Neal & Quarless Return to Green Bay

Green Bay Packers have yet to sign a free agent in the first three days of free agency. This makes fans mad to no end which is surprising since this is the exactly how every March goes for Green Bay. Honestly, I have no idea why multiple Twitter users waste time and energy to fire tweets to radio personalities, journalists and others bitching about the philosophy. Things aren't changing. Well Green Bay made two more moves in the past couple days by bringing back Mike Neal and Andrew Quarless on both two years deals with Neal getting around eight million and Quarless for three million. Both players bring a great deal to the table moving forward.

Sometimes, it is lost on fans and people looking at Green Bay that Neal was a second-round draft pick. He has a wealth of talent. Neal is going to be used as a hybrid player for the next two years at Green Bay. While it might make sense to keep him at one position, Neal can be a guy that moves around in a three technique or standing up off the edge. That's rare to have in the National Football League, but it appears Neal's true calling is rushing the quarterback off the edge standing straight up.

It gets lost on people through all of the bad things that happened on defense last season, but Neal filled in pretty well for Clay Matthews. He led the team in quarterback hurries last season and seemed to have a knack at finding where the quarterback was on a frequent basis. Green Bay does not have a large amount of those players. After Matthews, Mike Daniels, the list starts falling off a bit, and I would probably slate Neal third. There is no reason why he should not be considered a starter or battling for the starter position opposed from Matthews. Neal being back with the team will only help them in the next two years as they try to strengthen their defense.

Quarless is someone whom could never stay healthy. He always battled through injuries, but people still see
the potential with him. Seven teams put out feelers on Quarless which is nearly a fourth of the league meaning  the rest of the league thinks there is still a ceiling there. I would tend to agree as he will only be 26 years old once October rolls along and showed glimmers of being a reliable option. He did not drop the ball as much as years past last season plus he had two straight strong games against Atlanta and Dallas last season catching seven and six balls for the tune of 66 yards and a touchdown in both games. Now hopefully, this does not stop Green Bay from adding another tight end through the draft or free agency though.

Quarless is a good player, good option to have, but I do not think he is a number one tight end. They add an Owen Daniels who was in for a visit yesterday, visiting Washington as we speak, or get Eric Ebron, Jace Amaro or Troy Nicklus in the draft, that's totally okay. Jermichael Finley does not seem like an option at this point so let's not discuss that avenue until it presents itself, but Green Bay needs to have more than just Quarless at the tight end position.

All and all, the free agent start for Green Bay has been a fine one. They might not be signing the big name guys, but Packers are bringing back players who will help the team for next season. Good to see, and just remember, free agency is a marathon, not a sprint sometimes.

Charlie.