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As you have probably already heard Corey Williams is headed to Cleveland for a second round pick (56th pick overall). While the trade hasn’t been officially released yet it is essentially a done deal. In my opinion I think this was a good trade for the Packers. While Corey Williams was a good role player he wasn’t worth the money he would have asked in a long term contract. Cleveland is supposedly offering a 6 year $38 million contract to Corey Williams. This would have been too much to pay for a backup that mostly just played as a pass rusher. Along with the money concern the Packers already have a lot at depth so they could afford to let Corey go. Jolly should be ready for the season. Harrell should be better this year after some more time for his arm injury to heal. Colin Cole will most likely be back (we tendered him with a second round tender). Muir also showed some potential to make an impact on the team. The Packers are taking a little risk in that Jolly might not be fully healthy for the beginning of the season and Harrell might not take the next step. I think the Packers still made the right choice though because I believe Jolly will be ready for the season and I think people will be surprised by how much Harrell will improve this offseason.

Now that the Packers have another second the Packers have a lot of flexibility in the draft. They have picks #30 (1st round), #56 (2nd Round), and #60 (2nd Round). Obviously the Packers could just stay at these picks and get three good players. The Packers also could trade up. Based on the draft value chart the Packers could package the #30 and #56 pick and get a pick around #16. This might happen if the Packers are really high on a player. If this happens I could see it happening for Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie. The Packers have expressed a lot of interest in Cromartie and with his combine numbers he probably won’t be available at the Packers pick in the first round. Another trade up possibility is to give up both seconds for a really low first (around our current first rounder). The only way I could see this happening is if for some reason two players that TT is really interested in fall in the draft to the end of the first round. The final option could be that the Packers trade down their first and get three seconds. This is also a possibility if there is no one TT wants at the end of the first round.

It’s pretty sad that we are only a couple hours into the offseason and this year’s offseason is already more interesting than last offseason. Now if only the Packers will sign a couple free agents. Alge Crumpler has been rumored to be interested in the Packers. If we add Crumpler I would like to know how teams would be able to cover a  set of Driver, Jennings, Jones, Lee, and Crumpler. Rumors have also spread that Crumpler is looking to join a winning team so there is a chance that he could sign with the Packers for a cheaper deal than he would with other teams. Along with Crumpler the Packers might look at a guard, corner, safety, and possibly a linebacker. At guard the Packers could get Alan Faneca but the chances are slim since he wants to get a lot of money. A better option in my opinion is Jake Scott from the Colts. He will probably get quite a bit less money and he is also younger. At corner don’t expect anything great. Probably something like Frank Walker last season. At safety the Packers could look at someone like Madieau Williams from the Bengals. Finally at linebacker don’t expect Lance Briggs. It’s not going to happen. If the Packers sign a linebacker at the most it will be a mid tier linebacker. Rumors have spread that the Packers might be interested in Boss Bailey from the Lions. Well the offseason is already off to a fast start. Hopefully this offseason we will sign more players than we did last offseason. As a matter of fact we already have signed as many people since we signed Toledo a tackle that was cut by the Dolphins. Hopefully the Packers actually add a player that will actually make the team come September.

The Combine started this Thursday and continues till Tuesday. The Combine gives teams a good chance to work out future draft picks before they actually draft them. A lot of people put a lot of weight on the Combine but I believe the Combine is overrated. Since TT has taken over it seems like the Packers are focussing less and less on Combine numbers. TT hasn’t picked many players solely based on their Combine numbers. This has allowed TT to make some really good decisions. If I remember right coming out of the combine Greg Jennings and James Jones were considered slow. Once they got into the NFL it turned out they were far from slow. While the Combine can help people find some gems it can also lead to a lot of busts because they might have the physical skills to be a good NFL player but they don’t have the football talent to take their game to the next level. Personally I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the Combine because TT hasn’t paid much attention to it in the past drafts and I doubt he will pay much attention to it this year either. I also wouldn’t pay a ton of attention to the big names that everyone is predicting the Packers are going to pick. TT has picked players fans never expected the last three drafts and I am guessing that is not going to change this year.

Two big pieces of news came out of Green Bay today. Corey Williams was given the franchise tag while Bubba Franks was handed his pink slip (he was cut). In my opinion I think both were actually pretty good things for the team as a whole.

It is sad to see Bubba Franks go but I think it was time for him to leave. Simply put Bubba Franks was paid too much and from what I heard he didn’t want to take a pay cut. Bubba Franks was a Packer for 8 seasons and was a Pro Bowler for a couple of those seasons.  Bubba Franks was a good guy and also a good character guy. He just didn’t fit in with the youth movement of the team. First Bubba Franks is starting to get old. Ted Thompson probably thought he could find a younger TE that could do as well as Bubba. Second Bubba was being paid too much. Bubba was going to get over $4 million this year. That wouldn’t have been so high if Bubba’s play hadn’t dropped off so much the last couple of years. Bubba has been hurt too much recently and dropped too many passes. Bubba also lost his starting spot to David Martin. Who knows Bubba might resign with the Packers if he realizes that the market doesn’t value him that high. If we could get Bubba for around $1 million a year I would think about bringing him back. I think this could happen since I doubt teams will value Bubba that high. In the end I don’t think it will happen though because someone is bound to overpay him based on his past performance. I am guessing that TT will address the TE position in the draft now probably somewhere between the 2nd-5th round. It is sad to see Bubba go but I think it was for the best of the team.

