A day later, defensive lineman Ricky Jean Francois is a member of the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers had Francois in town for a visit on Wednesday and signed him to a one-year deal on Thursday.
After visiting the #Packers, DT Ricky Jean Francois is signing a 1-year deal for $3mil with GB.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 23, 2017
There’s plenty to like here for the Packers. The deal is a modest one and leaves the team with next to no commitment to Francois. Since Francois was released by Washington last week and isn’t technically a free agent, he also doesn’t count as a negative in the compensatory draft pick formula.
At 30, Francois brings a veteran presence to a defensive line is now made up of largely youngsters. He also gives the Packers some insurance for Letroy Guion, who can’t seem to stay off the suspended list. Guion will serve a four-game ban to open the 2017 season, the second suspension of his career.
That raises another question. Could the Packers be far from parting with Guion?
They were quick to dispatch Mike Pennel after his second suspension, last season. We wouldn’t be surprised if the Packers followed suit with Guion.
Seemingly the only thing that’s been keeping him around was a lack of defensive line depth. Fracois, who had 32 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 2016, helps provide that.
EN 
ES 
DE
Merely a depth guy. Not a bad signing, but he is no Ryan Pickett.
Whats w the nom de plume ?
$10 says he was born Richard Johnny Frank…
D’accord, mon ami. Il veut être appellé Jean-Francois. Il est un vrai artiste du tackle!
Nous ne pouvons qu’espérer mon jeune ami
Can he cover Julio???
Cheap, no compensatory penalty. unextraordinary player. Classic TT ink.
Whenever someone is signed, especially on the defensive side, you give them a plus or minus score, or status quo. Will this player help us get to where we want to go, is he an improvement.
So far we’ve seen…
Losing Hyde…minus
Gaining House…plus
If you view this cat as Guion’s replacement…it’s status quo.
If you don’t, do you view him as an upgrade, or just a body?
Look, i never heard of this dude, probably the same as all of you, so i can only go by stats, and a couple obvious observations.
Stats….This guy’s production reflects that of a 7th round pick, or UDFA. He’ll give you a sack, every 9 games. He’ll give you a FF every 106 games…maybe. He’ll give you a couple tackles a game. That’s it brother. 7 seasons stats don’t lie.
Observations…..
1) If Washington, whose defense always sucks, thought anything of this guy they’d keep him, he’s cheap.
2) This again, is his 4th team after 7 seasons. Teams try him, then dump him.
3) Am i the only person thinking TT overpaid a bit? You couldn’t get this scrub for 2 million?
One could argue he is depth…and that’s cool. But this defense is screaming for players who can make plays, not sit on a bench.
This guy brings nothing to the table.
But thanks for trying Ted.
What a joke you have young studs in the stable turn them loose
A “bridge guy”
I like the 1-year deals cause it keeps guys playen hard $$$
He is supposedly good in run defense. We will see. He is 30 so his play will start declining soon
2 tackles a game…which is higher than Raji’s average i guess.
The thing is….run defense isn’t really a huge problem. But then again, what do i know.
Bye-Bye Letroy, go back to the Vikings idiot.