While most of the talk in the Green Bay Packers locker room centered on departed guard Josh Sitton on Monday, the team’s priorities also became clearer.
Fellow guard T.J. Lang isn’t one of them either.
It had been rumored that the reason the Packers released Sitton on Saturday was because he was discontent about his contract. Both he and Lang were scheduled to be free agents after the season. The Packers reportedly told Sitton extending his contract wasn’t a priority. That they were going to focus on younger players first.
Sitton says he wasn’t angry about it and expected to play out the year.
Lang confirmed that conversation happened on Monday. He was told the same thing by the Packers.
“I think the reports of that causing any tension in the building were false,” Lang said. “Josh and I both got that news the same day. Obviously, we were a little disappointed. It’s not the news anybody wants to hear, but once we kind of took a day to kind of get past it, we moved on and we got back to how we normally go about business.”
Except Sitton will now be going about his business with the Chicago Bears, where he has a new three-year deal. Lang will be playing out the string with the Packers and, we now assume, signing elsewhere after the season.
Meanwhile, the Lane Taylor era begins at left guard now.
So who are the Packers’ priorities for contract extensions? Our guess is Eddie Lacy, J.C. Tretter and possibly David Bakhtiari.
Bakhttiari won’t be a priority until they know what they do or don’t have with Spriggs.
To whom it may concern,
This Sitton move is so wrong, on so many various levels. I don’t know if there are any fans, reporters, players, coaches, nfl talking heads that aren’t scratching their heads over this move and wondering, wtf was he thinking.
Show me one person, anyone, anywhere, who is excited about this move, and think this was a positive move for this season, in any capacity whatsoever.
Sincerely,
The voice of reason
We’ll have our chance to complain properly when Lane Taylor goes down with a bad injury and then Ted will think why didn’t he hold onto one of his best players. Seriously, I just KNOW this is going to happen, and it could go down as TT’s biggest mistake he’s ever made. You have the best playing QB of all time, WHY take this chance??? I haven’t said anything objective just yet, but when Lane goes down, I’m going to Lambeau field with a bullhorn if I have to. Thompson should NEVER be able to live this down!
I’m not so sure Taylor will even be injured, as i’m more inclined to think his spot as a starting left guard will be short lived. I’m far more concerned with Rodgers getting injured, and the passing game suffering because of this move.
Has anyone, ever tried to make sense of, why Ted would sign Bulaga, to 5 years $33,750,000 in 2015 with injury history, missing 16 games over 5 seasons with an average of $6.7 mill/year in 2015. But releases an ALL-PRO, Pro Bowl player in Sitton in a season we are looking to make a Super Bowl run? Just to save 6 million, when we were already 9 million under the cap? Plus creating negative feelings and losing focus in the locker room right before the season. And just to put the cherry on top, Sitton now provides the Bears with priceless information of the Packers playbook and nuances, and all his other personal knowledge of the team. And that’s without bringing up the drop in talent and depth.
SOMEONE….Tell me the good part about all this.
TT has eternal consciousness; he’s got that going for him- which is nice.
No shit hey..
Are we talking about the same light that offered Raji 8 mill?
The only good part is if you are a Vikings fan like me. But even then it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Or my mind. Or my mind’s mouth.
Sure, it hurts a dreaded foe but, at what cost? I hate to see a great player treated this way. I know, he makes great money, don’t feel sorry for him, blah blah blah. But if you play that game too long and too much pretty soon you won’t care if people intentionally drive through red lights because, after all, it is not murder.
You can look at it as whether this is right or wrong or, more practically, does this help or hurt the team. His level of play now is the same it was last year and they knew his contract — a very reasonable one — all along. He plays at #6 guard in the league level and was paid something like #13. He is 30 but look at Evan Mathis still kicking rear at age 35 or Minnesota’s Joe Berger, a Center/Guard who was rated the #1 run blocker of all linemen last year and is now 34. The release at the end of training camp can only mean TT and MM had no idea what they were going to do and made an impulsive move for no practical reason or it was intentional and strategic as an act of revenge. Read that MM was angry at Sitton for some innocuous but accurate comments after the regular season loss to the Cardinals last year. They bide their time and then pounced for revenge. Said revenge actually failing miserably.
Looking at it practically this move definitely hurt the Packers. No way Taylor will be as good and no way they could be certain no injuries will occur either. It is funny because MM during his press conference was talking about team chemistry like that explained everything and would be a get out of jail free card for him. But this move in no way helps team chemistry. It actively harmed it. TT and MM have the job to help the Packers succeed and they did the very opposite with this move — while also, in the end, aiding a division rival.
Karma is coming.
A direct press conference question for Killer….why are you on this site so much if you are a Vikings fan? I have never been on a Vikings site. I just don’t understand.
I enjoy debate.
A lot of posters on this site have been trying to guess who I am or what I do for work. You would not believe me if I told you so I will simply provide a number of hints and clues. I assure you all of them are 100% true. Even with these you will never guess who I am.
1) I used to live very close to Wisconsin.
2) My schedule is flexible because, in a sense, I work 24/7.
