The Packers officially have both of their first round picks on board. The day after signing 21st overall pick Darnell Savage Jr. to his rookie contract, Green Bay has agreed to terms with Rashan Gary, the team announced in a release.
The Packers drafted the Michigan pass-rusher twelfth overall. Savage was the first of the 2019 first round picks to sign, and the Packers are making quick work of signing their draft picks. The Packers have made a bunch of big moves to upgrade their defense this season, starting in free agency.
They signed pass-rusher Za’Darius Smith away from the Ravens, and safety Adrian Amos from the Bears. Then they drafted Gary and Savage last week, and all four should start next season. It’s safe to say Green Bay’s defense will look radically different in 2019. Gary formed his own agency before the draft, which raised some eyebrows. Clearly it didn’t complicate negotiations at all, as he got his deal done pretty quickly.
Gary is an insane athlete who was widely regarded as one of the top defensive players available in the draft. There was some concern about his lack of statistical production with the Wolverines, but the Packers weren’t bothered. Green Bay reportedly plans to use him at outside linebacker. We won’t know for sure for a while, but so far the first offseason of the Matt LaFleur era seems to be going nicely for the Packers.
Gary’s contract will be a standard four-year pact with a fifth-year option, and he will earn $15.877MM over the first four years of the deal. His signing bonus should be right around $9.567MM.
He gonna be a bust
I could not agree more. Horrible pick. They spent a ton of money at OLB in the off season and then draft this clown. They should have went with Dillard from Washington State. He could play either OT spot or play either guard spot. They invested a lot of money in Rodgers and picking Dillard would have helped protect that investment.
Apparently you can tell the future. You can tell when guys are a bust before they even play a snap? Why aren’t you a GM? Packers paid Turner quite a bit to play RG this offseason. You obviously hope Bulaga and Backtiari stay healthy and you let Lane Taylor/Jenkins battle it out for LG. Not to mention Jenkins their 2nd rounder gives them a pure center backup to Corey. Having Lane Taylor or Jenkins, Cole Madison, Spriggs and McCray in the bench is pretty solid depth too.
Also the Packers play a 3-4 base. Daniels on the RE, Clack DT, Za’Darius LE, LOLB Preston smith and ROLB Gary. Hard to argue the potential this defense has to get after the QB now. Clark, Daniels, Za’Darius, Preston, Gary and Fackrell even had 10 sacks last year.
Bulaga has two chances to stay healthy, slim and none. Brittle Bulaga will be injured before preseason even starts.
The only shot Green Bay has to make the playoffs is if Rodgers stays healthy. Apparently his health is not a top concern of our idiot GM.
One of Ron Wolf’s top regrets was not surrounding Favre with enough talent and enough weapons. Neither Thompson or the current idiot have done enough to surround Rodgers with talent and weapons. When the window closes they will quickly figure out that the only shot this team had at winning hinged on keeping Rodgers healthy and giving him enough tools to work with.
BTW Spriggs is good depth?!?!?! That comment right there just exposed your lack of football knowledge. Stick to baseball Brew Crew because you obviously don’t know what your talking about when to comes to the NFL.
Spriggs as a 9 or 10th offensive lineman on a team is actually not bad at all. Look at other teams 9/10th best lineman and compare. Most of them never see the field. At least Spriggs has NFL playing time.
Also if you follow the Packers at all you would know their issue the last few years has been defense. Rodgers and the offense has no issues putting up 24-28 points a game. The issue is defensively they usually give up 30. With a better defense who will hopefully only give up low 20’s in points per game you won’t have to count on Rodgers for everything
If your going to try to talk smack, get your facts straight. “Defensively they usually give up 30.” FALSE. In 2017 they gave up 30 or more points 6 times. Same with 2018. 12 times over the last 2 years. On average they have given up 24.5 points per game over the last 2 years. League average is 22.6 points per game over that same period.
“The offense has no issues putting up 24-28 points a game.” FALSE. In 2017 they scored under 24 points 11 times. In 2018, the scored under 24 points 9 times. On average over the last 2 years they have scored 21.75 points per game. That is under 1 point per game less then the average point allowed by NFL defenses in that same time period.
