I was thinking about the draft and how it can impact our defence. The fact that we only lost two players on the defensive side of the ball (cole and montgomery), we will have retained the core of the team. Now...i tried to fit the players we have in my 3-4 depth chart. The addition of Bush changes things alot. Right now i see room for 4 CB's and 4 safeties with one more "swing" guy. That's 9 players.

CB- Woodson, Harris, Lee, Williams, Blackmon
S- Collins, Bigby, Smith, Bush.

As you can see there is absolutely no room for Rouse. He could be cut. If we draft a DB i just can't see who else we would cut.


At linebacker...the same thing again. 4 OLB and 4 ILB with one more swing guy.

OLB- Kampman, Thompson, Hunter/Poppinga, DRAFT PICK.
ILB- Hawk, Barnett, Lansanah, Chillar, Bishop

I'm sure will will draft an OLB as we need to improve our pass rush but that means Hunter and Poppinga will fight it out for the final spot. At ILB we look set there unless thompson drafts one. If that happens Lansanah and Chillar will fight it out for the final spot. Bishop will be the swing guy and i dont see us cutting him because he is only 24.


Again same thing for defensive line. 4 DE and 2 NT with one more swing guy.

DE- Jenkins, Harrell, Malone, FREE AGENT.
NT- Pickett, DRAFT PICK.

Now Jolly could be that swing guy but if we draft a DE in addition to a DE free agent. Jolly place is under threat. He will probably have to compete with Malone for that crucial spot.


The whole point of this...i can see only 3 spaces that needs filling regardless whether it's by FA or through the draft. Any more new guys then you will start to see players getting cut and that means Rouse, Hunter, Poppinga, Jolly, Malone, Lansanah, Chillar are all under threat. If Ted Thompson wants to keep any of these guys he would have to make cuts on the offensive side of the ball.


If Thompson is high on his guys...we may only draft 3 players on the defensive side of the ball. All the rumors i've been reading that he would be using most of his draft picks on defence makes no sense to me as there's simply just not enough room for all his draft picks.

However....if we don't re-sign Tauscher and Kuhn to go with losing Humphery and Martin. We could see up to 6 guys on the offensive side of the ball being drafted. This tells me that we will be focusing more on the offense than defence in the draft.

Now if that happens.....expect packer nation to be furious!! ::lol:

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I think you are off a little on S and Rouse. Last year, Rouse was the #2 SS and FS. When Bigby would have to come out, Rouse took his place. When Collins went out, Rouse took his place. He has the flexibility to play either spot, along with possibly moving to OLB in specific situations. With the addition of Smith, the most I think will happen is that Rouse will be the #2 FS and #3 SS.

The 08' safety depth was listed as

FS Collins, Peprah
SS Bigby, Rouse

09' I see
FS Collins, Rouse
SS Bigby, Smith

Sorry, Charlie.

Bush will be ST and fill in if needed at either CB or S.

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My point is there will be no room for all of the DB in the final 53 man roster.

I expect to have about 9 defensive backs.

Harris, Woodson, Williams, Lee, Blackmon, Bush, Collins, Bigby, Smith

That's 9 already. I can't see any room for Rouse. If we want to keep him, who do you think we should cut? keeping 10 DB's sounds a bit excessive to me.

9 DB
9 LB
7 DL

= 25 guys.

offense will have 25. That's makes 50 leaving 3 guys for kicker, punter and long snapper to make up the final roster.

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hmmm well how many draft picks do we have?

I'm hoping we at least have 4 guys that are going to play not necessarily start. But play.

We have alot of holes like you said - NT, DE, ROLB, Oline (weak)

IMO all of these need work before gametime.

I don't expect the number of DB's to change. Considering DB's are also a big part of ST. The only change I see is less Dline, and More LB.

The only change to the secondary as of now is Smith taking Peprahs roster spot.

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Excellent point. And we could maybe even hide Peprah on our practice squad.

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I would MUCH rather have Aaron Rouse than Jaret Bush at S. Besides, Tramon can play our gunner spot.

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I agree - even thou rouse wasnt great - IMO he was much better then bush.

It seems Ted Thompson is OK with our DBs. Signing a fringe player like Smith and keeping Bush he may be thinking that if he can get LBs and DLs that are better, and he is in a decent position to do that, the DBs will look better. Just a thought.

Or if he can draft over a player, the player will just have to go regardless of position. Part of the game.

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ya I was really hoping he'd be eyeing jenkins for our #9 pick but I am doubting that now; unless there is crap up there
ie raji, all the OTs gone, brown and orakapo gone

Now IMO hes going to do raji, or brown or orakpo, or andre IMO and perhaps in this order on availabilty