Ridiculously Early 53 Man Roster

[Patler]

I understand that he only played 20% of snaps on offense but like I mentioned before Rip has experience blocking from the TE position which is why I think they'll keep him as the 4th TE to block and play special teams similar to Ryan Taylor while he gains experience. He brings more pop in his blocks for sure but one of the knocks coming out of college was that he always missed one or two blocks a game. Thats not going to cut it in the NFL which is why dependable Kuhn will be the starting FB next season until Rip catches up.

...and the Packers' TEs have experience blocking from the fullback position.

What you are really arguing is that Ripkowski will not be ready to play regularly as the FB (at least in comparison to Kuhn), but they will keep him on the 53 man roster anyway as a blocking TE and ST performer. I can see some merit in that, especially with the depth they might have at WR. As I mentioned, I have been debating myself on how this all might shake out, and have convinced myself of the following:

- Ripkowski will make or not make the final roster based on his play as a FB. If he isn't ready to take the brunt of the workload as a FB, the Packers will target him for the PS. This carries only minimal risk, because fewer and fewer teams carry a FB at all, and there are likely to be some experienced ones available for any team that wants/needs a FB.

- If Ripkowski makes the roster (ie he is ready to take snaps as the FB in most situations) Kuhn will not be around.

- Ripkowski will not make the team as a "fullback in waiting" because there is likely to be a player at another position that will be more valuable than a FB who doesn't play FB.

- They might be tempted to keep 26 on D, making it even more difficult to justify carrying 2 FBs.

It looks like there might be an overload of potential talent at WR and RB. They could have 4 TEs, and 9 OL worth keeping. Seems likely that they will carry 3 QBs. Whomever they would have to release to keep 2 FBs might be more difficult to get through to PS than Ripkowski will be.