Vikings agree with DL Dean Lowry

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@JimmyinSD said:

@Bullazin said:

@purplefaithful said:
Why any vitriol?

Nothing wrong with this signing; they need more bodies competing along the DL, especially with losing Tomlinson and probably Z'Darius too. 

We are all getting old and crotchety, except Jimmy, hes just crotchety. 

Yep,  still a few months of middle age left for me.

...then over the hill like the rest of us. 

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Packers Lose Lowry to Vikings, Leaving Paper-Thin Defensive Line

Dean
Lowry, who signed with the rival Minnesota Vikings on Friday, had a
career-high five sacks in 2021 and played in 101 consecutive games.

• Bill Huber
• 15 hours ago

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – As they transition out of the Aaron Rodgers era, the Green Bay Packers are a team with many needs.
Defensive
line, following the free-agent departures of Jarran Reed to the Seattle
Seahawks on Wednesday and Dean Lowry to the rival Minnesota Vikings on
Friday, is incomprehensibly thin and perhaps the biggest need of all.
The
only players on the roster who have played a regular-season snap are
stalwart Kenny Clark, 2022 first-rounder Devonte Wyatt and 2021
fifth-rounder T.J. Slaton. Jonathan Ford, a 2022 seventh-round pick who
was inactive all season, and Chris Slayton, a seventh-round pick by the
Giants in 2019 who’s never played in a game, make the words “depth” and
“chart” seem incompatible.

The
Packers surely will target the defensive line early in next month’s
draft, and they’ll likely to target the bargain-bin group of veterans
after the first waves of free agency are complete.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Vikings gave Lowry a two-year deal worth $8.5 million.
Was Lowry a great player? No. But he was as reliable as a good pair of slippers.
Until
going on injured reserve for the final two games of the season with a
calf injury, Lowry played in 101 consecutive games. He played in all but
one game as a rookie, then was a perfect 96-of-96 until the injury.

Lowry wasn’t dominant but he provided thousands of steady snaps.
Pro
Football Focus has a stat called run stops. Essentially, it measures
impact tackles, and it mirrors Green Bay’s win/loss grading system. For
instance, a tackle on first-and-10 that holds the play to 3 or fewer
yards, a tackle on second down that holds the play to less than half the
remaining yardage or a tackle on third down that prevents a first down
is a run stop/win. In 2022, Lowry had more run stops Kenny Clark despite playing 63 fewer run-defending snaps.

However,
with Reed taking over his role on passing downs, Lowry went from five
sacks and 42 pressures in 2021 to a half-sack and 17 pressures in 2022.
A fourth-round pick in 2016, Lowry pocketed $24.4 million from Green Bay over seven seasons.
“It’s
going to be a lot of moving pieces and we’ll see what happens with Dean
and J. Reed,” Clark said after the season-ending loss to Detroit. “But
we’ve got a lot of young guys that’s been stepping up. When Dean got
hurt, T.J. stepping into the nose role, he did a tremendous job, just
standing in there, plugging things up, making plays. D-Wy, he’s been
improving each and every game.

“We’ll
have to see what happens and how the coaches see fit what spots they
want to put guys, but I’m definitely proud of the progression that T.J.
and D-Wyatt had the whole season, J. Ford and all those guys, they’ve
been locked in all season and getting better. So, excited about their
progression next year.”
The Packers are probably plus-four on compensatory picks, meaning an infusion of late-round talent in 2024. Thus far, they lost Reed to Seattle, receiver Allen Lazard to the New York Jets and tight end Robert Tonyan to the Chicago Bears.

@purplefaithful said:
Why any vitriol?

Nothing wrong with this signing; they need more bodies competing along the DL, especially with losing Tomlinson and probably Z'Darius too. 

I agree, pf.  This guy isn't a super star, but he's a real player.  This signing also helped thin out the Packer DL, and that's never a bad thing.

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Meh....Lowry's solid, but he's no Dalvin Tomlinson. But then neither is his contract...

Lowry 2/$8.5 mil
Tomlinson 4/$57 mil  

Now sign Shelley so we can draft BPA

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@MaroonBells said:
Meh....Lowry's solid, but he's no Dalvin Tomlinson. But then neither is his contract...

