I know I'm way late with this, but I've been a bit busy lately (yeah yeah boo hoo and all that). However, I figured that it was time I chimed in on the Ahman Green signing with Texas for 4 yrs and $23 million.
First off, I am sad to see him go. I was hoping he could retire as a Packer as I really like the guy, but that is not to be.
However, there is no need to panic Packer friends. None.
To rationalize this, one must look at some of the facts.
Green is over 30 years old and statistically, RB's start getting worse once they hit this age. It's been proven. Put this together with a RB with a good amount of milage on him already and still recovering from a major injury and one should not break the bank for the guy.
Houston's offer was quite good given this scenario. TT did the right thing by not trying to outbid for his services. No need to gamble that much money on a question mark of a player.
Under the zone blocking system, one does not need a superstar back. Denver has proven this year after year. You find the backs that already have good vision and make the one difinitive cut to make the yardage happen. In other words, this system can make a mediocre back look very good (big cap savings here). Plenty of these backs in the draft as well.
The Packers already have a good back for this system in Vernand Morency. He showed last season that he has the abilities to run in this type of offense. Morency had to learn this on the fly last year and with a year under his belt and a likely improved OL, he'll succeed just fine and I don't see a reason why he cannot have a 1000 yd+ season next year. There's no need to reinvent the RB wheel here by getting a big name FA and then drafting a RB as many are advocating.
I'm not saying we should pass on a RB like Marshawn Lynch should he be available to us in the draft, but I'd rather TT uses his money to get us a pass-catching TE and a safety that doesn't forget he's supposed to STOP receivers from catching the ball. Those positions need far more help than RB does right now.
2 comments:
What about Noah Herron? Hasn't he produced when called upon to start the last couple of years? As a Vikes fan, I was happy to see Green go, until I heard of the possibility of Lynch. I hope he doesn't fall that far!
Curt in Grand Forks
Noah Herron, that's funny stuff Curt.
I hope that Lynch does come to the Packers. With having a RB by committee, he won't get too worn down and hit that dreaded rookie wall. All indications so far are that he is just fast as hell and can make the quick decision. But there's a long time until draft day, who knows what will happen between now and then.
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