FB John Kuhn UFA
WR Ruvell Martin UFA
TE Tory Humphrey UFA
OG Daryn Colledge UFA
OG Tony Moll UFA
OT Chad Clifton UFA
C Jason Spitz UFA
DL Johnny Jolly UFA
DL Aaron Kampman UFA
DL Ryan Pickett UFA
CB Will Blackmon UFA
SS Atari Bigby UFA
SS Charlie Peprah UFA
FS Nick Collins UFA

Kuhn, Moll, Peprah, and Humphery are unlikely to make the final roster, Colledge is probably about to be extended, and Clifton is almost a certain unsign if Meredith plays well. So there's a few we don't need to worry about right there.

FB John Kuhn UFA See ya
WR Ruvell Martin UFA See ya
TE Tory Humphrey UFA See ya
OG Daryn Colledge UFA
OG Tony Moll UFA See ya
OT Chad Clifton UFA See ya (I hate to say that, but it's time)
C Jason Spitz UFA
DL Johnny Jolly UFA
DL Aaron Kampman UFA
DL Ryan Pickett UFA See ya?
CB Will Blackmon UFA
SS Atari Bigby UFA
SS Charlie Peprah UFA See ya
FS Nick Collins UFA

It's a scary list when you look at it ... even after taking out the riff raff you're left with this:

Colledge, Spitz, Kampman, Pickett, Blackmon, Jolly, Bigby, and Collins. Blackmon should be affordable ... the rest though I'm not so sure.

If Matthews and Thompson show they have the goods I'm guessing Kampman will not be back. He's closing in on 30, and will command huge money on the open market.

Nick Collins is a wait and see thing. If he has huge year in the 3-4 the Packers can always franchise tag him .. depending on the next collective bargaining deal.

I'm not too worried. Spitz and Colledge will be signed some time during the year. Humphrey supposedly has been impressive during the mini-camps though.

I still think the Packers might have been better off moving Kampman and getting a 2nd rounder at the least for him considering what Allen cost and Jason Taylor.

They might have to sign one of the S's at the very least but the kid from Cincy or maybe Rouse might step up.

I don't think we need to worry about losing Jolly, he was a huge letdown last season, I'm not going to worry about losing him until he manages to show us something. Pickett is still a good player, but I think we can safely lose him if Raji is even half as good as he's projected to be.

It would be tough for the Packers to lose two guys from their Dline depth. I hope they can find a way to hold on to Pickett. I don't care if they lose Jolly .. not a fan. Hopefully he'll come around this year, but I'm just not sure what to think of him.

Some tough choices to be sure. But, I think it depends on how the young guys come along. Notice how the draft picks seem to follow the next years FA group?

quote:

who stays and who goes?

I don't care. Let's just win the Super Bowl THIS year, then I'll worry about it

Hopefully they all have Pro Bowl years so GB can get 3rd round picks in return.

quote:

Originally posted by grbaypack:
It would be tough for the Packers to lose two guys from their Dline depth. I hope they can find a way to hold on to Pickett. I don't care if they lose Jolly .. not a fan. Hopefully he'll come around this year, but I'm just not sure what to think of him.

While we probably have guys who can be adequate for our new defense, we're probably still missing the sort of quality backups and true 3-4 DEs we need to really be a stellar defense. Pickett will be 30 in October, so I don't think it would be a bad move to go with Raji as the starter and a draft pick backing him up if his price is too high. The only guys on that list that we really need to see re-signed are Colledge, Spitz, Collins (Some here may say he still needs to prove something, but he looks like an established player to me) and Kampman. The rest of those guys on the list all need to prove they aren't too old (Clifton, Pickett) to warrant another large payday or that they weren't just one year wonders (Bigby, Jolly).

I think the L.O.D. is going to thrive in this defense.

That just means lots of high compensatory picks the year after. As long as Thompson can use his draft picks wisely, turnover doesn't hurt as much.

Could Bigby and Collins be battling for one contract? Bigby seems to me like a guys who Capers could be more creative with. If he's healthy he could have a huge bounce back year. Bigby's 27 and Collins is 25. They should both give about the same value out of a 4 year deal. Collins is going to be pressed to match his performance from last year. I hope if he's playing out his rookie contract he's not gambling for picks and costing us huge plays. Collins role in the defense would seem to be more of an adjuster/QB/ back end guy. I wonder if he's talented enough in those aspects of his game to warrant a top 6 safety deal. Would you pay Collins like:

Ed Reed
Troy Palamalu
Bob Sanders
Adrian Wilson
Kerry Rhodes
Deon Grant


Bigby is that tenacious guy that backs up the run and gets his nose in it. He might be the much better value per dollar on a contract and Collins will bring back a compensatory pick.