Must be something about being around the Milwaukee Bucks and using Twitter, that ubiquitious, mischievous, social networking tool, to get yourself in trouble.
Just two weeks after Charlie Villaneuva did it at halftime of a Bucks game, Nick Barnett took a subtle shot at the Packers’ free agent strategy from his Twitter account while attending a Bucks game with Aaron Rodgers, Will Blackmon and Ruvell Martin.
The tweet isn’t there on his account anymore — but perhaps you’d be interested in some musings about talking to Kobe Bryant and falling for an April Fools’ Day joke about counterfeit tickets. No? Me neither.
Anyway, Barnett essentially asked if anyone else thinks the Packers need more defensive lineman, which would be a fairly harmless thing to say except for the fact that most Packers players deign from speaking out about what management should do. And I can’t say I disagree with Barnett’s sentiment.
In the last three years, Ted Thompson has a) drafted what looks to be a major bust in Justin Harrell, b) used it as partial justification for trading Corey Williams without a backup plan to restore the depth of a unit that was a major key in the Packers’ 13-3 season in 2007 and c) sat on his hands as the Packers switch to a system that, in the reported opinions of multiple people around the league, doesn’t suit the players they have.
Barnett, rehabbing from a torn right ACL, is only going to be effective in the Packers’ new system if their defensive line is good enough to keep blockers off their linebackers, so it’d make sense he would be concerned about the state of the Packers’ personnel there.
I understand the reason for not pursuing a big-name free agent–by doing so, the Packers would likely be sending one of their many free agents-to-be out the door–but I sure hope the D-lineman Teddy drafts this year are better than the one he took with the first-round pick in 2007.
Otherwise, it won’t just be Barnett expressing displeasure, and it won’t be nearly as mild as what popped up on Twitter on Wednesday night.
–Gene Bosling
Recent Comments