(from comments on the Journal blog)

Jennings catch rate – 53%
Nelson’s catch rate – 62%
Jones’ catch rate – 56%
Quarless catch rate – 56%
Jackson’s catch rate – 94% (17 passes)
Kuhn’s catch rate – 57%

That is the percentage of passes caught that are thrown to you, not just drops.

% passes caught
Finley – 80.8 (6th in NFL)
Driver – 71.8 (12th in NFC)
no one else above 67.7%

Passing the ball as much as we do, there will be drops. The fact that Jones has dropped some balls after obliterating coverages is beside the point. I can guarantee you that our WRs are more upset over a drop, any drop, than all of our fans combined.

Sure, Nelson has a better catch rate than Jennings and Jones, that doesn’t change the fact that James and Greg have better YAC numbers.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/receiving/sort/receivingYards

Jennings (76 catches/125 targets) was 4th in the NFL in YAC last year, Jones (50/87) was 55th, Nelson (45/64) was 70th, and Driver was 73rd (51/84). As you can see from the targets, Jordy may have the best hands of the WRs (Finley has the best hands on the team), but he gets open less often than many of them do and/or is targeted less often than many of them are.

I think we should hold onto Jones, he is a very good route runner, blocker, and opens up a lot of underneath stuff for Jennings and Driver, with the amount of coverage attention he demands

Good article on the TE depth/need for the Packers. I think if you get another very athletic TE (like a Kendricks) you eliminate the need to re-sign James Jones or draft a receiver to replace him.

I trust whatever they would like to is for the betterment of the team.

I think Finley’s future has less to do with the other TE’s and more to do with James Jones’ future with the Packers and any potential WR’s that fill in that big 5 role. If you think about it, any big 5 is hard to defend if there is talent on the field; regardless if you have a beast TE or not. Finley helps, but if you have Jennings, Driver, Jordy, a player with similar skills as Jordy/Jones, and a random TE – youll look ok. That’s why we continued to play so well on offense last year.

Dont get me wrong though – I’d love to have Finley around for a long long time. He could be the most dynamic TE the Packers have ever had.

Last – I dont think he turns into a TO. Driver, Jennings and Rodgers and too humble to let that happen. There is a reason we dont have any primadonnas on the team (on offense) – and its because of their leadership.

I don’t know how much he likes it in Green Bay. It would help if he loves this team and where he’s at.

Also I agree on the “we don’t need him cause we won superbowl without him.” People need to realize it would be near impossible to repeat the season we had last year. With the injuries etc and still going the distance.

We got through it last year, but its not an easy task to bring home the Lombardi. You want to have everything you got, do everything you can (as long as your smart about it like TT has been), to win championships.

1. Can he stay healthy? If he misses games next year again it diminishes his value as I think he might viewed as a guy who can’t stay on the field.

2. Character. TT the Packers know this far better then we do. He seems like a decent guy but I do see some ego and maturity issues with him. If Finley has a good year and gets PAID my gut tells me with a mini-T.O. on our hands. MM and TT manage a locker room better then any team in the league and I trust them on evaluating and managing Finley.

The franchise tag would also be an option for him if it still exists. Last year the tag $ was $5.9 million for a TE. Probably be pushing $6.5-$7 million a year from now. Not a huge number for an impact player. The last two elite TE’s to sign contracts were Vernon Davis and Antonio Gates. Davis signed a 6 yr deal worth $42 million. ($7 million a year) Gates signed a 5 yr deal worth $36 million. ($7.2 million a year) So….a top tier TE is currently worth about $7 million a year.

If injury and character are not an issue I can see TT extending Finley during the season for around a front loaded $6 million per year contract which would be below market value. Finley would get his money early which would remove the risk of losing the big contract because of injury and would give him a BIG pay bump in 2012. He is set to make $1.2 in 2012 and with a $6 million base and big roster bonus he probably get a $10 million raise in year one. Hard to turn that down even if under total contract is under market value for an elite TE. Same thing Jennings and Rodgers did with their deals. It’s just a matter if Finley wants to stay in Green Bay and if his ego allows him not to be the highest paid TE in the league.

On another note, I don’t want to be a wet blanket but the Packers and fans can’t have the attitude that we won it all without player X so we don’t need him. The 2010 Packer team was good enough to win a Superbowl but it wasn’t because they were clearly a superior football team in comparison to the rest of the league. They certainly didn’t march over a pretty anemic NFC. This team was 8-6 at one point and it took an incredible run and some luck (thank you DeSean Jackson!!) to get it done. They let the Eagles and Bears and Steelers hang around in those playoff games and it isn’t a huge leap to say they could have lost any of those games. They will need to get better to repeat.

Last year, when Finley was healthy, we were not playing smart offense. We force fed Finley the ball. It was like we HAD to get him the ball each play. I don’t know why, I don’t know if MM was just making it a 95% Finley gameplan, or if Rodgers was getting too excited and just wanted to give Finley the ball each play.

We know he’s got talent. His size, physical abilities and his hands, being able to make very athletic catches over defenders. It doesn’t mean it’s him or nobody. If teams want to double, triple cover him or scheme however way against him, thats fine. We got other guys more than capable of making huge, explosive plays, and can go the distance. It only gets easier when teams divert less attention to our other guys.

Rodgers is smart enough to know where to go with the ball. If the coverage is tight on Finley and no room to throw, get it to the other guys. And when it’s loose on Finley, he’ll be catching passes all day.

Finley has the talent. No one can question. There are concerns about his attitude and stuff, but he’s on the right team where it can be held in check. The only thing that makes him a weak point is if we don’t use him properly. Use him wisely, and your not stopping this offense. Period.

Unless he was a 10 game wonder who just for some reason decided to show crazy athletic ability. But I’m going to continue to think, this guy is a freak, and one if not the best TEs out there. Pending his health. Hopefully his body doesn’t let him down, like some players out there who unfortunately, can’t shake injuries. It happens, sadly.