Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Packers Sign FOUR free agents: Smith and Smith, Amos and Billy Turner

The first couple days of NFL free agency is for suckers. Most of the teams that spend big early come away disappointed. You know, like how that TE Jimmy Graham signing didn't go well last year. So it's making me very nervous to see big spending from the Green Bay Packers at the start of free agency.

At least the players they did sign fit what I would ideally hope for in a free agent. They're all in their 20s, all signing their first deal after their rookie contract expired (except Turner), and they've all missed few games to injury. As a bonus, Amos's signing weakens a division rival.
They badly needed young, productive edge rushers, and here's their first one. He's typically been a part-time player for the Ravens so he shouldn't stop the Packers from using a high draft pick on another edge rusher. The money is huge but that's what edge rusher cost in free agency.
The other Mr. Smith seems like who the Packers hoped they would get when they re-signed Nick Perry a couple years ago. He looks good against the run too, which is something Packer edge defenders struggled with last year, but he's getting paid because they'll need him to rush the quarterback.

As an added bonus, neither one of the Smiths cost a 2nd round pick (like the 49ers are trading to the Chiefs just for the right to sign Dee Ford to a big contract). I'd rather have had Trey Flowers at his price than either of the Smiths at their price, but Flowers probably wasn't an option once his old Patriot friends in Detroit came calling.
A year ago I was coming to terms that the Packers were going to overpay Ha Ha Clinton-Dix for his mediocre play because they had no one anywhere near as good as him at safety. A year later, the Packers have Amos and an extra 3rd round pick from the Redskins. Amos is expensive but his cost wasn't at the top of the safety market, he's really solid, and he weakens a division rival as a bonus.

And finally, what the hell?
Ben Fennell's work is exceptional and the best he can say about Billy Turner is that "he'll join the mix." He might beat out McCray, who was terrible last season and I don't want to see back in 2019. Would any Packer fan want to pay McCray $16 million over the next two years? The best I can say about Turner is that he's really big and he looks very strong.

I went back and watched the first half of Week 17 of the Broncos game against the Chargers. Turner was terrible. I know, it's a small sample size, but that first half confirmed everything I read about him. In that game he committed at least one holding penalty and he lost his balance too easily in pass protection. On a couple occasions he let a Charger interior rusher run right at Case Keenum after a strong push made Turner lean back on his heals and open up a lane to the QB for the defender. He looks really stiff. Byron Bell was awful last season and Turner looked confused in space like Bell did many times last season. Forget what I said earlier about paying McCray $16 million over 2 years, how about paying Bell $16 million over 2 years?

I can see how Turner could "play" tackle too (probably as well as Bell). The Packers really need a backup tackle for the inevitable Bryan Bulaga injury but in no way is that backup Turner. I hope they use all their mid-round draft picks on offensive lineman, one of them has to be better than Turner.

The Turner signing might be the low point in Packer free agent history but the other free agents should work out. While Nick Perry was basically signed at the same point in his career as the Smiths, neither of the Smiths are as injury prone as Perry. Both of them, along with Amos, fill major needs. There could be buyer's remorse with any or all of these three in a couple years but right now they look solid. And hopefully Turner's contract is off the books by 2021.
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