Morning Buzz: Turning toward the draft
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.
We’ll start with Pete Dougherty’s latest column on a subject I know a lot of Packers fans have been frustrated with over the last few seasons. Chiefly, why the Packers always seem to be snakebit when it comes to injuries. But how does reality match up to perception?
To gain an outside perspective, I contacted a couple of the sports scientists I’d spoken with three years ago about GPS data. They’re in Australia, where sports science had about a decade head start on the NFL (and other major sports in the United States) in using GPS to improve performance and reduce injuries.
After corresponding with them, I came away with the same feeling I had going in. Football is a violent game, and players are going to get hurt. Often. It happens to every team but probably seems worse for the team you follow closest.
It’s a game of attrition, as Clay Matthews said last year, almost to the point of last man standing. But it mainly depends on who gets hurt, not how many. And not just the quality of the player matters, but the quality of his replacement, too.
I responded to reader questions in my weekly mailbag on Friday afternoon. One response in particular, regarding the perception that the Packers are “wasting Aaron Rodgers’ prime” seemed to ruffle a few feathers. You can read it all here.
Bob McGinn wrote on the two new Packers tight ends and the toughness they bring to a position that has sorely lacked it in Green Bay for a long time.
Sometimes collegiate scouting reports are rendered obsolete as a player’s career unfolds in the pros. However, in interviews with three personnel men last week and many others over the years regarding both players, it’s remarkable how little the narrative has changed on Bennett and Kendricks.
“Bennett is way better than Jared Cook,” one personnel director said. “And he’s smarter. And he’s not as selfish. He’s going to be loud, but you’ve got to live with that.
“I think (Kendricks) is a good get. He’s a flex tight end. He’s still got some juice.”
Scouts couched their assessments of the two players with the proviso that age could affect them as early as the coming season. Bennett, who just turned 30, has played nine seasons after a three-year career at Texas A&M. Kendricks, who turned 29 in January, played six seasons for the Rams after spending five years at Wisconsin.
Elsewhere, The Power Sweep looks at the possibility of Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers in the Packers' defense:
Packers quarterback Joe Callahan is keeping busy this offseason:
Interesting observation from Rob Demovsky on Ted Thompson’s aversion to signing outside guys to big-money deals:
Seriously cool colorizations of an old-school Packers photo:
No.
The NFL world was rocked Sunday by major revelations about the health of two of its former players:
It sounds like Marshawn Lynch and the Raiders could actually happen:
Seriously though, who’s counting…