The Green Bay Packers have had a pretty good offseason by most accounts but what some people may not realize is just how good the team has done when it comes to Free Agent signings. This isn’t a matter of fans enjoying the brand new players the franchise brought on board, this is a situation where scouts and front office types from around the league have stood up and taken notice of what Ted Thompson and company have been doing. There are even a couple of scouts who believe the Packers have made some of the best moves of any team this offseason.
Bold words for Green Bay
In an NFL offseason that saw the New England Patriots make a trade for arguably the best receiver available, it’s saying something that at least a couple of members of the league believe the Green Bay Packers have made the best moves of any squad. This was far from conclusive.
There were plenty of people who thought the Houston Texans managing to unload Brock Osweiler was a heck of a move. The difference there is that Osweiler wasn’t a free agent acquisition. Osweiler was a nice trade for the Texans but the Packers were swinging deals with players that shored up the offense without giving up anything else.
The Packers and the free agent deals that changed the offense
While the team still hasn’t definitively acquired a running back that can be a sure thing as a game breaker, it did sign two tight ends.
The acquisition of both Lance Kendricks and Martellus Bennett rocked the football world when they went down, precisely because opponents of the Packers knew the offense was going to be getting quite a bit better.
One scout, who did talk to ESPN made it clear this was the kind of move that might make Green Bay the cream of the NFC crop.
“This isn't quite Mark Chmura and Keith Jackson, but these moves give Mike McCarthy a lot of playcalling flexibility to put stress on safeties and linebackers.” The scout added he knows that the Packers coach is well suited to figure out how to run the offense with the two tight ends on the roster.
There is bound to be plenty of two-tight end sets.
This doesn’t mean that Thompson, McCarthy and company have already clinched a Super Bowl victory. There’s still quite a bit of football to be played. After all, the Packers started off the 2016 season looking pretty rough. Perhaps Kendricks and Bennett will be the keys to making sure Green Bay opens and closes the season on top of the football world when the Super Bowl dust clears.