A few games into the season, defensive tackle Letroy Guion was part of the problem.
The Green Bay Packers defense was a sieve and part of the reason for that was the middle of their defensive line, where Guion had taken over for the injured B.J. Raji. Guion, who the Packers signed after Minnesota released him in the offseason, looked lost and like a bust — if you can call a guy released by the Vikings a bust.
His absence in training camp likely played a part in that. Guion showed up with a hamstring injury and didn’t practice for the first time until the week before the season opener.
As terrible as Guion looked early in the season, much of that can likely be attributed to rust and unfamiliarity with the Packers’ system.
Things started to change when the Packers played Minnesota in week 5. Guion showed up with four tackles and 1.5 sacks.
From there on out he’s been solid. Guion finished the season with career highs in tackles (32) and sacks (3.5). Those numbers are also well above Raji’s 2013 production (17 tackles, no sacks).
Guion signed a one-year, $1 million deal in the offseason and the Packers have decided they’d like to keep him around beyond this season.
“We’ve had some very, very early conversations,” Guion’s agent Seth Katz said. “The Packers are obviously focused on the postseason, but we know how they feel about him, and they know he wants to be back. We’re not making it a secret that he wants to stay in Green Bay.”
All well and good as far as we’re concerned. Guion is just 27 and he’s certainly been an improvement over Raji and Ryan Pickett, who played nose tackle for the Packers in recent seasons.
As an aside, if the Packers end up investing in Guion, that probably signals the end of the line for Raji in Green Bay. He too had signed a one-year contract prior to the season after finding little to no interest on the free agent market.
With Guion in the fold, the Packers seemingly have little to no use for the underachieving Raji.
Raji may be dirt cheap keep in mind.
Good point. I think that at the veteran’s minimum he would be a great addition.
The thing that surprised me about Raji is during the buffalo and Tampa bay away games Raji was on the sideline with the team. Not sure; however I believe it is unusual for a player on IR, and on the last year of a contract to stay around the team, let alone go on road trips with the team. There is some sort of mutual interest otherwise the Pack would not take an IR player with no future contract on the road and Raji would would hang with the team
He has been occasionally great in the past, and he is also one of TT’s guys (picked before CM3!). I think that it would nice to have both of them on the squad – partially for depth in case of injury, but also so the big guys can stay fresh by rotating in and out during the games.
Exactly, you can never have enough big guys who can play (which Raji has shown he can).
Good point Howard
They shouldn’t pay a premium for either one. I do enjoy taking somebody from the shitty Vikings and turning them into an asset however.
As opposed to the shitty Vikings taking a player from Green Bay and turning him into an asshole.
or the Dikes taking an asshole from GB and turning him into a tackling dummy for other teams pass rushers.
I remember everyone, monty namely, trashing him at the beginning of the year and I said to give the guy a break, one week of practice after missing the entire preseason isn’t enough to make a guy effective
Yeah, you weren’t the only one.
All the world loves a fat man.
yep, u r absolutely rite: e.g., when i think of fatties like Suh [and Sapp before him] i just get this urge to log on to oversize.com and buy a dozen look-alike stuffed animals for all my friends and family…
So maybe Cobb’s agent has had some “very, very early conversations” with the Packers and isn’t saying anything about it. Will be very difficult to replace Randall. Go Pack Go!!!
I’d like to keep them both. And I really like what I see in Daniels. Other than him, it’s really hard for me to evaluate defensive guys (except for the DBs and Matthews) because like most fans, I watch the ball most of the time. For instance, I really couldn’t judge Neal, Perry, Jones, Peppers, or Barrington.
don’t have to worry about peppers if we heard correctly that he signed a 3 yr. contract with the pack to leave chicago?
That is correct, though the thought is that the Packers may not retain Peppers for his $9.5 million price tag next season.
If we win the Super Bowl they will cut him in the offseason. If not, who knows…?