FINALLY DONE WITH SCHOOL, BUT GONNA BE A BUSY SUMMER

So it's been over a week since my last post, and I promise to try to not let that happen again this summer. I'm done with school so I'm at home and have already begun working, and I'm going to be a slave to jobs this summer trying to make as much money and do as much as I can to bulk up my resume. I'm glad that this busy week I just had came when it did, so I didn't have to follow up close the Brett Favre situation. As a huge Favre fan, I can't handle it. I even got the point that I said some pretty bad things about him, because I just cannot believe that he is even considering Minnesota. I mean, c'mon, after playing nearly his entire career with the Packers, becoming a beloved icon to Packer fans, football fans, and the entire state of Wisconsin, he wants to cross the borders and wear purple and yellow? Please God, do not let him make this mistake.

Anyways, I'll be bartending a lot this summer as well as trying to bulk up my resume working for a Cape Cod-like summer collegiate baseball league, but I will try to find as much time as possible for the Packers and my blog.

The Journal Sentinel is reporting that Quinn Johnson should step right in as the starting fullback because of his old-school style of bruising lead blocking. The JS also says that B.J. Raji, out of respect for Ryan Pickett, will accept playing the 5 technique, or defensive end, at points during the season, which is good to hear that Raji has some respect. Nick Collins hasn't been present with the team for a while now, but it is not believed to be simply over contract extension issues. Reportedly there is a very serious family situation that is keeping him away, and I hope that everything is alright for Nick and his family. I checked up on Nick Barnett's Twitter recently and, as I have also seen this on other athletes Twitters, he was eating fast food yesterday. Man, if I could afford to eat fast food and still maintain the physical shape and physique that these guys do, I'd die for it. But yeah, not so much.

Well that's about all I have for right now. I'll do my best to post as often as possible. Go Pack go!

HAPPY MAY!

Oh, summer is in the air. Yesterday was my last day of classes as a junior undergrad student, and by this time next week, I'll be on my way home to Long Island for a wonderful summer of working my butt off in order to afford school next year. Yesterday, the Packers announced the numbers that all of the drafted rookies will be wearing in Green Bay (via the Journal-Sentinel blog):

90 - B.J. Raji
52 - Clay Matthews
70 - T.J. Lang
45 - Quinn Johnson
69 - Jamon Meredith
94 - Jarius Wynn
33 - Brandon Underwood
59 - Brad Jones

Exciting stuff for those desiring new jerseys. I honestly haven't gotten a new Packers jersey since at least 2002, and I still have the same Starter brand Brett Favre green. My plans, when I actually have the money to do so, is to get an Aaron Rodgers white #12, but who knows when that will actually happen.

Also, the construction of Nitschke Field is getting close to finished. Plans are for it to be done just in time for training camp at the end of July.

The Packers are looking into newly released former Cardinal Travis LaBoy. I think this makes a lot of sense if you can sign him for the minimum or near-minimum. He is coming off of biceps surgery, but in five years in Arizona had 23.5 sacks and could provide better competition with Clay Matthews than Brady Poppinga.

Many people in the Packer blogosphere prefer Mike Maycock of the NFL Network to Mel Kiper and Todd McShay of ESPN, and our favoritism gained validity during the NFL draft. From MJD at Shutdown Corner, "Mike Mayock is the mack daddy of mock drafting." In a scoring system explained on MJD's post, Maycock got 10 out of 32 of the first round picks correct, while Kiper got 8.5 and McShay only got 6.

The first video of Madden 2010 gameplay has been leaked, and I found it over on First Cuts (The Sporting News). This is one of the few video games that I still spend money on, so I was very excited to get to see the new gang tackles in this years game.

Nick Barnett has been a very good and consistent "tweeter." This morning he posted a "twit pic" of his wife on a plane. Quite a funny caption for all of the worries going around about the Swine Flu. "Is my wife parinoid or being safe on plane with the new swine flu?" Actually, it's not really that funny at all. But this is a football blog, I'll stay away from medical issues.

Well that's about it for the morning here on Beers, Brats, and Beating the Bears. I might check back in later this afternoon, but if not, have a great first weekend of May! Hope the weather is beautiful wherever you are.

INTERESTING PERSPECTIVE ON TED THOMPSON'S GENERAL MANAGING

Packer Update took an interesting look at Ted Thompson's strategy of being pretty quiet during free agency and building his team from within (ie the draft). Only 17.7% of the players currently on the Packers roster have worn another team's jersey in a regular season game. This is much lower than a team like the Minnesota Vikings, at 29.3%, which Packer Update claims is near the league average.

Because I am a big baseball fan, this reminds me of the New York Yankees. Although I am a big Yankee hater, when they were winning championships in the 1990's, it was with players from in-house that they brought up through their system. Since, they have become a team that delves into huge free agent contracts, they have had the league's highest payroll every year, yet they have not won a championship since 2000. While the numbers in baseball are quite different, in relation, it follows the same idea. In 1998, a historic season with 114 regular season wins and a World Series championship, only 54.06% of the players on the Yankees had played for a different team. Compare that to the 76.29% of the San Diego Padres, the team that they swept 4-0 in the World Series. In 2008, the world champion Philadelphia Phillies had only 57.5% of their players that hadn't come up through their system.

Maybe the comparison between the NFL and MLB is farfetched, but hey, when you're a Packers fan sitting around watching other teams make moves to improve themselves, and Ted Thompson is sitting still and banking on the draft, you gotta reach for something. Even Nick Barnett thinks that some help could be used.

APRIL FOOLS JOKES ALREADY BEING PLAYED IN AND AROUND TITLETOWN

Cheesehead TV posted "Peppers To The Packers: It's Official" and then linked to a Youtube of the muppets. I'm loving this Twitter thing. Nick Barnett, just minutes ago, tweeted "Hey every one. I have some bad news.. I have just been traded to the Minnesota Vikings :-( " Oh man, April 1st it is, and tweet on Nick Barnett, tweet on.

