In what could have been a boom year in free agency, because of the unlikely event a new collective bargaining agreement is reached between players and owners by March 5, 200-some players will not get their chance at a big payday. Of course that is part of the reason why some players haven’t been signed by now too – the owners knew there wasn’t going to be an agreement so why pay big money to a guy who isn’t going anywhere. The Packers’ Nick Collins is a perfect example.
Barring a miracle, and I do mean miracle because the NFL Players Association is once again failing to see the light, there will only be a handful of free agents worth signing and several of them may get a franchise or transition tag, essentially taking them off the market. When the owners used their option to end the current CBA early the players should have immediately said “OK, what can we do to get this done?” instead of getting defensive and basically forcing the owners into a lockout in 2011.
The owners hold all the cards and the sooner the players realize that the sooner a deal will get done. At least the late Gene Upshaw knew that and even though he was a hard bargainer, he got the job done before anything drastic had to happen. NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith has stated the players have no plans to make any concessions so a work stoppage is a certainty. The owners can sit out forever. Can the players? With that in mind I will only focus on the unrestricted free agents that might be available.
The Packers need offensive line help and that might be the slimmest pickings of all. There is simply nobody available. The Saints have two left tackles in Jammal Brown and Jermon Bushrod that are unsigned. The Packers would have to trade for one of them and Brown would probably bring the higher price tag even though he missed last year with a sports hernia. Bottom line though, don’t look for any movement here. I hope Ted Thompson finally gets lucky with offensive lineman in the draft. I also hope nobody goes hard after Chad Clifton, the best unrestricted offensive lineman out there.
Staying on the offensive side there are a couple of intriguing running backs in Chester Taylor and Willie Parker. Taylor I think for sure is starter material and if Parker can stay healthy he could be worth looking at. Myself I would be more inclined to look at Taylor if I was looking to replace Ryan Grant, which, by the way, I’m not. If the Packers could get Taylor and use him like they did in Minnesota, I’m all for it. He is heads and tails above Brandon Jackson, who has been a major bust for a second-round pick. Just re-sign Ahman Green and be done with it.
Defensively the Packers need help at linebacker and secondary and there may be some help available there. Linebackers Keith Bulluck, Karlos Dansby are available if the Packers don’t want to re-sign Aaron Kampman. Jason Taylor is also available but he won’t play in the cold in what could be his last year. Bulluck may come cheap coming off injury but Dansby won’t, in fact he will probably be tagged. Those are the outside linebackers, an interesting inside linebacker would be Gary Brackett. If the Packers don’t want to pay A.J. Hawk they might be thinking about Brackett. The thing is, Brackett will bring the leadership skills the young Packers need but in the end Hawk might be more worth the money down because of his youth. Tough call.
In the secondary guys like Leigh Bodden and Dunta Robinson at corner might be worth a look but other than Darren Sharper their is nobody of starting value at safety. Sharper back in Green Bay? I would love it! He’s today’s Deon Sanders – just following the ring.
The only guy I would open the vault to would be kicker Sebastian Janikowski. The Packers can’t afford to make another playoff run with a shabby kicker. I just wish there was a punter available.
All that said, you can see why the Packers won’t be finding any starters in free agency this year. They should just focus on guys like Clifton, Mark Tauscher, Ryan Pickett and Nick Collins and not worry about the rest. The Packers’ aren’t one player away from a championship, they have the pieces already in place, they just need a few complimentary players to get them through through the rough spots of a long season. With the work stoppage looming, the Packers might have the least worries of any NFL team going into this season.
It’s going to be an interesting off-season that is for sure.