News From The Pack

Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins has agreed to sign the one year, restricted free agent tender offer from the Packers.   It will guarantee him 3.3 million dollars for the 2010 season.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Collins decided to sign the tender in the hopes a long term extension can be reached.  This was a good faith gesture on the part of Collins and it's a good bet the Packers will reward Collins with a lengthy and lucrative new deal before this season is over.  Collins returned to the Pro Bowl last year after intercepting 6 passes, second on the team behind Charles Woodson.   He's the second key veteran locked up by the Packers.  Chad Clifton signed a three year, 19.6 million dollar contract last Friday.  The Packers have also dipped into the Arena League for a wide receiver and kick returner.  Charles Dillon was signed on Tuesday.   He played for Washington State in college and last year, caught 54 passes for the Spokane Shock of AF2.

A key return and a big departure spiced the opening weekend of NFL free agency for the Packers.  On Friday, Chad Clifton flirted with the Washington Redskins but shortly after his visit out east, the Packers put up a three year offer for 20 million dollars.  Clifton quickly signed it saying he always wanted to finish his career in Green Bay.  The Packers needed Clifton back because there is no clear cut alternative at left tackle on the roster.  On Sunday, Aaron Kampman bid the Packers farewell by signing a four year, 26 million dollar contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Kampman will get 11 million guaranteed.  Aaron had a solid 8 year run in Green Bay, making the pro bowl twice and racking up 54 career sacks.  While he never publicly expressed his dislike with the team's switch to the 3-4 defense last year, it was clear he was uncomfortable playing outside linebacker.  Kampman often struggled in space and longed to get his hand back on the ground and play defensive end.   He'll get that opportunity in Jacksonville, a team desperate for pass rushing help.  They only sacked opposing quarterbacks 14 times last season, the third lowest total in league history.  Kampman had an unquestioned work ethic and his presence in the locker room will be missed.   Rookie Brad Jones filled in for Kampman after he went down with a knee injury against San Francisco, and while Jones did record 4 sacks, he'll need to add bulk and strength this off-season.

For the first time in 17 years, the National Football League is without a salary cap.  That's a significant occurance and one more sign that armageddon could arrive in one year if a new collective bargaining agreement isn't reached and a lockout or strike takes place in 2011.   The cap went away at midnight Eastern time last night as the NFL's free agency season began.   The Green Bay Packers protected all of their restricted free agents with tender offers but 4 veterans are now on the open market as unrestricted free agents.   Negotiations have apparently taken place to retain Chad Clifton, Mark Tauscher and Aaron Kampman.   Ahman Green is the 4th but I'm not sure the Packers will be as agressive with him.   Clifton and Kampman may have other suitors.   There are reports Clifton will visit with the Washington Redskins this weekend.   Veteran left tackle Chris Samuels retired earlier this week and owner Daniel Snyder is not bashful about spending money, but the Packers have few options at left tackle without Chad.  As for Kampman, he probably longs to return to the defensive end position with his hand on the ground in a 4-3 front, where he produced Pro Bowl seasons for the Packers.  There are whispers he could be on the Chicago Bears radar.   Chicago is expected to make a serious run at Julius Peppers of the Carolina Pathers with a big money offer, he's due to visit the windy city today. If a deal can't be struck, they make look at Kampman as Plan B.  The Packers want to retain Kampman's services as an outside 3-4 linebacker.  While it looked like he struggled adjusting last season, he did lead the team in quarterback pressures until he blew out his knee against the 49ers.   Tauscher is likely to come back, he felt the Packers were more than fair with him last year, waiting until his surgically repaired knee was well and he clearly made a difference for the leaky offensive line once he returned to the starting lineup.  Among available free agents at other positions, you wonder if the Packers might jump into the Dunta Robinson sweepstakes.  He was a solid corner for the Houston Texans and may be the best, and most expensive defensive back on the market.  Safety Antrel Rolle of Arizona plays another position of need.  Ryan Clark of Pittsburgh might be a second level free agent to help bolster the secondary.  Back to the point I made at the top, with an uncapped year now in place, it will be very interesting to see if NFL owners are big spenders, or big savers, because there is no salary floor either.  Should be a fun shopping spree this spring.

