Green Bay Packers: Five downs off-season edition with Bear Goggles On
By Josh McPeak
This off-season episode of Five Downs takes us to a familiar place. Joining us this week from the FanSided site of the rival Chicago Bears, is Site Expert Parker Hurley. While Parker writes about the Bears for Bear Goggles On, I believe his heart dwells in Pittsburgh with the Steelers.
Over the next few episodes we will try to first catch up with the NFC North rivals in order to see how their off-season is going.
Without further ado, let’s jump right into Five Downs.
McPeak: So we will start off with the obvious here. What was your initial reaction to the Mike Glennon signing (prior to the Trubisky news)?
Hurley: My initial reaction to the Glennon news was probably contrary to many’s reactions. It looked like a good deal. The Bears are only on the books for $4 million next season if they want to move on from Glennon. Sure, they could have signed Brian Hoyer, and knowing that they traded up for a quarterback the better move for a bridge may have been Hoyer. However, there is no ceiling to Hoyer. There is still an untapped ceiling to Glennon. Whether or not he reaches any ceiling is worth one-year of higher than expected money from a team that is not pressed up against the cap.
McPeak: Once the NFL Draft started, how shocked were you to hear the Bears traded up to get Mitchell Trubisky and what does that do to the mindset of Mike Glennon?
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Hurley: I was shocked. I assumed they would have sat back at three and took the best player available. Whether that would have been a quarterback, we will never know, but I thought any of the quarterbacks, Trubisky included would have been there at pick three. I do not think this will have a big impact on the psyche of Glennon, though. Glennon signed his deal this offseason knowing he had one season to earn another big contract. He still has one year to earn a big contract. That contract will not come in Chicago now, but he will get a chance to start this year and if he performs, he will get a chance to start next year. Same idea as before he Bears drafted Trubisky.
McPeak: What would you grade each NFC North team from A~F on their off-season?
Hurley:
Packers A
Bennett is the main reason why. They should also be able to get some sort of impact from Josh Jones and Jamaal Williams or Aaron Jones. Those were great value picks.
Vikings B
They added offensive line help in free agency and in the draft and added Dalvin Cook
Lions C+
They helped out their offensive line in a big way. However, they did not add enough on defense and reached for a few of their draft picks.
Bears C
The Bears offseason is essentially an incomplete until they find out what they have in Mitchell Trubisky. Most of their draft picks and some of their free agent moves were more about the team down the road than the team they have.
McPeak: Sticking with the NFC North, in what order do you see the division finishing up for the upcoming 2017 season?
Hurley:
Packers
Vikings
Lions
Bears
McPeak: From the view of a rival fan base, what is it like to watch Aaron Rodgers compete against your team?
Hurley: It is one of the most frustrating and helpless feelings. It is like riding the tower of terror. You know it is going to drop, but you do not know when and how far. It can be spontaneous. Whether he is getting four on third and three or 50 on second and six at this point you come to expect it.
Next: Ranking the NFC North backfields...
A big thanks goes out to Bear Goggles On as well as Parker Hurley. You can follow both of them on Twitter by simply clicking on their name in the previous sentence.
We look forward to seeing you back for another episode of Five Downs very soon!