Free Trader Ted - NOT

As I said when free agency started the FAKE NEWS put out by the Trump...er...Thompson Administration made everyone salivate thinking about the quick fixes The Ted was going to sign to fix the Packers defense. Everyone took the feelers sent out by Trump....er....Thompson as gospel truth, except me, and once again the fools got fooled.

Going into the free agency the top positions needing attention were on defense. with cornerback, outside linebacker and inside linebacker the top positions. Running back and offensive line and the re-signing of tight end Jared Cook were the priorities on offense.

First The Ted went on a spending spree with his $43,568,612 cap room by signing 3 of his own free agents, former No. 1 pick bust Nick Perry to a 5 yr. $59 million dollar contract, current bust at left and right tackle Don Barclay to a 1 yr. $1.3 million dollar contract and the day before re-signing punter Jacob Schum to an undisclosed contract presumed to be worth $615,000.

So before free agency began outside linebacker was shored up with the re-signing of Perry and his team-leading 11 sacks, but it became unshored when Julius Peppers and his 7.5 sacks left to return to the Panthers.

The offensive line was shored up if you think Barclay is a good player, but it became unshored when center JC Tretter signed with the Browns and today when former Pro Bowl right guard T.J. Lang signed with the Lions.

Next Man Up Once Again

The hallmark of the 2016-17 Green Bay Packers has been next man up all season. On defense the cornerback and inside linebacker positions has been hit very hard with injuries and on offense it has been running back and wide receiver. And once again injuries have raised its ugly head with the loss of Jordy Nelson for the Cowboys game for sure and the season possibly.

The loss of Nelson could hurt more than the loss of Randall Cobb for the last 2 games of the regular season did. When Cobb went down with an ankle injury undrafted rookie free agent Geronimo Allison stepped in and did a great job with 4 catches out of 7 thrown for 66 yards against the Vikings and 4 catches out of 6 thrown for 91 yards and a TD against the Lions.

Last week against the Giants despite Nelson going down early Allison was only thrown the ball twice catching 1 for 8 yards. It didn't seem to matter that Nelson was on the sidelines last week with Davante Adams and Randall Cobb not missing a beat catching 13 of 19 passes for 241 yards and 4 TDs.

In addition tight end Jared Cook continued to be productive catching 5 of 9 passes for 48 yards and running back Ty Montgomery doing good work out of the backfield catching 3 of 4 for 41 yards.

The key to last week was the inability of the defense to plan for Nelson being out and that won't be the case this week for the Cowboys. Last year with Nelson out the entire season Adams wasn't up to the task of being the No. 1 receiver after he had begun to show signs at the end of the 2014 season as being a legitimate go-to man.