AS PROMISED...

A follow up to Nick Barnett's tweet about meeting new defensive coordinator Dom Capers... "Ok meet with capers so far I have a really good feeling about him.. Also the strengh program is real good!!" Barnett also added soon after, "Kevin Greene seems like he's going to be intense LOL imagine him moss together whoa!!!" Nick seems to take his involvement with Twitter quite seriously; in the past twelve hours he has tweeted on his own nine times, in addition to responding to fellow Twitter users' questions. I like this.

TWEET, AND NOT THAT CARTOON BIRD

Twitter is the new thing to do. I mean, everybody's doing it (except me I guess). Railbird Central informed Packers fans that Nick Barnett has an account on the site that encourages you to let people know what you're doing. Athletes like Charlie Villanueva and Shaquille O'Neal have become well known for their use of Twitter. Villanueva "tweeted" during halftime of a Bucks game vs the Celtics. O'Neal recently tweeted, "Anybody in portland touches me rt now will get two tickets I'm at redstar cafe," and later updated fans that "100 people n the prtland area just came for tickets wow portland twitterers r niiiiiice." Clearly, fans pay attention to this. Nick Barnett has been using his to update fans of his rehab progress and also, like O'Neal, just the general "where are you" or "what are you doing." This morning, Barnett tweeted "Going to meet capers today I'll tell you guys later what I think." And after really looking into Twitter for this post, I can guarantee I'll be checking back with Barnett later to see what he thought of the new Defensive Coordinator.

THOSE DARNED ACL'S

Two players important to the Packers over the last few years are notably trying to recover from ACL surgeries. Nick Barnett, according to Mike McCarthy, is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a surgery that took place only 17 weeks ago. He suffered the injury in a November 9th game at Minnesota, and while it was originally only diagnosed as a bruise or a sprain, depending one where you read, but the torn ligament ended his 2008 season. Barnett's been spending part of his off-season in Arizona with his family but he has been working hard and his rehab has been progressing very well.

Mark Tauscher is a different story. He too suffered a torn ACL, on December 7th vs Houston. His rehab has not been moving along as well as Barnett's, according to coach Mike McCarthy who has been in constant contact with the Wisconsin alum who will be 32 by the time the 2009 season starts. Coach McCarthy also says he doesn't believe Tauscher would be ready to play before October 1st. This is important because he is currently a free agent, and that leaves a whole at the right tackle spot, at least for the first month of the season if not the whole season if they decide to not resign him. While the team has many young offensive lineman on the roster, none have proven to be ready to start at the right tackle spot. Options include Breno Giacomini, Tony Moll, and possible rookies taken in next months draft.

Other notes on the injury front: Cullen Jenkins is recovering from a torn pectoral muscle and arthroscopic surgery on his ankle. McCarthy says that he is looking good but cannot do everything yet. He would consider it a bonus if he was ready any time before training camp. And finally, oft injured and yet to prove his worthiness of the 16th overall pick in the 2007 draft, Justin Harrell has not been cleared to participate in all physical activities yet, but pain is apparently no longer an issue. 2009 looks to be Harrell's shot at proving he belongs. With the switch to the 3-4, his size at 310 pounds slates him to be a run stopping defensive end, and the lack of depth on the defensive line will give him all of the opportunities he could need to show the organization and fans why he was picked so high two years ago.

NOT FAR FROM TRANSITION TO 3-4?

Pat Kirwan over at NFL.com started a short series of updates he will be giving on the Packers transition from 4-3 to 3-4. And the title of his first article is "Packers not far off from making 3-4 defensive conversion work." Kirwan talks about how it took Dallas nearly 2 years, New England three first round picks on the line, and the Jets a few years to get the right personnel in place for the 3-4, and he argues that the Packers may be much closer than most people think.

At nose tackle, Kirwan thinks Ryan Pickett is more than adequate to get the ball rolling, but he believes he needs a young backup to rotate in and give him some rest. As for the outside linebackers, Kirwan says that Aaron Kampman is even more suited for the switch from DE to OLB than Greg Ellis was for the Cowboys. He states that Kampman should be the least of the Packers' issues in the conversion." I'm not fully on board with that idea yet. Brady Poppinga and Brandon Chillar are currently slotted to fill the spot opposite Kampman, but Kirwan suggests the Pack might look towards the draft for this spot as well, citing the names of Larry English, Aaron Curry, Everette Brown, and Brian Orakpo (Brown and Orakpo would be converted DE's as well).

The defensive ends the Packers currently have for the 3-4 are Cullen Jenkins, who should fit in just fine, and Mike Montgomery, who is a question mark and has a lot to prove. Kirwan says that the Packers should make a play in free agency for the Cowboys' Chris Canty or the Chargers' Igor Olshansky. I guess he's not very optimistic about Julius Peppers coming to Lambeau. At strong inside linebacker, A.J. Hawk should excel, as long as Ryan Pickett can hold down the middle and keep demanding double teams. At weak ILB, Nick Barnett, as long as he recovers from his ACL injury, should be just fine.

Finally, in the secondary, this is where I truly question Kirwan. He says that there isn't much conversion from 4-3 to 3-4. It has been well documented that the Packers bump-and-run corners will need to learn to sluff off and play a lot more zone, something that Al Harris and Charles Woodson may struggle with. He believes that if the Packers make a free agent signing in the front 3 and draft a ready to play outside linebacker, they could make the transition in under one year. That is a VERY bold statement, and I'd like to see the green and gold make a few good moves and picks before I'm ready to jump to such a conclusion.