Packers miss out on Canty, lose Cole

The Packers, somewhat contrary to form, had publicly expressed some interest in Cowboys free agent defensive end, Chris Canty. At 6'7" and a tad over 300 pounds, he would have been a good addition for the Pack's new 3-4 scheme. Well, the Pack can now go back to form: Canty reportedly has signed 6-year, $42 million deal with the NY Giants.

Moving right along...

One of the the Packers' own that they hoped to hang on to, defensive lineman Colin Cole, has reportedly signed a 5 year, $21.5 million deal with Seattle. The loss of Cole hurts what was already a thin defensive line. The Pack had thought that if they couldn't resign Cole they could make a strong run at Canty. Not if you believe the report in the Green Bay Press-Gazette, which is showing the Newark Star-Ledger as the news source, and a supposed confirmation from one of those ubiquitous "NFL sources."

The quality free agents who could help the Packers upfront in the new 3-4 scheme is now falling off rather considerably. The Pack may now wind up having to hope that Ryan Pickett and Johnny Jolly can rotate to hold the point of attack, along with somehow getting a bookend of some kind to Aaron Kampman.

Cole was just starting to come on as a real player and losing him is a definite blow. And not even being able to have a face to face with Canty before he agreed to terms with the Giants is also disappointing. It will be interesting to see what Ted Thompson does now with the $30 million in salary cap room he's sitting on.