This is not meant to slam or flex any GM, just doing a fun article in my perspective who in our division is really gunning for a title post the Brett Favre era. As we were clearly going all in with Favre at QB but came up just short. I haven't been able to see all of what my counterparts have done this offseason up until draft day so this will be a nice deep dive for me.
Division Leader 2005:
2005 record 13-3
Total Offense rank- 5th in the PTF
Total defense rank- 1st in the PTF
Key Departures:
CB Andre Goodman (Traded to Arizona)
RG Sean LockLear (Career Ending injury)
ILB Donnie Edwards (Free Agent)
Key Additions:
DT Aaron Smith 6'5" 300 lbs. (Free Agent previously on New England)
28 TAK, 2 TFL, 9 Sacks, 1 FF
Observation:
I'm not going to lie I thought the Lions and GM Rodany Mendez would be alot more active this offseason. No Brett Favre in the division any longer. The Vikings just dealt away Randy Moss, let WR Hines Ward go in FA and they're clearly retooling themselves. Mcnabb just hit 30 years old which means he is in regression, 3-4 seasons is realistically all he has left this is the time they should be going all in. This wasn't a great crop of free agents but there were some players who could have helped although I did like the addition of Aaron Smith who was solid for the Superbowl runner ups New England Patriots. Trading 1 of your best starters in the secondary didn't really make much sense even if you got decentvalue for him.
They have 24M+ cap space and no real reason they shouldn't be spending it. Both myself, the Vikings and Bears are going to start loading up soon so like John Cena used to say.... "The time is now", I would really like to see the Lions go all in from here out on as you'll never have a clearer path then right now in my opinion anyways. I'm a fan of Rodany, he always seems to get his teams to the playoffs or be in the conversation plus he usually drafts well so all my criticism of him is probably moot and they'll win the division anyways so what do I know?
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2005 record: 12-4
Total Offense Rank: 3rd in the PTF
Total Defense Rank: 6th in the PTF
Key Departures:
LE Kabeer Gbaja- Biamila (Traded to Eagles)
RG Jamar Nesbit (Traded to Eagles)
SS Darren Sharper (Traded to 49ers)
LB Rosevelt Colvin (Traded to 49ers)
LB James Harrison (Traded to Steelers)
RT Alan Faneca (Traded to Steelers)
LG Mike Wahle (Traded to Steelers)
WR Javon Walker (Traded to Texans)
Key Additions:
WR Hines Ward (Free Agent previously on Minnesota Vikings)
LB Julian Peterson (Re-signed)
QB Dave Ragone (Restructured)
Observation:
We're clearly in a rebuilding phase after the trades, it sucks seeing all these names dealt that I either had alot of back and forth with the GM's I traded with to acquire those players or that I enjoyed developing since the 2003 season. It's sad that I couldn't win a title with Brett Favre but I went all in pretty much every season we had him so i have no regrets at all and I'm really excited for the Dave Ragone era to begin, I think he's going to be a top tier QB in a season or 2 but probably more of a game manager until then, we shall see. We lost our 2nd and 3rd leading sack artists, a top tier WR, almost the interior offensive line accept for center and our franchise RT.
Despite all of that the future looks bright in Green Bay as we have picks 1.23, 1.29 (working on a third 1st as we speak) and three 1st round picks next season (GB/BUF/HOU) plus a bunch of 2nd rounders. These next 2 draft classes will start to reshape our team. I didn't want to add any players coming over in deal other than Hines Ward (he's only signed for 1 season) because I want this to be MY team that I built for better or worse and I have at least 5 seasons to right the ship or at least keep level.
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2005 record: 11-5
Total Offense Rank: 7th in the PTF
Total Defense Rank: 10th in the PTF
Key Departures:
WR Randy Moss (Traded to Pittsburgh)
DT Fred Robbins (Traded to Titans)
WR Hines Ward (Signed by Green Bay in FA)
RB Warrick Dunn (Signed by Miami in FA)
CB Walt Harris (Signed by Pittsburgh in FA)
SS Corey Chavous (Free Agent)
Key Additions:
WR Donte Ridgeway (Trade with the Steelers)
DT Seth Payne (Trade with the Titans)
LT Bryant McKinnie (Restructured)
Observation:
Just to add for key additions the Vikings also have picks 1.3 and 1.5 in this years draft so those 2 players will be key additions as well but so far this offseason has to be looking great for the Lions GM, there is no Brett Favre in GB, no Randy Moss/Hines Ward in Minnesota and the Bears are still waiting on their franchise QB to mature enough to start really winning games. The Vikings are clearly looking to retool their roster with an influx of top tier talent which is always a fun route to go but a very expensive one as those 2 players witll probably eat up all of the cap space left, they also have a 6.43M cap penalty for next year so something has to give somewhere.
I also wonder what route the Vikings go if WR Brandon Marshall is selected at 1.2, I like the WR they picked up from the Steelers in their Moss deal, Donte Ridgeway but he's nowhere near Moss level, it will be interesting to see what transpires. The entire secondary also looks average to below average aside from CB Patrick Surtain but it does appear the Vikings are willing to take a bit of a step back this year also while they reset as well. Rome was not built in a day and I have full confidence that GM Justin Herr will no doubt have this roster looking like a Juggernaught soon enough.
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2005 record: 7-9
Total Offense Rank: 19th in the PTF
Total Defense Rank: 23rd in the PTF
Key Departures:
CB Jerry Azumah (Signed by Pittsburgh in FA)
Key Additions:
LB Joey Porter (Matched offer as match eligible free agent)
Observation:
So I believe Wade Pearce mention CB Jerry Azumah had something like 18 progression points stored? If I'm not mistaken, that's nuts! Good on Wade for getting that goldmine but first of all what is the benefit any longer of storing progression other than saving money which i doubt is even that much to be honest but please let me know if there is any other reasoning. Da bears are in a really tough spot as they have their franchise QB and basically just waiting for him to mature but con't have much cap space to do anything although a purge of some high profile overpriced players may be the way to go plus it could have landed them some more weapons for Rodgers to throw to.
The Bears have picks 1.12 and 1.15 in tonights draft to fill some of the holes they couldn't fill in free agency and I'm curious to see which route they decide to go. My guess is they will try and get players on both offense and defense but we shall see. Rodgers had an unbelievable rookie season , I still remember that first game between us and the Bears where Rodgers was literally throwing dimes all over us and we lost by a last second FG that made me stop watching games live the entire rest of last season or i may have had a coronary LOL. Does he hit the sophmore slump or does he continue to tear it up in year 2? I think the Bears are on the rise.