The Packers fax machine is humming as the deadline for extending offers to restricted and exclusive free agents arrives on Thursday.   It's a certainty the NFL will head into an uncapped 2010 season with the free agency season opens Friday.  Teams must extend contract tenders to players to retain negotiating rights, allowing them an opportunity to match offers from other teams or decline and receive draft picks as compensation.  The Packers have 9 restricted or exclusive rights free agents and there are reports offers have been flying, to Tramon Williams and most recently to Will Blackmon.  The oft-injured defensive back and return man was given the lowest tender of 1.17 million dollars.  If the Packers don't match, they'd receive a pick in the round Blackmon was originally drafted, the 4th.   The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this week that Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz were also tendered offers, but no confirmation came from their agents.  Also on the list is safety Nick Collins and Atari Bigby, fullback John Kuhn and defensive end Johnny Jolly.  Running back DeShawn Wynn was not given a tender which will allow him to be signed by anyone without compensation.  Kuhn might also fall into that category but expect tenders for the others by tomorrow afternoon.

The NFL combine is in the books and GM Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy had effusive praise for Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.  While he didn't throw at the combine, the former Heisman winner did have a solid workout, showing his athletic ability and surprising speed.   NFL teams are still treading lightly over whether he can develop into a competent professional quarterback, and they seem to have no idea where he'll be eventually drafted in April.   The Packers paid close attention to offensive tackles and defensive backs, likely targets in the early rounds. There was also a slight change in coaching staff responsibilities.   Mark Lovat is now the lead strength and conditiioning coach and veteran assistant Dave Redding will stay on to assist for one more season before retiring.

The Packers have locked up two defensive players, signing back up safety Derrick Martin to a two year contract and slapping the franchise tag on veteran nose tackle Ryan Pickett.   Martin is one of more than 200 NFL players caught in no man's land this off-season thanks to the soon to be expiring collective bargaining agreement. Because the owners opted out of the deal, the CBA moves into an uncapped year in 2010 and without an agreement, is set to expire at the start of the 2011 season which could open a huge can of worms, namely a lockout or a strike.  Meanwhile, with no cap, players will need 6 years to become unrestricted free agents.  4 and 5 year players are restricted and Martin fell into this category.  While he was used sparingly in the secondary, Martin proved valuable on special teams and according to his agent, liked his year in Green Bay after getting acquired from Baltimore in a trade for Tony Moll.  By resigning, he'll get just over a million dollars this season but added security with the second year.  As for Pickett, he's among five players who are unrestricted free agents (Chad Clifton, Aaron Kampman, Ahman Green and Mark Tauscher the others).   By using the franchise designation, Pickett is essentially taken off the market.  While teams can still negoitate with him, the Packers have the right to match any offer and if Ryan would sign with another club, as a franchise player, the Packers would get not one, but two number picks in return.  Don't think that will happen.  Franchise players automatically get a one year contract that is the average of the top five players at the position league-wide, in Pickett's case, that's slightly over 7 million dollars this year.   The Packers say they'll continue talking with Ryan on a long term deal but don't expect a quick signature.  Pickett will be happy playing for a salary that is doubled from last year and still become an unrestricted free agent next year.

The NFL scouting combine is underway in Indianapolis.  The top college prospects are paraded into Lucas Oil Stadium for shuttle runs, 40 yard dashes, weightlifting and broad jumps.  They are measured and given complete physicals.  Teams compile the information and add it to their files on their draft board.  Packers general manager Ted Thompson says the medical information on everyone is the biggest benefit of the combine and he enjoys seeing the kids placed in a professional, competitive situation but most of the scouting legwork is already finished and if a player disappoints in his workout, he has another shot at the upcoming pro days at their college campus.  I'll keep an eye on the combine and pass along any interesting tidbits from Indy.

