances of the Packers filling four major holes in one draft with immediate-impact players aren’t good. In fact, they’re just this side of impossible.
Even if the draft were to break just right at those positions, Thompson would still have to pick the right guys. His drafting record is good, but it’s not that good.
link to full article.
personally, i think this article is a little overly pessimistic.