Tundra Talk: A look at the Green Bay Packers moves this week
In this week’s Tundra Talk podcast, host Joe D’Aloisio is joined by Lombardiave.com staffer Dan Dahlke to discuss personnel moves made by the Green Bay Packers this past week.
With the painful loss in the NFC Championship a couple of weeks ago to the Atlanta Falcons, the offseason came abruptly and unexpectedly for the team and it legion of fans.
Packers GM Ted Thompson was quick to part ways this last week with players we all expected probably wouldn’t be members of the team’s 2017 roster.
James Starks and Sam Shields suffered head injuries this past season and both were expected to be released.
Starks has been a reliable yet underwhelming running back over the past few seasons for Green Bay. He never really added the punch to the running game that the Packers coaches expected.
He was a decent backup to Eddie Lacy, but the “thunder and lightning” brand we thought may be the answer, was mediocre at best.
Not only because Starks was injury-prone during his years in Green Bay, but the Packers let him walk because it was time to revamp that backfield.
Whether that revamping means cutting ties with Lacy is something that still remains to be seen.
But the first step with releasing Starks is done and the Packers move on in that department.
As for Sam Shields, his value to the Packers became pretty clear when he went down with a concussion in the first game of 2016.
In addition to looking at the impact that the release of those two players, D’Aloisio and Dahlke also spend some time looking ahead at the pending free agents that Thompson must make decisions about.
Those players include Jared Cook, Eddie Lacy, T.J. Lang, Nick Perry and Micah Hyde
Defense wins championships and because the Green Bay Packers’ defense took a terrible turn for the worse as the 2016 season progressed, the call for GM Ted Thompson to do something about it has intensified.
Though it’s impossible to know what’s going on in the head of the Packers’ GM, we have to expect that cornerback and even defensive line might be a focus of the draft once again this spring.
With all that in mind, the staffers from Lombardiave once again take to the airwaves to describe who they feel would be good fits for Green Bay.
Who should the Packers focus on? Who should Ted Thompson shy away from?
Are there cornerbacks that might be available to the Packers with their late first round pick? What about linebackers or defensive linemen?
If Thompson goes offense, are there running backs or offensive linemen he may target? Do the Packers need depth at wide receiver?
Dahlke and D’Aloisio will describe what they see as the team moves ahead with free agency and planning for the draft.
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By listening to this podcast you will have a better idea about the players who might succeed in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Take a listen … and get ready for the coming weeks of free agency and the NFL Draft.