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Packers need to be smart; Favre needs to give answer
Team looks to rebuild after horrid ’05 season
By R.C. Weich III
The NFL has no off-season, that’s what makes me so happy. Every day, a new player signs with a new team.
How about Edgerrin James going to Arizona or Terrell Owens to Dallas (good luck Bledsoe and Co.)? But what about the Packers, what are they doing that’s good in the off-season?
Well, they resigned Ahman Green and Najeh Davenport to short-term deals. Alright, we got running backs. But these are damaged goods.
Green has shown nothing but disappointment in the past couple of years. First it was the fumbling problem, and then it was the injuries. Davenport is an explosive, bruising back who has not had the chance to prove himself beyond Ahman’s shadow and has had a lot of problems staying healthy as well. So why keep them both?
Here’s why:
We don’t really lose much if Ahman’s bum leg acts up on him again. The Packers signed him to a pretty low-ball contract. Davenport’s contract is only one year so he can either prove himself or look elsewhere in 2007.
But, what the Packers should have done is kept Davenport for the one-year contract, let Green find a new team and searched for a running back with the fifth overall pick.
Next, our kicker jumped ship to the purple boys. That’s alright with me, but what do we do to make up for it? We sign Billy Cundiff, who was cut by Dallas for his inaccuracies.
We don’t do this right away however; we let pro-bowl kickers Adam Vinatieri and Mike Vanderjagt lose interest in our organization and sign with other teams. Vinatieri visited Green Bay and all he could say was the Packers had a nice workout facility.
Obviously the Packers didn’t give him an offer that would keep him here to workout.
Finally, Brett Favre sure isn’t helping. His failure to tell the Packers organization and the media whether he is returning isn’t helping Green Bay’s cause. With the fifth overall pick, Green Bay could easily pick up a great quarterback, but the Packers don’t even know if they need one yet.
Perhaps this is why third-stringer Craig Nall left. He was just sick and tired of waiting for an answer and for some playing time behind Favre that he took an offer from the Buffalo Bills.
It appears the Packers don’t necessarily need another running back, signs are pointing toward a heroic Favre return and the Packers picked up a C-level kicker.
I say the Packers draft a punter in the third round — oh wait, that already happened.
If the Packers are smart they’ll think defensively. Whether it is a big man on the defensive line or a linebacker or even some help in the secondary, Green Bay needs to think D otherwise they’ll be getting a lot of D’s on their defensive report cards.
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