Finally, some actual news came from the Green Bay Packers on Monday night as they re-signed strong safety/special teams ace Derrick Martin to a two-year contract, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Terms were not immediately announced.
Martin was scheduled to be a restricted free agent. With a long list of players set for restricted free agency, it’s sort of surprising Martin was the first player to be taken care of. Remember, the Packers haven’t even tendered anyone yet. Still, it is Derrick Martin, after all, so getting a deal done was likely a fairly easy proposition.
(Feel free to call Nick Collins’ people soon here, Teddy…please?!?!)
Martin provides little as a safety – as we all saw when he started in place of an injured Atari Bigby early in the season – but is a bona fide special teams demon. Not an Earth-shattering move, by any means, but not a bad move as this team needs all the special teams help it can get.
Why do I say that? Well, mainly because I watched the Packers this past season.
(Rimshot)
I also say that because, just over a week ago, Rick Gosselin, the legendary Dallas Cowboys/NFL reporter for the Dallas Morning News, published his annual special teams rankings for the 2009 season.
Our beloved Packers were second-to-last in the league. That’s right – only Carolina finished worse under Gosselin’s ranking system, which compiles scores in 22 various kicking game categories. Included in there were last place finishes in punts inside the 20 (a mere 15) and penalties (an astounding 28).
Gosselin’s list provides a fascinating look at the ying and yang nature of special teams.
On the ying, special teams are extremely important. Take the Packers, for example. In at least two of their losses – at home to Cincinnati and at Tampa Bay – poor special teams play was a direct factor. It hurt Green Bay in a number of other games, too, although the Packers were still able to come out victorious.
That brings me to the yang, in which special teams are seemingly not that important at all. The Packers finished 31st and still won 11 games. Your two Super Bowl teams, New Orleans and Indianapolis? Those squads finished 29th and 28th, respectively. The top three teams on the list? Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Buffalo – three of the worst teams in the league.
In other words, yes, it’s nice if you are good in the special teams – but it won’t kill you if you aren’t. I don’t mean to knock those people who say special teams are 1/3 of the game – even the great Bill Belichick once said he thought more special teams coaches should be considered for head coaching jobs – but, well, you’re wrong.
Still, Green Bay needs to take the ying approach to special teams during the offseason. Going into 2010 with the same guys on that unit would be an admission that the Packers don’t really care about special teams at all. That’s only going to put more pressure on a still-young offense and defense. That can not happen.
So what do they do as far as making changes?
As much as people want his head on a platter, firing special teams coach Shawn Slocum is not the answer. Last season was his first in charge of that unit and a change would put Green Bay on its third special teams coach in three years. You can’t keep flipping coaches like that – not if continuity is your goal. Slocum should get one more season. Now, if we’re in this same spot after 2010, then yes, he must be gone. But not yet.
It’s a different story with the players. The numbers on punter Jeremy Kapinos’ awful 2009 season have been published over-and-over, so I’m not going to write them again here. Needless to say, he was terrible. The Packers must, must, must get a new punter for next season as they have not had a steady, viable option at the position since Craig Hentrich left for Tennessee (one of Ron Wolf’s worst decisions ever). My B.J. Sander scars are still tender, so I’m against drafting someone, even in the seventh round. A top-level free agent, though? That just might work.
Same goes for the returner spot. Many fans want restricted free agent Will Blackmon back (he’d come cheap and is dangerous when healthy, they say). Not me. He’s hurt too often and his lack of reliability hurts the team at two spots (corner and returner). I’ve already said this team should look for a corner in the second round. If that player can also return kicks and punts, great. If not, I’d look for a wide receiver/returner in, say, round three or four. Texas’ Jordan Shipley or Clemson’s Jacoby Ford would suffice.
I feel a little differently with regards to Mason Crosby. Yes, yes, I know I spent most of the second half of the season saying he should not return for 2010. Part of me still thinks that, but I doubt the team cuts Crosby flat-out. It’s more likely the Packers will bring in some serious competition for Crosby, via a free agent or an undrafted rookie. Even if Green Bay used a seventh-rounder on a kicker, I wouldn’t terribly mind. Crosby MUST be pushed in camp, by whatever means necessary.
It’s hard to say what might or might not be done with the coverage units. That stuff changes from year-to-year, so to speculate on who will or won’t be on those units would be unfair. I do know that Martin and Spencer Havner are very good and more players like them must be either found or cultivated. I also know that Slocum must preach more discipline within these groups, both in terms of lane responsibilties and (in particular) penalties.
Again, special teams are not 1/3 of the game. But they can greatly serve and assist the offense and defense and the Packers must make sure they have a unit capable of doing so in 2010.
-Chris Lempesis
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