Now that the Super Bowl has wrapped up (cue Richard Sherman is sad .gif), it's time for us to start looking ahead to the opponents the San Francisco 49ers will face in the coming season. Just as in previous offseasons, this is a multi-step affair. We'll start by reviewing each team and listing out free agents and potential needs. Then, once free agency and the draft get going respectively, we'll revisit each team in order to see how they fared. This season, in addition to the NFC West, the 49ers will play the AFC and NFC North as well as teams from the same divisional position from the NFC South and NFC East. We'll start by looking at the NFC North with today's post on the Green Bay Packers.
Brief Review:
The Packers had an interesting season that exploded in the NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks. It seems pretty clear (in my HIGHLY subjective opinion - so debate this all you want in the comments section) that Aaron Rodgers is winning in spite of Mike McCarthy at this point. I think everybody in the world except for McCarthy thought that the Packers needed to be scoring touchdowns from the one yard line, rather than field goals.
The Packers did face a lot of adversity this year; it's true. A totally healthy Aaron Rodgers probably changes that game a lot. And, the Packer's defense did shore up in the course of the season when Clay Matthews moved to inside linebacker. But, at the end of the day, the Packers blew a game that they probably could have / should have won. The team is still pretty good, even if they do have some interesting choices to make soon.
All told, the Packers went 12-4 last season and won the NFC North.
Free Agents
Unrestricted free agents (courtesy of NFL.com): Tramon Williams, CB; B.J. Raji, DE; Bryan Bulaga, OT; Jarrett Bush, CB; Jamari Lattimore, ILB; Matt Flynn, QB; John Kuhn, FB; Randall Cobb, WR; Letroy Guion, DT; Davon House, CB; Scott Tolzien, QB; DuJuan Harris, RB.
Restricted free agents: Don Barclay, OT; Jarrett Boykin, WR; Sean Richardson, DB
For 49er fans, it's fun to see Scott Tolzien pop up as an unrestricted free agent. I doubt the new coaching staff really cares, but it's an interesting name nonetheless. You'll note, though, that Matt Flynn is also a free agent, begging the question of who will be the Packers' backup QB. The last couple of seasons have been tough on Rodgers, so a competent QB who can manage/win a couple of games is a must.
The big name on this list, though, is WR Randall Cobb. Cobb is a huge reason as to why the offense works as well as it does. From what I understand, Rodgers agrees. He has lobbied GM Ted Thompson to keep Cobb around - and I imagine that Thompson is going to do his best to keep him around.
Potential Needs:
I mentioned back up QB above; Cobb (or a WR) is probably also a need. As is ILB, though Sam Barrington might be an answer to ILB for now (if not longer), and the Packers have been grooming Carl Bradford this last season. I would also look for the Packers to bring in some CB depth given the fact that Tramon Williams and Davon House are both free agents. Free agency will likely also force the Packers to bring in some d-line depth since Guion and Raji are free agents.