Hole numbers: Packers' defense facing crisis
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
[email protected]
Last Updated: March 26, 2003
Phoenix - Veteran players are leaving in large numbers, opposing teams are threatening to raid their restricted free agents and the defense remains unsettled after a mediocre 2002 performance.
This is not the type of off-season most expected from the Green Bay Packers.
Not to worry, according to Mike Sherman, the team's coach and general manager. The Packers have a plan no matter how things might appear to the contrary.
"There's definitely a plan," Sherman said Wednesday during the coaches' breakfast at the National Football League owners meetings. "There's no question about that. Sometimes you can control the plan, sometimes you have to wait until everything happens. There's definitely an off-season plan."
Sherman, speaking at length with reporters for only the second time since his season-ending news conference, said his mission of addressing the team's defensive needs remained his primary objective. Specifically, he has sought to add speed and athleticism to a linebacker unit that has been stripped down to the bare bones since last season.
The decisions not to re-sign middle linebacker Hardy Nickerson and release weak-side linebacker Nate Wayne were part of a plan Sherman compared to his decision last year not to re-sign free-agent wide receivers Corey Bradford and Bill Schroeder and cut Antonio Freeman.
"I have tunnel vision. If I want to fix something, I go out and fix it," Sherman said. "In order to fix something, you have to almost start over sometimes.
"I do believe on defense we have to be young and we have to be able to run. Mainly (it's) speed."
So far, it seems as if the Packers have played more defense than offense when it comes to playing the personnel game. They re-signed free-agent defensive tackle Cletidus Hunt before he had a chance to shop himself on the market, traded a second-round draft choice for Philadelphia cornerback Al Harris and signed Carolina free-agent linebacker Hannibal Navies.
They have talked to middle linebacker Charlie Clemons, defensive end Chukie Nwokorie and weak-side linebacker Dwayne Rudd. None of the three is close to signing a deal with the Packers.
"You're limited to what's available for you," Sherman said. "You'd like to fix it a certain way, but you can't (always) do that. This is what's available to you, these are the players, these are the choices."
On the minus ledger they have lost Nickerson, Wayne, cornerback Tyrone Williams, safety Matt Bowen, cornerback Tod McBride and defensive tackle Billy Lyon. They stand little chance of re-signing end Vonnie Holliday, who is an unrestricted free agent.
They have also been slapped with a four-year, $10.5 million decision on linebacker Na'il Diggs. Sherman informed Diggs Tuesday night that the Packers would match the offer sheet he signed with the Detroit Lions, but the official announcement probably won't occur until Sunday, when the deadline for matching arrives.
The Packers face a similar situation with defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, who has received considerable interest from the Philadelphia Eagles. Gbaja-Biamila's agent, Bruce Tollner, met separately with Packers negotiator Andrew Brandt and Eagles negotiator Joe Banner during a visit to the Arizona Biltmore Resort, but neither side was reporting an agreement.
Eagles coach Andy Reid characterized negotiations with "KGB" as dead, but that didn't explain the meeting between Tollner and Banner later in the day.
Should the Eagles sign "KGB" to an offer sheet, it's probably going to be worth considerably more than the Packers are offering in their current negotiations with him. Green Bay would then face the prospect of matching a contract that would devastate its salary cap and force it to make about a half-dozen unwanted renegotiations with other players.
It's plausible that the Packers wouldn't be facing offer sheets to either player had they made higher tender offers to them, thus raising the level of compensation teams would have to pay. For $700,000 more the Packers could have raised the compensation from a fourth- to a first-round pick for Diggs, and for $500,000 they could have raised the compensation from a first-round pick to first- and third-round picks for "KGB."
Sherman insists that the "KGB" matter hasn't stifled the Packers' day-to-day business operations, but it's clear the possibility of losing one of the league's best pass-rushers is weighing heavily on Sherman's mind. He refuses to concede the Packers made a mistake with their offer because they have not lost "KGB" yet.
"It's nothing that we didn't anticipate," Sherman said of a possible offer sheet. "We knew re-signing him would be costly. We did not not anticipate this to happen. This is part of it."