A pre-trial hearing for defensive end Johnny Jolly was postponed in Houston, Texas yesterday and that could leave the Packers in a spot when they must tender a contract offer to the restricted free agent by March 4.   Jolly is charged with posessing at least 200 grams of codeine cough syrup which authorities say is mixed with soda to create a drug called "lean".   He was originally arrested in July of 2008 but had the charges dropped, only to have the case refiled last year.  If convicted, Jolly could face jail time and if he's found guilty, he would almost certainly face disciplinary action from the NFL, a likely 4 game suspension.  With the pre-trial hearing not set for March 8, after the contract offer deadline, the Packers may not be sure how to proceed.   If the Packers place a second round tender on Jolly, worth 1.75 million dolars, the team would receive a second round draft choice if another franchise signs him and the Packers decline to match.  A lower tender would drop the salary to 1.1 million and the Packers would get a pick from the round Jolly was originally selected, a 6th.  Jolly was productive last season, leading the defensive line with 75 tackles and batting a club record 11 passes down.  He also had an interception.  

It's one stop shopping.  The NFL scouting combine is next week in Indianapolis.  Over 300 draft eligible players will be poked, prodded, tested and interviewed by NFL general managers and scouts.  Packers GM Ted Thompson has said the most valuable aspect of the combine is the opportunity to get complete medical dossiers on all of the players, an impossibility for teams to handle on their own.  Next on Thompson's list is the chance to visit with and interview prospective draft choices.  Thompson said the actual combine workouts only serve as bench marks to check with prior workouts of the players but the bulk of the scouting work based on their play as collegians last fall has already been finished.

I don't mind being wrong, especially when it comes to the New Orleans Saints pulling it off, beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17 last night to claim the 44th Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl Champions.  I picked the Colts, but it was the Saints who got off the deck from a 10-0 first quarter hole, showed some big time guts by going for it and failing on 4th and goal from the one in the second quarter, only to  open the third with a stunning onside kick.  Then it was a Louisiana native, who went to college in Indiana, that sealed the Colts fate as Tracy Porter intercepted Peyton Manning and raced 74 yards for the clinching touchdown that set off an epic French Quarter celebration in a town know for its ability to party.   It's only February but this may be the feel good story of the year.  How can you not be happy for Drew Brees and what he's meant to this franchise and how moving to the Crescent City only months after hurricane Katrina has impacted his life?   I know a couple of Saints players well and I'm happy both Darren Sharper and Mark Brunell will get fitted for rings.   As a rookie with the Packers in 1997, Sharper joined a Super Bowl champion and played in the big game his first year, only to be a part of the huge disappointment in the loss to Denver.   It took him over a decade to get back and win it.  Brunell was drafted by the Pack in 1993 and was one in the long line of talented Brett Favre understudies who was traded away.   He was shipped to Jacksonville in 1995 and twice had the Jaguars in the AFC title game, only to lose them both.  He's had a very productive career and while it turned sour in Washington, it ends happily as the backup man on a Super Bowl champion.  Packers head coach Mike McCarthy coached in New Orleans for 5 seasons as offensive coordinator and he speaks very fondly of his time there.   In my years of travel covering the Pack, New Orleans has always been one of my favorite stops, witnessing Green Bay's Super Bowl 31 victory over New England is clearly the highlight.   It's such a unique place, the history, culture and cuisine are unlike any other city in the country.   Next time your in the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street, look for my business card tacked on the wall along with thousands of others.  It was there I got into a wicked game of liar's poker with a few media friends and former Packers GM Tom Braatz one night.  Veteran Press Gazette and Milwaukee Journal beat reporter Cliff Christl and I closed down the Quarter on another Saturday night and he talked me into an establishment that stayed open all night and it was a bleary eyed Sunday covering that Packers-Saints game.  My sister Lori lived in Baton Rouge for years, she's a decorated photo journalist who captured the heart wrenching aftermath of Katrina.  Her poignant images conveyed the sorrow in the 9th ward, the helplessness of the residents who couldn't flee to drier ground and the determination of the city to rebuild.   A single football game won't drive one nail into a new sheet of drywall, create a minimum wage job for a father desperate to make ends meet but last night's result will get the hearts of New Orleans beating a little stronger, a big step for a great city.

