The Packers have re-signed 33-year old OT Chad Clifton to a 3-year, $20 million dollar deal with $7.5 million bucks guaranteed.  Clifton played in 12 games (all starts) for the Packers last season.  He has played in 143 games (138 starts) in his 10 years with the Packers in which he has been a rock solid player.  This was a good signing for the Packers and I’m sure it made Aaron Rodgers sleep well last night.

The Packers have released 26-year old DE Michael Montgomery and 27-year old safety Matt Giordano.  Montgomery played in 10 games for the Packers last season and he made 2 whopping tackles.  Montgomery played in 56 games in his five years with the Packers and he made 123 tackles, defensed 3 passes, had 5 sacks and he forced 1 fumble.  Giordano played in 5 games for the Packers last season and he made 2 tackles.  The Packers won’t miss either of these players who were just taking up roster space.

The Packers have slapped the franchise tag on 30-year old NT Ryan Pickett which will guarantee him at least $7.003 million bucks in 2010.  Pickett played in 13 games for the Packers last season and he made 33 tackles, defensed 2 passes and he had 3 tackles for a loss.  Pickett has now played in 59 games in his four years with the Packers and he has made 184 tackles, defensed 11 passes and he has 2.5 sacks.  Pickett is a huge key to the Packers’ run defense so it was smart to make sure he will be playing for them in 2010.

35-year old WR Donald Driver keeps rolling for the Green Bay Packers.  He played in 16 games for the Packers last season and he caught 70 passes for 1,061 yards (15.2 avg) with 6 TD grabs.  Driver certainly doesn’t play like a man that is 35 years old as he still has all of the toughness and speed that he had when he came into the NFL and that is amazing.  Driver has now played in 161 games in his NFL career and he has caught 647 passes for 9,050 yards (14.0 avg) with 49 TD grabs. 

The Packers went into last April’s draft wanting to help the defense and the offensive line and I think they did that.  With the #9 overall pick in the NFL Draft (first round) the Packers took DT/DE B.J. Raji out of Boston College.  He played in 14 games for the Packers last season and he made 25 tackles, 4 tackles for a loss and he defensed 1 pass and had a sack.  The Packers will expect more out of him next season and down the road.  The best player the Packers took last April was their other first round pick (#26 overall) OLB Clay Matthews out of USC.  He played in all 16 games for the Packers as a rookie and he made 51 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, he had 10 sacks, 1 forced fumble and he defensed 7 passes.  The sky is the limit for Matthews as he looks unstoppable at times.  In the fourth round the Packers picked OT T.J. Lang (#109 overall) out of Eastern Michigan.  Lang played in all 16 games (3 starts) for the Packers last season and he has nice size at 6′4″, 316 pounds so he has a nice upside.  Fullback Quinn Johnson came to the Packers in the 5th round (#145 overall) out of LSU.  He didn’t run the ball but he caught 2 passes for 4 yards in 9 games.  OT Jamon Meredith was selected in the 5th round (#162 overall) out of South Carolina.  He played in 8 games (4 starts) for the Packers last season and he looks like a keeper just like Lang.  DE Jarius Wynn was picked in the sixth round (#182 overall) out of Georgia.  He played in 11 games and made a whopping 4 tackles for the Packers last season.  CB Brandon Underwood was also picked in the 6th round (#187 overall) out of Cincinnati.  He played in 11 games and he made 11 tackles including three of them for a loss.  The Packers really got themselves a steal with linebacker Brad Jones who they picked in the 7th round (#218 overall) out of Colorado.  He played in 14 games for the Packers last season and he made 33 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, he defensed 1 pass and had 4 sacks. 

GRADE FOR 2009:  B

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  A-