The Jets Will Take Mike Pennel, Thank You
Defensive lineman Mike Pennel has an NFL home again.
The New York Jets claimed Pennel on waivers on Monday. He was released by the Green Bay Packers on January 9, after their wild card victory over the New York Giants.
The move was somewhat surprising with the Packers in the midst of the playoffs. However, Pennel had then been suspended twice during the 2016 season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
He opened the season with a four-game suspension and closed it with another one. Pennel was eligible to return to the Packers’ active roster for the start of the playoffs. Instead, the Packers decided to leave him inactive for their first game before cutting him.
Since he was released during the playoffs, Pennel became subject to waivers the day they were over.
Would Pennel have made a difference for the Packers during their playoff run? Well, can he play defensive back?
When he wasn’t rotting away on suspension, Pennel was disappointing during the 2016 season. He finished with just seven tackles and a pass defended in the eight games he played. This came after a 2015 campaign in which he looked like he was blossoming into a nice player. Pennel registered 25 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in 16 games (five starts).
It’s hard to be productive in the NFL when you’re not focused or reliable, though. The latter obviously affected the former with Pennel when he was with the Packers.
Now the Jets can try to solve that problem. We couldn’t imagine how he might be more distracted in New York than Green Bay…
5 Comments
Recent Posts
Pennell’s probably going to get a 10 game suspension….Nobody cares.
What i do care about however, is how this team can fix itself. The most obvious, is getting rid of any or all of the 3 stooges. But that isn’t happening, so lets take a quick peek at our salary cap space, and our own free agents.
The Packers are currently projected to be 31 mill (ranked 18th), under the cap. 40 million if they release Shields.
Now here are our own free agents and their projected value. These are only UFA.
1) JC Tretter = 7-8 mill/year
2) Nick Perry = 8 mill/year
3) Jared cook = 3-4/mill
4) Eddie Lacy = 4-5mill/year
5) Micah Hyde = 2.5-3 mill/year
6) Don Barclay = 1 mill/year
7) Christine Michael = 1-2 mill/year
8) Brett Goode = 1mill/year
9) Datone Jones = 3 mill/year
10 TJ Lang = 6 mill/year
We can argue those, but it’s close enough. Taking the low end, that’s 36 million, plus about 5 million for the draft, so 41 million. we can discuss if they keep Lang, sign him lower, or even whether they keep Lacy. I don’t know, i don’t have all the answers.
But in a broad stroke, this is what we have. In my mind, we only have about 30 million or so, because Ted always likes to keep about 8-10 million.
Plus, will they cut Shields? Probably, but nothing would surprise me.
So unless they want to cut Mathews, Cobb, Bulaga…that’s what you got.
We really aren’t in a position to go free agent shopping.
I agree on most prices, except for Tretter’s, which looks like written by his agent. Those 41M are still not a lot if we plan to get Lang, Cook, Hyde and Perry. Heck, in an ideal world, Hyde would be a utility player or a good backup at S or CB, but given the fearsome foursome we have at CB, more is asked from Hyde. So, around 20M would be at Ted’s disposal after getting the guys I named. Say 5M are needed for the draft picks. If we are lucky enough, he will use half of that to get one FA and sit on the remaining 7-8M. I know, that gets carried over to the following year, but maybe the time to make a strong push is now, not “next year”, as always. Or… who knows, maybe he is aware that with this defense we have little chance, so he will wait for the next two drafts to reshuffle it and only then make the strong attempt.
Keep in mind, they’ll also want to sign Schum, Elliot, and Thomas.
Also, i wouldn’t be shocked if Raji’s agent gets a phone call.
JMO — but you CANNOT re-sign Eddie Lacey if your Ted Thompson and Green Bay. Why? That’s $5M wasted on an overweight, otherwise unproductive RB on a team that throws 60-70% of the time with a decent RB already in place.
Agan, JMO, but the NFL is a passing league — I’ve always said this, you don’t need a strong running game to win in the NFL, much less an expense one. New England just won the fucking Super Bowl with LeGarrett Blount and James fucking White. White costs less than $900K and Blount (a 7 yr NFL veteran) is worth $760K — and we’re going to pay an overweight, injury prone, unproductive RB $4-5M to carry the ball less than 20-times per/game in a pass heavy offense? $5M per/year puts Lacey in in the Top-10 of NFL RB in terms salaries for the 2017 season and he’s nowhere near that level of efficiency.
I know Montgomery is hard to trust, but he’s a much better fit for this offense than Lacey (if he can stay healthy himself) he’s cheaper, faster, more efficient in the passing game and more athletic out of the backfield. Pair him with a 3rd/4th rounder and a low-end FA signing (e.g. Christine Michael on a cheap $900K) and save the rest of your FA money for what really matters (Bouye or a difference maker on defense).
Of all the problems with Green Bay — I’d say RB should be the least of anyone’s worries. Montgomery is perfectly capable IMO of carrying a decent load after a productive off-season of prepping for the role.
Just my opinion…..
I agree…Ultimately the market or 1 foolish team will set the value on Lacy. But here’s the thing, teams won’t be as forgiving as the Packers have been about his weight. He’ll have to take off serious poundage, and actually keep it off. Even if he fails in free agency because he weighs 265, don’t be surprised if we sign him on the cheap. But then again, watch the Patriots sign him for 2.5 million with performance incentives and weight clauses (he’s better than Blount). And watch him take his body seriously, because……the Patriots will demand it, like the Packers should have.
I’m having trouble picturing Ty as a 3 down back, only because his blocking is seriously bad. He needs to be coached up bad there. Ty, Michael, Ripkowski running the ball as committee and 2 rb’s on practice squad…just in case. Maybe catch a decent one in the 5th or 6th.