2013 NFL Draft Preview: Packers

Roberto Ruiz

As a personal fan of the Green Bay Packers, this is my favorite part of the off-season. This, my friends, is the real free-agency for Ted Thompson and the Packers; this is where Thompson likes to add depth to his roster. With a light free-agent crop this year, Packer fans lamented less than usual when Thompson failed to make a “splashy” signing. Still, many wished that one of the defensive lineman who visited Green Bay had stayed for a little longer. Come on guys, Thompson only adds a free-agent if he sees real value to the signing, and value is very hard to find when it comes to free-agency. Few and far between are the Charles Woodson's, who are devalued enough and still have enough game in them that singing them actually makes financial sense. Why sign a veteran defensive lineman for more money and fewer years when his skills are declining and Thompson can draft a younger, cheaper option who could potentially contribute for years to come? Frankly, it is Thompson's willingness to let free-agents leave that gives him the ability to resign players like Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, and BJ Raji, so lets give him some credit.

Anyways, this years draft should have every Packers fan shaking with glee, waiting to see what Thompson pulls out of his hat. To be honest, a trade out of the first round entirely is a real possibility with rounds 2-3 bringing so many prospects with similar talent levels. Unless a player falls into his lap, a la Aaron Rodgers in 2005, expect a draft similar to the Jordy Nelson draft of 2008. In that similarly deep draft of 2008, Thompson nabbed Nelson, Jermichael Finley, Josh Sitton, and Matt Flynn after trading his first round pick. The next year Thompson saw Clay Matthews falling and traded up for a second first-round pick and grabbed the soon to be All-Pro. Rest assured, if there is a willing trade partner, Thompson will be trading out of the first-round, and that isn't a bad thing.

Lets say that there Thompson is stuck with this pick, in which direction will he go? I am hearing a lot from draft “experts” about possibly drafting a safety here. The Packers have many needs, and while Thompson tends to eschew (and rightly so) needs for best player available, I don't see safety being high on his priority list. What the Packers have is four young, potentially dynamic safeties who Thompson should not be ready to give up on. Did we really see anything out of Sean Richardson or Jerron McMillian that made you think there was no way either of them could be starters in the NFL? Come on, Unless Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro falls there is no way Thompson is taking a safety with his first pick. Running back? Give me a break. Has Thompson ever done anything to insinuate that he values the running back in Mike McCarthy's offense? If Eddie Lacy is the pick here, I would be worried about McCarthy's future as head coach. Thompson has to be going back to the trenches with this pick. Before last years draft, Thompson had spent three straight top picks on offensive or defensive lineman, and despite some hits (Raji, Bulaga), there are still obvious holes on both sides of the line.

ESPN's NFC North blogger Kevin Smith said it best: “Congratulations to the Packers. No one ever knows for sure who a team is going to draft, but this year, no one really has anything more than a guess on the Packers. They appear to be interested in improving their defensive line, at least based on their limited activity in free-agency, and (Georgia defensive tackle) Jenkins seemed the best of what was still remaining on the board. I don't mind saying he was even more of a guess than usual.”

So who knows who the Packers are going to pick, or where they are going to pick. One thing is certain: this will be fun.

Wait... What?

As previously noted, I am a fanatic. Last night hurt. I lost sleep. My thoughts are hardly coherent. I am not angry with the referees(they're out of their element.) I am not angry with the Packers. I am not angry with the Seahawks. I am LIVID with Roger Goodell.

I honestly have no idea where to go with this. I don't want to point out how greedy Goodell is being, because that has been covered a million times. I don't want to point out just how much these replacement referees are changing games. I don't want to sit here and complain about the number of blown calls on the last two drives by Seattle was inconceivable, unbelievable, inexcusable. I really want to ignore all of that.

It is hard, though. What makes it harder is that the usually quiet Packer players are not biting their tongue, either.

These referees were influenced by the fans. Influenced by the infamous "Twelth man".

Goodell needs to remedy this situation. I do not expect him to change the call and give the victory to the victors. I do expect him, however, to issue a public apology to the Packers and their fans, and for some of us, owners.

These referees are getting worse every week. Roger Goodell is doing the one thing that he has preached for the players to avoid: hurting the "shield". Screw you, Goodell. Screw you and your "I am a God" mentality. Screw you and your hypocrisy. Screw you and your arrogance. Screw you and your blindness. I. Hate. You. You have ruined the biggest sport in America for me. You have ruined the game. You need to be fired. It is easy enough to find your email and phone number online, though I doubt they still reach you given the sheer number of responses you must have gotten by now.

I almost made it. I almost wrote a (mostly) coherent blog. I almost maintained my professionalism. I almost did. Almost.

On a more serious note: I am boycotting the NFL until the real refs are back. I have not missed a football Sunday by choice for as long as I can remember. I don't want to. The problem is that as long as people are watching, Goodell has NO REASON to pay the refs what they want. It is a business, after all, and business is booming. It is time to change that.