Lowry 2/$8.5 mil
Tomlinson 4/$57 mil  

Now sign Shelley so we can draft BPA

I agree with Shelley, but I think we are at the point in time where you arent necessarily looking BPA, but needing to start focusing on QBs of the future.  Kirk is never going to suck bad enough with this roster to see us picking in the range to make a strong move to the top without screwing the future in the process,  so they need to start identifying 2nd tier guys to groom and make moves for them.   Mid 20s isnt to early to grab a Hooker,  as long as they think there is enough there to build around.

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Lowry never did anything unless it was against the Vikings, so I guess it's a positive to sign him in that regard, but he is basically Harrison Phillips part deux. As it stands now, Lowry, Tonga and Phillips would be our starting defensive line. Not good

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@supafreak84 said:
Lowry never did anything unless it was against the Vikings, so I guess it's a positive to sign him in that regard, but he is basically Harrison Phillips part deux. As it stands now, Lowry, Tonga and Phillips would be our starting defensive line. Not good

Fair. Sadly, the draft does not really have any defensive tackles that you preferably want to take in the first.

Since the nose tackle is important in Flores tite front, maybe Siaka Ika or Mazi Smith will be the pick at #23?

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@MarkSP18 said:

@supafreak84 said:
Lowry never did anything unless it was against the Vikings, so I guess it's a positive to sign him in that regard, but he is basically Harrison Phillips part deux. As it stands now, Lowry, Tonga and Phillips would be our starting defensive line. Not good

Fair. Sadly, the draft does not really have any defensive tackles that you preferably want to take in the first.

Since the nose tackle is important in Flores tite front, maybe Siaka Ika or Mazi Smith will be the pick at #23?

Ika's value has really dropped and some experts  have him falling to the 3rd. Smith has gained a lot of steam and several mocks have the Vikings taking him but I don't think he makes it past the Steelers who have met with him twice. Rumor is that Tomlin loves him over Breese from Clemson.  

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@supafreak84 said:
Lowry never did anything unless it was against the Vikings, so I guess it's a positive to sign him in that regard, but he is basically Harrison Phillips part deux. As it stands now, Lowry, Tonga and Phillips would be our starting defensive line. Not good

I hate to be the harbinger of gloom, but that is really not good to put it nicely.  

On paper it looks like a downgrade from last years mediocre line. 

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@purplefaithful said:

@supafreak84 said:
Lowry never did anything unless it was against the Vikings, so I guess it's a positive to sign him in that regard, but he is basically Harrison Phillips part deux. As it stands now, Lowry, Tonga and Phillips would be our starting defensive line. Not good

I hate to be the harbinger of gloom, but that is really not good to put it nicely.  

On paper it looks like a downgrade from last years mediocre line. 

That's why I continue to say defensive line is our biggest need area and we have no difference makers up front. This is not a good draft at that position but I'm starting to wonder if Jalen Carter drops out of the top 10, if we would make a move up for him. Otherwise there are a couple players that intrigue me in a trade down situation or if they were still on the board in the 3rd round. Keeanu Benton from WIsconsin, Mazi Smith from Michigan, Gervon Dexter from Florida, and Tuipolotu from USC would all fit nicely. I'm not sure how an undersized guy like Clancey would be viewed as a scheme fit for us. Typically, I'd say no, but Aaron Donald has proved a lot of guys wrong playing in the Rams 3-4. 

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@purplefaithful said:

@supafreak84 said:
Lowry never did anything unless it was against the Vikings, so I guess it's a positive to sign him in that regard, but he is basically Harrison Phillips part deux. As it stands now, Lowry, Tonga and Phillips would be our starting defensive line. Not good

I hate to be the harbinger of gloom, but that is really not good to put it nicely.  

On paper it looks like a downgrade from last years mediocre line. 

I think too many on this board are assigning 4-3 expectations to a 3-4 DL. This team has a history of great 4-3 lines, with Page, Millard, Randle, Williams Wall, Hank, etc. 3-4 DLs just aren't like that. They're often no name, league average players. You put your money in your OLBs.

The Ravens and Patriots were the highest ranked 3-4 defenses in the NFL last year. Check out their DLs. Even going back to the great 3-4 defenses of the past, you'd sometimes have a big nasty in the middle like Casey Hampton or Haloti Ngata, but their 5Ts were often names only their mothers knew.