3) I have little respect for Governor Scott Walker.
4) I live in a white house.
5) I work in a white house.
6) They are the same white house.
7) This white house is very old.
8) I live on the East Coast.
9) This coming January I will be — barring unforeseen major events — officially unemployed.
You’re the foreman of the last plantation in America? Well I’m sorry to hear your way of life is about to end; DAMN that 13th Amendment!
BTW, NO ONE has been guessing, not even a passing fancy-at what you do for a living, as 10 it’s patently obvious and 2) in the indefatigable spirit of Smokin’ Jay Cutler we DON’T
CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE. :)
Yep.He’s younger, plays a more “premium” position, and obviously they think highly of his skills/don’t mind gambling with his injury history.
Because he was a first round pick and tackles are hard to find would be the explanation. Unlike guards which, you know, grow on trees. Imagine the blow back if Bulaga gets hurt again this season.
I think this is going to cause the first part of the season to be a semi-disaster, but I believe there has to be more than just salary cap issues for cutting Sitton.
From interviews with McCarthy, clearly he had issues with Sitton. Maybe he was a cancer on the team. Maybe this was just a way to get Tretter and Linsely on the field at the same time. There’s more here than we know about.
By the reactions and words of his fellow lineman, i find it hard to believe he was creating dissension on the team. and even if you reached to that point of thought, who cares, play out the year.
There may be more to it than we know. But in the minds of everyone who writes and speaks about this, nobody can even think up a scenario as to what it could be, that makes sense.
I think once Lindley is back we move Tretter to LG
I tend to agree with that, as i posted that previously.
Yep.
As far as I know We haven’t heard from Rodgers on the subject of Sitton. I wonder if they had a falling out and he is responsible for him getting the axe
That’s quite a reach…..smh.
Part of Rodgers plan so he has less pass protection maybe?
DUH, isn’t that obvious. Here’s a ready-made excuse for running around in the pocket like a beheaded chicken and throwing off his back foot on EVERY play, he’d have to be insane to not want Sitton gone. ~~
The only way cutting Sitton would be acceptable to me is if the team had a very good reason to believe Sitton would not make it through the season because of chronic health problems. I think the Bears signing Sitton indicates they do not believe Sitton has any chronic health issues. We may believe the Bears organization includes a bunch of idiots making decisions. The previous groups may have been. The current decision makers at the Bears are far more competent.
Yes maybe Sitton pissed McCarthy off by indicating the game plan against Arizona in week 16 was bad. The more I look at this I think it is just Ted saving money, and granted that is a part of Teds job, however if I was a players agent I would try my hardest to make sure I had bonus money spread out all through my clients contract term. Larger bonus less salary if you can get it. I believe if Lang had a contract that ended this year with very little dead cap and Sitton had Lang’s approximate 1.1 dead cap Sitton would be around and Lang would be cut.
I think Ted hates dead cap more than he hates 30 and older players. Except for players like Collins, Sherrod, and Harrell who were injured, most players cut have substantially below 1 mil. In dead cap when cut. Hawk and jones are exceptions at 1.6 and 1 mil., however both of those two were substantially past their prime and in Jones case there never was a prime. I have not liked Masthay since 2014 as a punter. I do wonder if Ted would have cut Masthay this year if he still had more than 300K in dead cap. After Sitton I do not believe so.
A few current players must be looking at there current contracts and are wondering. Shields and Burnett for next year. Granted they have higher than normal dead cap, however cutting those two would save substantial cap space, and maybe that is the reason for extra young safeties and corners this year. The two that should now be screaming for contract extensions next year are Rodgers and Matthews. Ted could cut both of those two in the spring of 2018 with no dead cap and over 30 mil. in cap savings. That would be very similar to what happened to Woodson and Clifton.
I believe Ted needs to go before the 2018 season. The new GM needs to make the decision on Rodgers and Matthews, not Ted.
My take is that neither Sitton or Lang were in the Packers plans for 2017 and beyond. Having to replace both at the same time next year had disaster written all over it (see Whale and Rivera). Therefore they had to release one of them this year. The deciding issue between to two was potential missed time due to injuries. Sitton’s back and foot are more of a risk than Lang’s shoulder. So yes, 2016 is much more likely than not, Lang’s last year in Green Bay.
Fist logical explanation ive heard and actually a pretty good one.
Ted Thompson is a sneaky, vindictive, mean, cheap, small man. McCarthy
is his scared puppet. Packers. com reads like Pravda during the Cold War.
People disappear without explanation (Sitton, Favre, Jennings). Busts from
the draft are kept too long to protect TT’s own reputation. Holes in defense
are not filled, more important to have a surplus in the budget than to win
the Super Bowl. No one is made to answer for the Seattle meltdown.
Thompson has been a disaster and a disgrace. Put him on the next Uber
out of town, and throw McCarthy in the trunk too.
McCarthy in the trunk? Are you insane?!
Right…no way does he fit in a trunk.
Ted Hawthorne speaks truth! I feel bad for you that Thompson shares your first name. You phrased everything beautifully. You should be a writer!
Love it!!