Franks and Beans

In a rather surprising move, IMO, the Packers slapped the "transition" tag on Bubba Franks, not a literal slap of course, the man is 6-6 265 lbs and would return the favor with some serious slapping of his own. Basically, this means that the Packers have to pay Franks $2.095M for next season. This also means that should a team try and sign Franks, the Packers have the option of matching the offer, or letting him go. The Packers are wanting to do a long-term deal and are using this tag as a way to buy some time to accomplish this. Now, I know that he's a great fit for the offense, but given the Packers' defensive issues, is this really the right move? I don't like this move, but at least they did not throw the franchise tag on him. I would have driven to Green Bay and done some slapping of my own if they had.

Looks like the Packers are going to go bargain shopping on defense and get the role players a la NE. This also means that the draft is going to filled with defensive players by the Packers. One has to figure that Thompson had a real long talk with both Sherman and Bates prior to making this decision. I believe that Thompson has to have a lot of faith that Bates' defensive scheme will solve a good portion of the team's defensive issues. That or Sherman has naked pictures of Thompson and is using them to make sure he keeps his offensive talent.

ESPN recently released their rankings of all professional teams as voted on by the fans. In short, the Packers were #8 overall (#5 in the NFL), the Brewers were #45 overall (#13 in the MLB) and the Bucks were #51 overall (#17 in the NBA). Good numbers by all.