Last season, the Packers’ offense was abysmal. The defense, on the contrary, stepped up. But, the combination of an offense incapable of scoring and a defense that kept allowing big plays resulted in another early playoff exit.
However, this offseason the team improved but failed to reinforce a weak link on its defense.
Green Bay Packers 2016 Off-Season
The return of Jordy Nelson will bring back what Green Bay’s offense was missing all year long: the big plays. Despite his physique (6’3, 217) Nelson has become one of, if not the best deep threat in the NFL. His teammates could not mask his absence, but his long-awaited return will be beneficial to the receiving corps, running game, and coincidentally the defense.
Remember that in his last season (2014), Nelson had career-highs in receptions (98), yards (1,519), and 13 touchdowns. Those are feasible numbers for him, after returning from a terrible knee injury.
Randall Cobb will return to full-time duties in the slot where he is at his best. In 2014, his last complete season in the slot, he had his best year as a pro posting a 91-1,287-12 season.
The position of outside wide receiver two will be decided in the coming months, but as of right now it is a battle between the enigmatic Davante Adams, and last year’s heartbreaking playoff loss hero, Jeff Janis.
Ty Montgomery can’t be overlooked, but he does not have a lot of production nor does he offer physical tools the other two don’t possess. Look for Montgomery to spend some time as returner, and slowly but surely work his way up to the receiving corps.
Last season was supposed to be Adams’ breakout year, but he whipped beneath the pressure. Therefore at this moment, Janis should enter the competition as the starter.
Both of them present the prototype body of a number 1 receiver, Adams (6’1, 215), Janis (6’3, 219), but will they be able to produce when defenses prepare for them? It should be easier since Nelson is back as wide receiver one, and Cobb will be a headache inside.
The tight end position will also have an interesting battle although Jared Cook is the starter. Cook is the first Packer tight end since Jermichael Finley that will force defenses to cover the middle of the field. Since his debut in the NFL, seven years ago, he has been all potential and little production, but he also played with a lackluster group of quarterbacks. This is the first time in his career he’ll have an elite signal caller.
If the Jared Cook experiment does not work out, Richard Rodgers gives the Packers a familiar target that knows the system, and has some chemistry with the quarterback.
Rodgers has pretty good hands, and could offer the Packers a lot on key downs, and in the red zone. In the red zone, he would give Rodgers another big-bodied target that can box out his way into the end zone.
Finally, Mike McCarthy made sure the world knew how he felt about Eddie Lacy coming to training camp fat and out of shape. However, Lacy and his workout partners have let Packer fans know that his offseason training was a success.
James Starks was resigned to a two-year, $6 million dollar contract on Friday, March 18, according to packersnews.com. Although Starks turned 30 in February, he does not have a lot of mileage on his body, as he was a rookie in 2010. He will once again be Lacy’s backup, and the combination of the two will form a strong 1-2 punch.
On the other side of the ball, the Packers had two major questions. They were: finding a replacement for B.J. Raji and a middle linebacker.
Mike McCarthy said the team needed to get bigger, which led to everyone thinking the Packers would use their first-round pick on a defensive linemen, especially considering how deep and talented this defensive linemen class is.
They used the 27th pick on Kenny Clark, a defensive tackle from UCLA. Clark had a solid career with the Bruins. Last season he earned both the Associated Press and coaches’ all-Pac 12 honors, and a third-team AP All American.
Scouts praised his strength, maturity, and his diversity saying to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, “he’s a natural nose tackle. He’s lighter but he’s strong. Excellent power to control the point of attack. He can play a 3-technique too.”
Green Bay reinforced its defensive line, however, they did not address their woes at middle linebacker. Clay Matthews played the position extremely well over the past year and a half, but he is a pass rusher first.
In the draft, Green Bay drafted an inside linebacker in the fourth round (131st overall). Blake Martinez from Stanford.
“Junior year I was really the run stuffer. This year they left it all up to me. I basically stayed in all nickel and dime,” said Martinez to the Journal-Sentinel. Unfortunately, scouts seem to say that although he is instinctive, he does not have a great upside.
The team also drafted Kyler Fackrell, an outside linebacker out of Utah State in the third round (88th overall). Scouts seemed to say that Fackrell plays both inside and outside. He is a tremendous pass rusher, but he has not been as dominant since he tore his ACL two years ago.
So, maybe the plan is to have Clay inside and Fackrell, Martinez and others fight for the outside linebacker spot.
I would have loved to see Ted Thompson sign a veteran inside linebacker like Karlos Dansby. According to ESPN’s Coley Harvey, Cincinnati signed Dansby to $ 2, 250, 000.
Thompson does not sign many veterans; but at this price Dansby is a bargain you simply can’t miss.
He would have been a much better option at inside linebacker for next season and allowed Clay Matthews to terrorize opposing quarterbacks on the outside.
Because Aaron Rodgers and company will be able to score against anybody, the Packers will have a chance, but I don’t think they did enough on defense to help the legendary quarterback win a second Lombardy trophy.
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