The draft stands to be Sherman's best chance for replenishing the position and it could be that he uses his first-round pick to take one.
http://www.jsonline.com/packer/news/mar03/128762.asp
By TOM SILVERSTEIN
[email protected]
Last Updated: March 26, 2003
Phoenix - Veteran players are leaving in large numbers, opposing teams are threatening to raid their restricted free agents and the defense remains unsettled after a mediocre 2002 performance.
This is not the type of off-season most expected from the Green Bay Packers.
Not to worry, according to Mike Sherman, the team's coach and general manager. The Packers have a plan no matter how things might appear to the contrary.
"There's definitely a plan," Sherman said Wednesday during the coaches' breakfast at the National Football League owners meetings. "There's no question about that. Sometimes you can control the plan, sometimes you have to wait until everything happens. There's definitely an off-season plan."
Sherman, speaking at length with reporters for only the second time since his season-ending news conference, said his mission of addressing the team's defensive needs remained his primary objective. Specifically, he has sought to add speed and athleticism to a linebacker unit that has been stripped down to the bare bones since last season.
The decisions not to re-sign middle linebacker Hardy Nickerson and release weak-side linebacker Nate Wayne were part of a plan Sherman compared to his decision last year not to re-sign free-agent wide receivers Corey Bradford and Bill Schroeder and cut Antonio Freeman.
"I have tunnel vision. If I want to fix something, I go out and fix it," Sherman said. "In order to fix something, you have to almost start over sometimes.
"I do believe on defense we have to be young and we have to be able to run. Mainly (it's) speed."
So far, it seems as if the Packers have played more defense than offense when it comes to playing the personnel game. They re-signed free-agent defensive tackle Cletidus Hunt before he had a chance to shop himself on the market, traded a second-round draft choice for Philadelphia cornerback Al Harris and signed Carolina free-agent linebacker Hannibal Navies.
They have talked to middle linebacker Charlie Clemons, defensive end Chukie Nwokorie and weak-side linebacker Dwayne Rudd. None of the three is close to signing a deal with the Packers.
"You're limited to what's available for you," Sherman said. "You'd like to fix it a certain way, but you can't (always) do that. This is what's available to you, these are the players, these are the choices."
On the minus ledger they have lost Nickerson, Wayne, cornerback Tyrone Williams, safety Matt Bowen, cornerback Tod McBride and defensive tackle Billy Lyon. They stand little chance of re-signing end Vonnie Holliday, who is an unrestricted free agent.
They have also been slapped with a four-year, $10.5 million decision on linebacker Na'il Diggs. Sherman informed Diggs Tuesday night that the Packers would match the offer sheet he signed with the Detroit Lions, but the official announcement probably won't occur until Sunday, when the deadline for matching arrives.
The Packers face a similar situation with defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, who has received considerable interest from the Philadelphia Eagles. Gbaja-Biamila's agent, Bruce Tollner, met separately with Packers negotiator Andrew Brandt and Eagles negotiator Joe Banner during a visit to the Arizona Biltmore Resort, but neither side was reporting an agreement.
Eagles coach Andy Reid characterized negotiations with "KGB" as dead, but that didn't explain the meeting between Tollner and Banner later in the day.
Should the Eagles sign "KGB" to an offer sheet, it's probably going to be worth considerably more than the Packers are offering in their current negotiations with him. Green Bay would then face the prospect of matching a contract that would devastate its salary cap and force it to make about a half-dozen unwanted renegotiations with other players.
It's plausible that the Packers wouldn't be facing offer sheets to either player had they made higher tender offers to them, thus raising the level of compensation teams would have to pay. For $700,000 more the Packers could have raised the compensation from a fourth- to a first-round pick for Diggs, and for $500,000 they could have raised the compensation from a first-round pick to first- and third-round picks for "KGB."
Sherman insists that the "KGB" matter hasn't stifled the Packers' day-to-day business operations, but it's clear the possibility of losing one of the league's best pass-rushers is weighing heavily on Sherman's mind. He refuses to concede the Packers made a mistake with their offer because they have not lost "KGB" yet.
"It's nothing that we didn't anticipate," Sherman said of a possible offer sheet. "We knew re-signing him would be costly. We did not not anticipate this to happen. This is part of it."
The draft stands to be Sherman's best chance for replenishing the position and it could be that he uses his first-round pick to take one.
http://www.jsonline.com/packer/news/mar03/128762.asp