You are honestly trying to tell people that giving Rodgers just a little bit of protection and help won’t make a difference for this team?!?!
The idiots that run the show in Green Bay have spent 8 consecutive first round picks on the defensive side of the ball. And have spent 12 out of the last 14 first rounders in defense since they drafted Rodgers. At what point do they realize that surrounding Rodgers with protection and talent is their best move? Rodgers is one of only a few players that can impact a game on both sides of the ball. Offensively he could put up enough points to out score the any other team if he had the right supporting cast (which he currently does not). He can also have an impact on our own defense by keeping them fresh/off the field and by making the other team’s offense one dimensional by having to consistently pass in order to catch up. Very few players can have that kind of an effect on the game and our GM is wasting the remaining years we have with him by not giving the tools to work with.
Couldn’t get 10 sacks in 3 years in college how do they expect him to turn into a double digit sack guy in the nfl
Frank Clark had 11 sacks throughout college…College production isn’t always an indicator of future success, especially numerical stats like sacks. Players may not have been utilized properly / double teamed a lot / etc etc.
Yeah but Clark was drafted 63rd because of it. He then was well developed into a good player. That was a great value by the Seahwks. Gary got picked 12th.
Not saying NFL.com is the end all be all but I think they know more about prospects than we all do. They graded Gary out as the 7th best in this draft. Will he live up to that who knows. But to call him a bust already is crazy. College production means nothing come pros.
Yeah i’m def not calling the guy a bust yet. Although as a Raider fan that has watched his team draft athletes over skilled players, I’ve seen the makings of bust more than I care to admit. Anyway, in regards to people who know more about prospects than us, I have great respect for PFF and they are very low on Gary too. They graded him as 48th player on their draft board.
Going by NFL.com rankings Brew Crew?!?! I bet you thought Detroit hiring Matt Millen was a good idea because he sounded like he knew something about running a football team when he was doing color commentary on TV.
See this is my exact point. I’m willing to bet any amount of money that NFL.com and all the experts/resources they use know a lot more about football than you.
Willing to bet any amount of money on that? How about this, a player drafted where he was taken in the draft should be an impact/all pro type player for years to come. Anything less than that is a bust. So if you want to put your money where your mouth is, if Gary fails to make all pro (not the lame pro bowl player where most of them get the spot because no one wants to go to that event) in his first 2 years, you leave this message board for ever. If he does, I will leave. And I don’t want to hear anything about how he would have if he wasn’t injured because they supposedly checked into his injury history before they drafted him. I don’t want to hear how he had to share time at the position. If he is the type of player you think he is than he will beat out any competition for the spot. I also don’t want to hear how he had to learn a new spot from where he played in college. They also supposedly evaluated that before they selected him as well. And again, if he is the player you and NFL.com think he is he should have no problem doing that.
Ball is in your court Brew Crew.
Your silence speaks volumes BrewCrew. Seems your not as confident in the “experts” at NFL.com as you had previously professed to be. Way to tuck your tail between your legs and run from the challenge.
Devin Bush went 10th overall to the Steelers which was a Michigan lb but not Gary and I think Gary is a dl as well not a lb
The packers are in a 3-4 defense so it makes sense he’s an outside linebacker.
The Pack did a ton to improve the defense but they will regret standing completely pat on offense
They signed and drafted an o-lineman. That was their problem offensively, not skill players.
Homie went 12th the Steelers picked 12th, do y’all not proof read your articles?
Steelers picked 10th..
GTFOH Steelers fanboy
I gotta admit that I do like what the Packers have done so far in the offseason. About the only thing else they could do to improve the offseason is sign MLB Collin Safety Eric Berry and WR Michael Crabtree to give them some more competition and these guys would fit in too. Just going to let Gary play first. I do believe he eventually will be a pretty decent DE in his career
The Patriots picked the right Michigan DE at #77 overall in Chase Winovich. Like Gary, Winovich will most likely be converted into an OLB and all signs point to him being a starter in year 1. Will be interesting to track production between Winovich & Gary. My gut tells me Winovich will be the better Pro, but only time will tell.