The future of the WR corps

[Pugger]

I suspect Driver will be asked to take a pay cut and will come to camp and compete along with everyone else. I don't know if you give a #5 WR $5M a year. Jones isn't really trade bait. He didn't elicit a lot of big offers when he was a FA so I can't imagine he'll be all that attractive in a trade. I'm really eager to see Borel and Gurley play this summer. Moss might be the perfect PS candidate.
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[CentralFC]

I'll take the five guys that led our offense to the history books rather than tinkering with it and possibly upsetting the chemistry they have going from four years of work.

What I would consider, however, is dropping Williams maybe and adding a sixth receiver (Gurley or Borel, depending on how the coaches value each on special teams and their roles in our offense). Other than that, keep Driver for his experience and charisma and role as a fifth/slot receiver.
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[Sandybaby716]

[pacnwpackfan]

Don't forget Shaky; they IR'd Mr. Smithson for a reason.

In seriousness, I expect them to keep DD into training camp. Them keeping him or releasing him will be a product of one of those four young guys (Gurley, Borel, Smithson, or Moss) TAKING his spot in training camp. Driver is a phenomenal athlete even at his age, so it ain't gonna be easy.

[ChaRisMa]

We should just keep 6. Rotate them all in. That group is due for a couple of injuries, knock on wood.
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[I Am Rodgers]

Rather than cut Driver, I'd see if we can send him Philbins way for a 7th or conditional pick. They need WR's, especially ones that know the offense. I think the average fan would rather see Driver traded to Philbins new team than cut. Then again, who knows.
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[TheGreatZepp]

I don't think veteran leadership/experience/locker room presence can be considered a valid argument to keep Driver anymore. Jennings, Nelson and Jones are all true veterans and won't miss a beat when Driver does finally part ways. If you keep Driver it is because of what he brings on game day. He's a damn fine slot play and his heir, Cobb, still has a lot of the game to learn at WR while splitting time as the returner. I still have a hard time with that cut without a breakout camp and preseason by one of the other receivers or Driver's wheels falling off. Special teams value definitely has to be considered but if there's two places I might look away from teams value for piece of mind on depth it would be defensive line first followed by wide receiver. The defensive line part might just be overcompensating after what happened last season but too much was exposed. Now as for wide receiver, if I'm carrying five, I take the five that can have the most impact lining up on offense. The shifts, movements and routes that are demanded in the Packers offense are taxing on the receivers and while TE's can split out there are still three or more receivers on the field for the majority of the plays. Three or four years ago it worked having a Ruvell Martin or Brett Swain as the #5 for their teams value but since then the pass/rush ratio has slide to favor the pass offense more then ever before. That was also a time when you kept eight defensive linemen for your 4-3 defense, nine offensive linemen, three quarterbacks and nine defensive backs. The change in offensive philosophies and defensive scheme I would say gives the Packers the largest pool ever in terms of pulling special teamers and you don't have to try and force a teamer onto the roster just to make teams numbers. You have Crabtree, Bush, House, Hayward, Burnett, Lattimore, Peprah, So'oto, McMillian, Taylor, D.J.'s Williams and Smith, Walden, Zombo, Jones, Perry, M.D. Jennings, Manning, Francois even Quarless if he is back, I think you can find 9-10 teamers out of those, and most of them are ones that practice wrapping up and tackling everyday and can run just fine.
Again, if one of Gurley, Smithson, Borel, etc is ready to contribute on offense then they provide something to really consider but if they're still relatively raw and rough around the edges, as I would say Cobb already is then no.


Sandybaby, I definitely know the need for a new gunner opposite Bush but what are the odds that a wide receiver would get that role over a defensive back? I am not going to have a lot of confidence that a wide receiver is going to be a tremendous open field tackler and would think any of the reserve defensive backs would be favorites for that role, even Shields perhaps if he gets beat out for nickel.
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[blankman0021]

[Sandybaby716]

[CWood21]

[palmy50]

Could not agree more, CWood!

Been around this game all my life. Never once has someone told me they had too many leaders!
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[TheGreatZepp]

[smetana34]

[Sandybaby716]