There are only a couple of Green Bay Packers connections in Miami this week for Super Bowl 44, none on the Indianapolis Colts and three with the New Orleans Saints.  Assistant head coach and linebackers coach Joe Vitt was on the staff of Ray Rhodes in 1999 (which included current head coach Mike McCarthy) where he served as the defensive backs coach.    Backup quarterback Mark Brunell was a fifth round draft choice of the Packers in 1993 and spent a couple of seasons in Green Bay before getting traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars before the 1995 draft.   Darren Sharper joined the Super Bowl champion Packers as a second round pick in 1997 and played 8 years in Green Bay before leaving as a free agent to Minnesota.  After three years with the Vikings, Sharper joined New Orleans this spring.   As he arrived in Miami, Sharper talked about his time in Green Bay and the opportunity in front of his new team this week.

The Packers were well represented in Sunday night's Pro Bowl game, won by the AFC over the NFC 41-34 in Miami.   Aaron Rodgers started for the NFC and completed 15 of 19 passes for 192 yards, throwing a 48 yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith of the Giants in the first quarter and a 7 yard strike to the Eagles DeSean Jackson in the second quarter.  Safety Nick Collins played extensively in the secondary and recorded 4 tackles, three of them solo stops.  Rookie Clay Matthews was busy on special teams and recorded one tackle on defense.  Matt Shaub of the Houston Texans was named the game's Most Valuable Player.  The AFC starter passed for 189 yards and two scores.  Chris Johnson of the Titans scored the eventual game winning touchdown on a 2 yard run with 5:59 to play.  James Harrison of the Steelers intercepted Tony Romo on the next posession and the AFC ran out the clock to end a two game losing streak in the series.  For the first time in 30 years, the game was played on the mainland and more than 70,000 fans showed up in a light rain in Miami to watch it.

Charles Woodson was elected a starter for the NFC but did not play because of a lingering shoulder injury.  Woodson still picked up another honor over the weekend as he was named to the Associated Press NFL All-Decade team at cornerback.

The Packers director of football administration is being plucked out of Green Bay by Mike Holmgren, the new president of the Cleveland Browns.   Mark Schiefelbein, a Packer employee for over 20 years, is leaving to become Holmgren's Vice President of Football Operations for the Browns.   Schiefelbein is a Reedsburg native who was first hired as a public relations intern in 1989.  He's handled a variety of front office roles over the years including the entire time Holmgren spent in Green Bay.   Holmgren has also hired another former Packer assistant coach.   Kent Johnson is the Browns strength and conditioning coach.  Johnson held the same job for the Packers under Holmgren and joined him in Seattle as well.

It's our final look back at the Pack of 2009, our position by position review of the team and this segment covers the guys who covered opposing receivers, the defensive backs.

Continuing our series of reports looking back on the Green Bay Packers 2009 season, position by position, today's installment covers the linebackers.

The attrition rate has always been high for the Pro Bowl, even when the game followed the Super Bowl in Hawaii.  This year, the game will be played stateside for the first time in 30 years and it will kick off this Sunday night in Miami, a week before Super Bowl 44 is contested at the same venue.   With New Orleans and Indianapolis playing for the title, the two elected starting quarterbacks will have to take a pass.  Drew Brees and Peyton Manning won't be available so alternates are moving up.   Minnesota's Brett Favre is also skipping the game after suffering an ankle injury in the NFC Championship Game.  The departures will move Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers into the starting lineup for the NFC.   Tony Romo of Dallas and Donovan McNabb of Philadelphia have been added to the squad.  David Garrard of Jacksonville will take the place of Manning for the AFC.   Other pro bowl representatives from the Packers are safety Nick Collins, back for a second straight season and rookie linebacker Clay Matthews.  Named as an alternate originally, Matthews was added to the roster quickly because of an injury to Chicago's Lance Briggs.  Matthews becomes only the third rookie to play in the game in Packers history, joining John Brockington (1971) and James Lofton (1978).  Charles Woodson, elected as a starting cornerback, is skipping the game because of his lingering shoulder injury.

The Pack's assistant strength and conditioning coach is leaving the team after spending two years in Green Bay.  33 year old Mondray Gee is joining the Seattle Seahawks, thanks to a strong reccomendation from Seattle's new General Manager and former Packers director of football operations John Schneider.

This week we'll wrap up our season review of the 2009 Packers, position by position.  Last week we focused on the offense and now it's the defense's turn, beginning with the defensive line.