The other big news of the day was that Corey Williams was franchised. This is some big news. The Packers will retain Corey Williams for next season at $6.5 million. This is pretty high but the Packers have a lot of cap room so it probably won’t hurt the Packers that much. Know that we have franchised Corey there is four things that could happen. First the Packers could extend Corey Williams to a long term extension. This happens a lot with players that are franchised. I think there is a decent chance this could happen. The second thing that could happen is that the Packers now trade Corey Williams to another team. There are some teams around the league that need DTs. One that comes to mind is the Denver Broncos. As far as what we could get for him in a trade I would guess either a 2nd or 3rd rounder or a player around the talent level of Corey Williams. Another possibility is trading Corey Williams to a team that also franchised a player. The two teams could essentially just flop franchise players. The third thing that could happen would be to just keep Corey Williams for this year. There is a valid claim for this action. The Packers actually have some questions at DT going into next season. The main question is whether Johnny Jolly will be able to recover in time for the season. At this point it seems like he should be ready but he could have some complications down the line. The other question is whether Justin Harrell will take the next step. Personally I think he will but there is a valid point that he won’t reach that next level yet. The final thing that could happen would be for TT just to rescind the franchise tag which would make Corey Williams a free agent. The only way i see this happening is if TT planned on trading or resigning Corey and a deal could not be reached. So even though Corey Williams got franchised he easily could not be a Packer next season.

Not a lot has been going on in Packerland recently and not much will probably happen until February 29th when free agency. Before the 29th the Packers can only sign their own players and scout players for the draft. The Packers free agents include Corey Williams,  Frank Walker, Rob Davis, Ryan Krause, Craig Nall, Tyson Walter, and Tracy White. The Packers restricted free agents include Colin Cole, and Vernand Morency.  As far as exclusive rights free agents (As long as the Packers want them they get them for the next season) I believe (I am not positive here) the Packers have Ruvell Martin, Ryan Grant, and Atari Bigby.

At this point Rob Davis is essentially waiting for free agency to begin in order to sign the one year tender the Packers have already offered him. Tracy White is extremely close to signing around a two year contract. Ruvell Martin, Ryan Grant and Atari Bigby will sign their exclusive right tenders even though Ryan Grant I heard is going to get an extension and I would guess that Atari Bigby would also get an extension. At this point it looks like Corey Williams won’t be a Packers next year. Corey Williams is going to get too much money in free agency that the Packers won’t bother trying to match what other teams give him. Corey Williams has a good chance of being the best DT in free agency this year and that guarantees him a big payday. Hopefully the Packers can somehow franchise Corey Williams and then trade him to a team for some picks (highly unlikely). Frank Walker is as good as gone and personally I think it is good for both sides. Walker could get more playing time somewhere else while the Packers get a cheaper, and younger backup. At this point Ryan Krause is a question mark. Obviously he won’t get a big contract but he might want to go somewhere else to get more playing time since he would have a good chance of not even making the Packers next season since Tory Humphrey will be back from his injury and the Packers have always been really high on him. Craig Nall is probably gone. The Packers will probably draft a young QB at the end of the draft in order to hopefully develop the QB to be either Rodgers backup or trade bait in the future. Finally Tyson Walter will probably be back. The Packers like him and their won’t be much demand for his services. As far as restricted free agents I believe the Packers will bring Colin Cole back, especially if Corey Williams leaves. While not great, Colin is a great role player and will bring depth to the Packer’s DT rotation. Vernand Morency probably has a 75% chance of being brought back by the Packers. If he is brought back that doesn’t mean he will make the team. Deshawn Wynn could easily take his spot on the team if he would stop getting hurt and actually grow a work ethic. The Packers could also draft a rookie which will push Morency out the door. Finally Noah Herron could come back from his injury and take Morency’s spot on the team.

The next edition of the Offseason Report will focus on the upcoming NFL combine which starts this Thursday.

Well for those of you who didn’t watch the Pro Bowl the NFC pulled a come from behind victory with a score of 42-30. Adrian Peterson won the MVP with over 100 yards rushing (very rare in the Pro Bowl) and two TDs. TO also had a good game with two TDs. Well this is enough about the game as a whole. The only thing you probably care about is how did the Packers do.

Aaron Kampman had a pretty good game. Kampman had 3 tackles and a sack. Kampman also put a lot of pressure on the AFC QBs and hopefully finally showed the NFL that he is one of the best DEs in the entire league. Kampman had the best game of any Packer.

Al Harris had a pretty good game. He had 5 tackles which was tied for the most in the NFC. Al Harris must have had a good game since you didn’t see much of him throughout the game. Al Harris was noticed when he started cheating though. Al Harris couldn’t play an entire game without press coverage (you aren’t allowed to press coverage in the Pro Bowl) and was flagged for doing it.

Donald Driver had two catches for 31 yards. Essentially Donald Driver didn’t do a whole lot in the game.

Chad Clifton had a pretty good game. He protected his QBs and he opened some holes for Adrian Peterson. A pretty good performance overall.

As far as the coaching staff there isn’t much to say. The coaching staff had to wear Hawaiian shirts and surprisingly they didn’t look as ridiculous in them as I thought they would. As far as the game itself the coaching staff played a risky game. The staff took chances on fourth downs and even succeeded on a fake punt/pass. As far as the coaching went it seemed like McCarthy decided to just take it easy during the game. He let Tom Clements (QB coach) call all the plays while he just walked along the sidelines and pretty much just enjoyed his time there. While I doubt this means anything, McCarthy might have given Clements the play calling because he is planning on letting him call plays next season (I doubt it though).

Overall the Pro Bowl was once again uneventful. At this point the Pro Bowl is essentially a joke and the NFL is going to have to do some retooling if it wants it to be something more.