"Imagine you make a painting. It isn't perfect by others' standards, but it's your painting. You are proud. Then someone takes a shit on it." -Tom Crabtree

You can clearly see Tate wrestle the ball away from Jennings AFTER Jennings is down.

You can almost understand a referee calling it a touchdown in real time, if they didn't watch the instant replay afterwards (which they did), and if they were influenced by the screaming fans.

Almost.

The Downside of Fandom

One realization every fan needs to go through is the realization that sports is disgusting. As fans, we need to ignore the fact that who we are watching are people that spent their entire lives training to play the game. Their families depend on them playing at a high level. The career's of these players will usually end by the time they are 40, if not sooner. The players entertaining us will spend the rest of their lives struggling to get out of bed in the morning because their knees are shot. Yet, we ignore this; and when a player makes a mistake in a crucial moment of a game, we chastise them for making the mistake. We act like we are the ones truly suffering. We act like we could have done better (like any of us can even begin to comprehend what is going on in the game). When we see a player tear every muscle connected to his knee while making a cut, we bemoan the fact that we now have to deal with a backup in the game. Very few of us have the thought that this players life will be so drastically altered, that this players family will be so drastically altered, that they will never, ever, be the same. We ignore all of this because (some of them) make millions of dollars every year.

I would Love to make millions of dollars every year (the percentage of players who make millions, by the way, is very small). I, like many Americans, though, am not good at saving money. Many of us laugh at how many athletes are broke after being out of the league for 10 years. We laugh at their stupidity, and point out that we would never be so foolish. How many of us, if we were to lose our job today, would be able to live to the end of the year on our savings? I am guessing not many. Very few people are good with money, and even fewer acknowledge when they aren't so good. If I were making, say, 10 million dollars a year, would I be able to live in a 300,000 dollar house in a pretty good neighborhood and put over 95% of my money in savings? Doubtful. Be honest, neither would you. (To those of you who said they could, ask yourself this: Would you have been able to when you were in your 20's?)

We have no idea the constant pain that these players are in. I have seen the many packs of ice piled on Ersan Ilyasova's knees. I have seen Mike Dunleavy limping away from the stadium, knowing that he would have to return tomorrow. I have seen Clay Matthew's hands, Desmond Bishops knuckles, and Charles Woodson's fingers. Disgusting. I feel disgusting. Will these guys be able to comfortably lift a cup of water when they retire? Are the nerves in their hands irreparable?

I don't blame anyone for being a fan. I have seen all of this and I remain a fan, does that make me the most disgusting?

I don't care how much any of them make. At any second, they could lose it all, their families could lose it all, and have to live the rest of their lives on the money they made in 5 years. What about the Adam Greenberg? He trained his entire life only to see one pitch in the Major Leagues. He was hit in the head, on the very first pitch he saw. He has never played in another Major League game. He suffers every day from the aftereffects of that pitch. He will never get a chance to make millions. Remember TJ Ford? What about Gary Berry? Nick Collins? Eric LeGrand? Korey Stringer?

These are the hands of New York Giants offensive lineman David Diehl...

And we haven't gotten in to the mental side of things...

Why Read Me?

Hello Everybody,

My name is Roberto Ruiz, and I love sports. In a lot of ways I am your casual fan. I live and die with seemingly every play in football (pitch in baseball, shot in basketball, etc.) What differentiates me from the common fan is that I was at one time a professional writer. I sat in the press box, I interviewed and joked around with the players, I was hated by some coaches, and I got to meet the very same people that I had idolized not too long ago. The biggest lesson that I took away from attending these games was that I did not have what it took to be a sports writer. I did not make enough money doing this to be able to live, instead having to turn to a full-time job to supply me with regular income while I was trying to handle being a full-time student at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Do I love writing? Like you wouldn't believe. Do I love sports? Words can't begin to explain my love for two things in my life: my fiancee, and sports. Did I have the energy to wake up at 6:00 am every morning, and not arrive back home until (usually) midnight? At first the adrenaline rush of realizing my dream allowed me to survive. What suffered was my education, my relationships, and my mind. Think about this for a second, how many big sports writers do you know that don't have grey hair? As I sat in press row, I looked at who I was sitting next to. Everybody from the Journal Sentinel had grey hair. Everybody who worked at ESPN Milwaukee had wrinkles on their forehead and a full family at home. I would talk with my colleagues and they all marveled at my age, my stamina, and my ability to rattle off obscure stats. I would love to realize my dream and become a sports writer for a major publication, but the reality is that for now that has to be put on the back-burner. In the meantime, I will periodically write a blog to keep my writing relatively rust-free. It doesn't hurt that I love giving my opinion. So, read if you want to, pass it along if you feel like it, and bash my opinions if you must.

Sorry about that previous paragraph. I wrote that more for myself than for you, but that was basically meant as an intro into who I am and why I am not just another couch quarterback. I (sometimes) know what I am talking about. I will try to write at least twice a week. Probably once on Sunday and another at some point in the middle of the week. I am always open to topics, so if you have some let me know at facebook.com/Roberto.Ruiz.Maki

Thanks for reading!