Morning Buzz: Peppers wants to play
Welcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers and the NFL from around the web and here at PackersNews.com. Grab a strong cup of coffee and get caught up on everything you need to know about the Packers.
While the Combine getting ready to wrap up in Indianapolis, most of the NFL world will be turning it’s attention to free agency, which officially opens on Thursday.
Ryan Wood concludes his free agency series with a look at Jared Cook.
Of the 11 unrestricted free agents the Packers will consider re-signing, Cook might be most important. By now, the Packers have seen the difference in their offense when they have a playmaking tight end, and when they don’t.
Last season, they saw that difference in a matter of weeks.
Cook’s return from injury was perhaps the biggest catalyst for the Packers’ midseason, “run-the-table” turnaround. Statistically, his presence changed the offense overnight. The biggest difference could be seen in his quarterback.
Most Packers fans know the Packers are rarely active early on in free agency, so it makes sense to look forward to April’s NFL draft, which Bob McGinn does with his latest column.
With the league year and free agency starting Thursday, the Packers’ primary needs would appear to be cornerback, inside linebacker and outside linebacker. Their secondary needs seem to be running back, defensive end and interior offensive line.
This draft looks like a perfect match for the Packers.
If the draft class still looks like this when the selections are made April 27-29, general manager Ted Thompson should be able to pick a top-flight player at an area of need in the first round even though the Packers won’t choose until No. 29.
One of the positions the Packers need to address is outside linebacker. Michael Cohen and I looked at how the position might shake out next season and how TJ Watt could be an interesting addition.
Michael also wrote on Watt and his possible fit in Green Bay.
Elsewhere, you can bet Jared Cook’s catch in Dallas will pop up on Top Plays lists for a long time:
Cheesehead TV looks at the possibility of a return engagement by Davon House:
Things are reportedly going slowly in the Packers' talks with Cook:
Zach Kruse does a good job explaining why Packers fans need not worry about the slow pace of negotiations:
Rob Demovsky and Vaughn McClure of ESPN write that Julius Peppers plans to play at least one more season:
Kato Kaelin is joining Titletown Soundoff’s podcast later this week. Yes, that is a sentence I just typed:
NFL Network ran a couple of cool features this weekend showing how Combine drills relate to play on the field. In this one, they look at Kenny Clark’s performance in Indy last year:
Former Packers personnel executive John Dorsey talked with the MMQB about the frustrations in dealing with quarterbacks who simply aren’t ready to play in the NFL:
Interesting look at who might replace Chris Berman on Sunday Countdown over on ESPN:
Completely off topic, but too good to ignore, former Texans running back Arian Foster thinks he could win in a fight against a wolf: