Johnny Jolly may be stupid but he ain’t dumb, he at least knows the difference between $2.5 million and $500,000, even if he might never see a dime of it. What Atari Bigby and Tramon Williams are thinking is beyond me. Williams is likely to have his tender cut from $3.1 million to $580 grand. If it is true that Williams didn’t sign his tender by the deadline yesterday he should sign up for the next edition of “Dumb and Dumber.”
Bigby would be the dumb half of that duo. He is only giving up a few grand but probably has already lost his starting spot in the secondary which would have been tenuous even if he was present at the OTAs. If Williams thinks the Packers are going to open the vault for a player who was a starter by injury for less than a full season and played average at best he is either getting bad advice or is on drugs. If Williams or Bigby never step foot in Lambeau again the Packers will no worse for the wear, that is for sure.
I will admit Williams has some upside, but he is 27 years old still is not a proven entity. He has shown signs but at that age you wonder if he can get any better. There aren’t too many guys like Charles Woodson out there, or even Al Harris for that matter. Of all the people who need the OTAs and minicamp Williams probably needed it the most considering Harris might not be ready for the opener. If Williams would have performed at a high level Harris may never have got his job back. Now I think Harris will be back in the lineup sooner rather than later as the Packers no longer have the luxury to put him the PUP list to start the season.
It is definitely not business as usual in the NFL this offseason due to the impending work stoppage following the season. The players have much more to lose and the sooner they realize it the sooner things can return to normal. The NFLPA and the player’s agents are acting like they hold all the cards when the best they have is a pair of ducks.
The Packers close out the offseason program with a mini-camp June 21-23 then don’t resume until July 30. The absence of Bigby and Williams will surely be a hot topic. And with Jolly not being around for OTAs it will be interesting to see what kind of shape he is in or if he even shows up. Enjoy the next eight days because that’s all we get until July 30.