Holy Cow! What's come over the Green Bay Packers? For painful year after painful year, general manager Ted Thompson pretty much ignored the NFL's free agent market, preferring to stick to a draft-and-develop system that kept the Packers hovering around the NFL's youngest squads.
Suddenly, in a matter of hours, GM Brian Gutekunst made more quality moves -- and guys who are experienced but still in the prime of their careers -- to improve the team than Thompson ever did.
Need help shoring up Mike Pettine's defense? Here come the Smith Brothers: edge rushers Za'Darius Smith (Baltimore Ravens) and Preston Smith (Washington Redskins). Adding to the defensive backfield is safety Adrian Amos (Chicago Bears), while helping to plug the offensive line will be Billy Turner (Denver Broncos).
What does this mean to the upcoming NFL draft? That the can address the tight end and offensive tackle positions early on in the draft, and still pick up quality in the D-Line and defensive backfield.
Suddenly, Gutekunst can look at giving first-year head coach Matt LaFleur and veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers more weapons, protection and flexibility on offense.
Looks like an early win for Green Bay.
can still devote a top pick to TE
I see some writers saying that Green Bay had a "win now" attitude in their FA pickups. These guys are still young and if they work out, will make the Pack a top team well into the future. That's still team building to me. Even with last years dismal performance, I believe the Packers had a team that should have been in the play-offs. Dumb penalties and key injuries kept that from happening. Filling the depth chart with better players should remedy the problem. These FA acquisitions frees up the draft process to get the best player available without regard to filling a pressing need.
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