Barnett: The Good Guy » Brats & Beer

April 7, 2007
posted under: Nick Barnett, Packers

With nary a free agent signing in the offing and no protracted Brett Favre tractor watch to obsess over, this has been the quietest, boringest off-season is many, many years. How long until the draft?

But there is at least some good news coming out of Packerland, namely that Nick Barnett is taking the high road in his ongoing contract negotiations with the team. It’s good to see that someone out there understands the way to convince an employer to pay you more isn’t by sitting at home watching TV or whining to every reporter who happens by that you’re being disrespected.

Barnett has decided the right tact is to show up to the team’s off-season workouts and put in the effort and energy needed to get ready for the season. I just hope that the team follows through and does reward him with a new contract, if for no other reason than to send the message that this is how to get it done. But it’s not like he doesn’t deserve a new deal that pays more than his rookie contract: Barnett has led the team in tackles three of the last four years, he’s the leader of the defense and a standup guy.

Now I know that some Packer fans out there are a little disappointed that Barnett hasn’t made more of a contribution than he has, and it’s true he has only eight sacks and seven interceptions. No one is going to confuse him with a Joey Porter or a London Fletcher, and he probably shouldn’t get the same kind of deals those players recently signed. But Barnett is a solid player and the defense would be poorer without him.