This past season, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers led the NFL with 40 touchdown passes. He took a hot hand into the postseason and guided the club to wins over the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. The team was cooled off considerably by the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC title game. Rodgers did a lot with a little when it came to supporting the Green Bay running game. Injuries played a big part in the team’s inability to maintain a ground attack. Rodgers was dependent on his arm, and his wide receivers and that will only get you so far.
Solid resumes
But now general manager Ted Thompson has already dipped into the free-agency pool twice, which is very rare for the Green Bay Packers. Of course, you can hardly blame the organization when it got the chance to grab a pair of quality tight ends in Martellus Bennett and Lance Kendricks. The former continues to make his rounds in the NFL, last season grabbing a Super Bowl ring with the New England Patriots. This after previous stints with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Chicago Bears. In 2016, he was third on the club with 55 catches, good for 701 yards and a team-best seven TD receptions. Meanwhile, Kendricks spent six years with the Rams but was recently released by the franchise that made him a second-round pick in 2011.
He comes off a season in which he set personal bests for starts (16) and grabs (50).
Impact in Green Bay
When healthy last season, tight end Jared Cook gave the Green Bay Packers attack a different dimension. He was the kind of downfield threat at the position that Rodgers hadn’t enjoyed since the days of Jermichael Finley. Now the team’s new tight-end duo can not only make big players, but Bennett is also a solid blocker.
He will help the Pack’s running game as much as anything. But more importantly, especially when it comes to Rodgers, the Green Bay passing attack may be more dangerous than it has in years. The moves don’t cure all of the team’s woes, but you have to crawl before you walk. Thompson still has to address the defense, and that figures to come soon.
