I am singing the praises of General Manager Ted Thompson (and anyone who knows me is aware of how much effort it takes for me to do that) with the release of the great pretender nine-year starting linebacker A.J. Hawk. In fact, when I started to write this joyous post my document crashed and I lost it. Now that shows how much I hate praising Thompson.
As I was driving back from a high school regional boys basketball game I was covering for a great metropolitan newspaper I heard on ESPN radio about Hawk being cut. I started singing, "Ding, Dong, the Hawk is gone." Thank goodness I was in the middle of nowhere, because I'm sure I would have been pulled over for being creating a driving hazard. I have been the leader of the "Dump Hawk" movement for at least five years.
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| Brad Jones & A.J. Hawk |
I have intense feelings about the career of A. J. Hawk. He came out of Linebacker U (Ohio State) as the fifth pick in the Ted Thompson's second draft. Being drafted that high Hawk immediately became a starter at right outside linebacker. He remained on the outside his second season and moved to middle linebacker in 2008 when Nick Barnett was hurt.
He remained inside in 2009 when the Packers changed to a 3-4 defense. He has been a starter since his first year and has been extremely durable missing just two games and only six starts. His only missed games came in the middle of the 2011 season with a calf injury. Even last year he ended up playing in all 16 games, starting 13, despite being benched in game 9 when Clay Matthews was moved inside. He previously missed two starts in 2009 and one in 2010 and those must have been because Capers opened the game with a passing defensive alignment).
For any other player Hawk's career has been stellar, but in his case, it wasn't. Like I mentioned Hawk came from Ohio State, which has a well-deserved reputation for turning out hard-hitting middle linebackers. Hawk is anything, but. I can count on one hand how many times he has lit up a runner. And most of them have come the past two seasons on blitzes. Randy Gradishar would be spinning in his grave (if he was dead). At age 62 he could still hit harder than Hawk.
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| John Anderson |
He has finished his Packers career as the All-time leading tackler (I have problem with those numbers, but I will address that later) breaking the record set by a truly outstanding linebacker John Anderson. Anderson held that record (although even his ranking is dubious considering Packers tackles weren't recorded prior to 1975 leaving out the Lombardi teams) since he retired in 1989.
I will contend without fear of contradiction that at least a third if not more of Hawk's tackles came downfield and after a good gain. His picture should be listed in Funk & Wagnalls under garbage tackles. Being the All-time tackler is a travesty.
I was reading posts about his release and to a person most of the people were lamenting his loss calling him one of the best or the best ever to ever don a Packer helmet. PLEASE. They must not be very astute at judging talent. Hawk was, is and always will be a pretender to the crown.
Anyway, it warmed my heart on a cold night. Along with the release of former starting inside linebacker Brad Jones a week ago Thompson has freed up $7.25 million in cap space (while leaving $2.6 million in dead money for next year).
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| Julius Peppers |
This morning reports out of Green Bay have Coach Mike McCarthy wanting linebacker Julius Peppers back at a cap cost of $12 million for 2015. I think spending that much money on an aging 35-year old, who had an up-and-down 2014, which can be summed up as "when he was good, he was very, very good, but when he was bad he was invisible". He had to spelled and had games where he was totally absent from the action.
To let a dynamic young playmaker (wide receiver Randall Cobb), who is only asking for $9 million, go and retain a player with probably only one year left at a third more the cost is ridiculous and insane. Things are now right with the world as I criticize Thompson and the horse he rode in on.
Cut Peppers and see if anyone, and I mean anyone, would give Peppers $12 million. Re-sign him at a lower number, but., please, please, please, not anywhere near $12 million (I think $4 or $6 million would be reasonable for one more year).
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| Josh Sitton |
The re-signing of Peppers at that amount is even more ridiculous considering MSN Sports is reporting that All-Pro left guard Josh Sitton could end up being a cap casualty. How f****** ridiculous is that? I mean have some common sense. One aging veteran over two much younger All-Pro's. It doesn't take my math teacher niece to add those figures up and come up with cutting Peppers.
The last time Thompson had this Solomon like decision was his first year in 2005 when he decided to cut left guard Mike Wahle and let All-Pro and future Packer Hall of Fame right guard Marco Rivera go in free agency. It set back the Packer offense for four years.
Now before you TT sycophants jump on me or take up my offer to call me a sonofabitch I will address what happened to those two players. Wahle went on to play three seasons with Carolina and finished up his career on injured reserve with the Seahawks. Rivera injured his back during the off-season and played two seasons with the Cowboys.
On the Packers side Thompson's hand-picked replacements crapped out big time. On the left side Adrian Klemm was signed from the Patriots as a replacement and he was benched halfway through the season and replaced by second-year center Scott Wells. Wells moved back to center in 2006 and rookie Jason Spitz began the season as the starter, but was eventually replaced by another rookie Daryn Colledge. He remained a much maligned starter until he was let go after the 2010 season.
On the right side Matt O'Dwyer was signed from the Bucs and he was cut in the preseason with seventh round draft pick Will Whittacker becoming the starter. He was cut after the season and Tony Moll and Spitz split duty in 2006, Spitz, Junius Coston and Moll split duty in 2007 with Spitz taking over in 2008. It wasn't until 2009 the position was solidified when the aforementioned Sitton took over the job and has been a rock ever since.
So now it seems Sitton, with a $7 million cap number, is on the block, instead of Peppers. I can't believe this is even being considered. Only in Bizarro World this is a good deal.
Jones is a good example of Thompson's judgement. One of Thompson's famous 7th round picks (more on that later) in 2009. Jones began his Packers career as an outside linebacker backing up recently moved Aaron Kampman on the left side. When Kampman went down he started the last seven games. He became the starter on the right side in 2010, but went down after six games and ended up on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. His outside career ended after 2011 where he served as a backup on the left side to Clay Matthews.
Can't really say Jones was on a stellar career path after his first three years. 2012 turned out to be lucky for Jones in the final year of his rookie contract. Desmond Bishop had become the "Big Hitter" on the inside next to the "No Hitter" Hawk, but he got injured in the pre-season. D. J. Smith took over and he got injured leaving Jones the starter for the last 10 games. He responded with his best season with 77 tackles, two sacks, four passes defended and one forced fumble. His good play continued into the playoffs where he finished up with 10 tackles (9 solo) in the loss to the 49ers.
2013 Tennessee expressed interest in him and Thompson panicked and handed him a 3-year $11.5 million contract. The results were mixed. His 2013 season was injury (hamstring and ankle) marred forcing him to miss four games, but he still had a decent season with 84 tackles, three sacks and one forced fumble.
Last year he dropped off the face of the earth, for the most part, playing in 13 games with one start. He became known for getting stupid penalties, including a roughing the passer penalty against the Lions on a 3rd and 13 that turned an incompletion and most likely a field goal to a 20-yard TD pass.
What did Thompson get for his money. He got one good year. However, replacing a hard-hitter like Bishop with a finesse player like Jones was not a good trade. They might have got just as good production from Jamari Lattimore in 2013, who was his backup.
If this comes to past and Sitton and Cobb are let go so Peppers can remain I will scream.
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