Packers memewatch: The blogosphere loves Nick Collins

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I’ve been saying for a damn long time that Ted Thompson ought to grit his teeth, break open the piggy bank and cut a new deal with Nick Collins that will pay him the going rate for safeties as good as he is, which is to say very. Now, all of a sudden, I have plenty of company thanks to the new contract given to Brandon Chillar, a versatile and valuable member of the defense, but one whose contribution to Green Bay’s on-field success has been a lot less noteworthy than Collins’s.

Monty at Total Packers says No. 36 should be our top priority among all of the soon-to-be free agents, and frets that he “already feels slighted.” Ryan Cardarella at Bleacher Report thinks letting Chillar cut Collins in line sends the “wrong message.” Mike Vandermause frames it in moral terms, saying paying Collins as the top-notch safety he’s become is “the right thing to do.

You know how I feel already. The question is, why would Thompson hesitate to lock down someone who’s having his second killer season in a row, who’s made of ballhawk, and who’s young enough to keep playing this well for another five years or more before he starts to slow down? Having just read Stefan Fatsis’s wonderful book A Few Seconds of Panic, I’m guessing it has to do with the generally misguided way that management deals with talent in the NFL — keeping them at arms length and in the dark in the belief that fear and uncertainty will motivate them more than security and gratitude.

No one has ever accused Ted Thompson of being an overly sensitive people person. Brett Favre is playing for our chief rival now essentially because Thompson made him feel unappreciated. At least in that case we had a more than capable backup. Our situation earlier this season, when we had to rush out and sign Derrick Martin just to be able to field a veteran safety, should convince Thompson that this is not the time to be playing chicken.