By Billy Needham
Ted Thompson and company have some very big decisions coming before final cuts are due September 3. He has a championship caliber roster, which currently stands at 86, so 33 guys are going to get the ax very soon. The team lost eight players (Colledge, Bigby, Jackson, Jenkins, Lee, Wilheim, Spitz, and Briggs) from the actual Super Bowl roster, and several other players that were on the roster earlier in 2010 (Hall, A. Smith, Barnett, Chillar, Harrell, Tauscher, Poppinga, Bell and D. Martin). With no outside free agent signings, that leaves plenty of roster spots for draft picks (10) and undrafted guys. This is how is see the final 53, and the last five players cut……
QB (3) Rodgers, Flynn, and Harrell – usually keep two, have to keep Harrell too or they will lose him to another team, he will be top backup next year, vital!
RB (4) Grant, Starks, Kuhn, and Green – Going out on a limb here, dumping all the extra FBs, but Nance is really big with the coaches. I am very torn with the RB decision,
Q. Johnson is a one trick pony, and TT values diversity, but has kept him two years now. Saine is practice squad material.
WR (6) Jennings, Driver, Nelson, Jones, Cobb, and Gurley – Top five are locks, but last spot came to West and Gurley. They both have had their good moments throughout camp, and West had his great game against Arizona, but Gurley has fantastic size (6’4 and 215) and the decision maker is that Gurley plays special teams. In college, Gurley was on kickoff return, the gunner on punt team, and rushed to block the punt. After blocking a punt this week in practice, he may have too much value to cut. If he blocks one punt during the season and proves reliable on the coverage units, he will be well worth the roster spot. Hopefully West makes practice squad.
TE (5) Finley, Williams, Quarless, Taylor and Crabtree – Just like WR, we are stacked at the TE position. We have two good to decent blockers in Crabtree/Taylor and two good to great receiving TEs in Quarless/Williams and one stud, Finley. I think keeping five has more to do with next year, as in the Pack are afraid they will not retain Finley so they cannot lose a growing threat (Quarless). In keeping only one FB, I think Taylor and Crabtree will motion into backfield alot this season.
OL (9) Clifton, Lang, Wells, Sitton, Bulaga, Sherrod, Newhouse, Schlauderaff, and McDonald – The top five are picked, Newhouse has probably beaten Sherrod for top left tackle, Sherrod second LG, McDonald second Center, Schlauderaff 2nd RG, and either Sherrod or Newhouse at second RT. Dietrich-Smith just missed, Dominguez to practice squad.
DL (6) Pickett, Raji, Green, Neal, Wilson, Wynn – Same six expected to make it, Guy should be practice squad, All these guys swap between DE and NT, they are so interchangeable, it makes depth easy. I definitely have my injury concerns though (Neal always, Pickett on and off over the last two seasons)
LB (8) Matthews, Hawk, Bishop, Walden, Francois, D.J. Smith, B. Jones, and someone not on roster – These last two drafts without drafting a OLB may come back to bite the Pack. Our starting four are picked, the final decided by injury (Zombo’s broken scapula) so Walden gets the job eventhough he has not played the run well. I am not worried about pass rushing yet, Capers has done little blitzing with the starters. Francois and Smith are the ILB backups. Jones and __________ will be the top OLB backups with situational roles. I thought DE would be the free agent TT brings but after losing Frank Zombo, OLB has the priority. UPDATE: Well that free agent may not be necessary, Coach Greene came out last night and is adamant that Zombo will be on the roster this year. Zombo’s injury has an estimated 6-8 week rehab so mid-October is about the earliest we could see him back in action, but I would think right around the bye week would be more realistic because that shoulder has everything to do with tackling, getting off blocks, etc. Here is to a speedy recovery for the young LB!
Secondary (9) Woodson, Williams, Shields, Collins, Burnett, House, Peprah, Bush, and Gordy – The top three CBs are a given, with House, Bush and Gordy fighting for the dime spot. Collins and Burnett are the top two safeties, with Peprah backing up both spots, and Bush the 4th. Underwood was close with his ability to play both CB/S. Woodson could probably fill in at safety if injuries became a problem.
Specialists (3) Crosby, Masthay, and Goode – Crosby is back with a fat new contract, Masthay is punting like Craig Hentrich, and Goode has his spot locked. If you do not know who Brett Goode is, Google him or something, that is a good thing!
There is our 53 man roster, minus the free agent coming in early Spetember. There are several players I hope we can stash on the practice squad, like C. West, B. Saine,
L. Guy, C. Jackson, A. Levine, J. Lattimore, R. Dominguez. Hopefully TT calls me before he makes his final decisions so we can both agree to disagree!
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