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08-28-2012, 09:24 AM
By KEVIN CLARK
Green Bay, Wis.
The Green Bay Packers are arguably the best franchise in the NFL, depending on what you think of the New England Patriots and defending-champion New York Giants. The Packers won the Super Bowl two seasons ago, went a league-best 15-1 last season and enter this one as a title contender.
Green Bay's success is generally credited to star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. But there also is an unknown force behind the Packers' achievements of late: their giant army of clones.
Deep in the wilds of the Upper Midwest, Green Bay quietly has recruited a regiment of interchangeable players. The team's novel idea is to find players—usually linebackers, tight ends or fullbacks—who can play in a variety of formations and situations because they're virtually the exact same size and weight. The ideal specifications: 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds.
As Packers tight end D.J. Williams explained, only 46 players are allowed to dress for an NFL game. Every team has to cobble together its starters, reserves and special-teams players from those 46. "So if you can have one person doing what three people can do, it may only be 46 people dressed out there but it's like having 60," said Williams, who at 6 feet 2 and 245 pounds is roughly the magic size. "It's a great advantage."
Fifteen players on the Packers' current training-camp roster are around that size. By comparison, none of the Packers' rivals in the NFC North Division—the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings—has even half that many.
The Packers value versatility because it allows the team to save precious spots on the 53-man roster. When you watch Green Bay play, it feels like half the team is 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds, since those players fill so many roles.
Williams and Ryan Taylor, both listed as tight ends, said they have lined up at about six different positions so far in the preseason—including at tight end, in the backfield, in the slot and at wide receiver, as well as on special teams. Linebacker Robert Francois, 6-foot-2 and 255 pounds, calls his size "on the edge" of every linebacker position. Since most teams around the NFL might view a player this size as a "tweener"—a player either too big or too small for a specific position—these players often can be overlooked by other franchises and end up coming to Green Bay on the cheap.
Francois thinks this preferred Packers height and weight combination is perfect because players are lean enough to play inside or outside linebacker. Then, any of them can rush the passer because they're big enough to go up against offensive tackles, yet quick enough to cover tight ends and receivers.
While canvassing for a roster spot when he was out of football in 2010, Packers linebacker Erik Walden assumed teams were looking for someone bigger. "I thought it was 6-4," he said. But at 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds, he turned out to be just what Green Bay wanted. "I'm blessed to be that size," he said with a grin.
Offensive coordinator Tom Clements said that the team's 250-pound army allows it to use different personnel groups interchangeably. "Make [the defense] change with us and put different guys in different positions where they might not usually be," Clements said.
Williams, the tight end, said the Packers can have a deeper playbook because they have more players who are familiar with many roles. Dom Capers, the Packers' veteran defensive coordinator, said Green Bay employs four linebackers in its base defense instead of the typical three, to have the versatility to match up with any type of personnel the opposition uses.
Williams assumed he was undersized when he saw the packs of 6-foot-4 tight ends in the league, but "when you get in here, you understand that we have a lot of tight ends and a lot of linebackers and you see that body type used a lot," he said.
And no, it never feels like a house of mirrors when the clones are on the practice field together in pads.
"I guess I'm used to it," Taylor said.
Write to Kevin Clark at kevin.clark@wsj.com
Green Bay, Wis.
The Green Bay Packers are arguably the best franchise in the NFL, depending on what you think of the New England Patriots and defending-champion New York Giants. The Packers won the Super Bowl two seasons ago, went a league-best 15-1 last season and enter this one as a title contender.
Green Bay's success is generally credited to star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. But there also is an unknown force behind the Packers' achievements of late: their giant army of clones.
Deep in the wilds of the Upper Midwest, Green Bay quietly has recruited a regiment of interchangeable players. The team's novel idea is to find players—usually linebackers, tight ends or fullbacks—who can play in a variety of formations and situations because they're virtually the exact same size and weight. The ideal specifications: 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds.
As Packers tight end D.J. Williams explained, only 46 players are allowed to dress for an NFL game. Every team has to cobble together its starters, reserves and special-teams players from those 46. "So if you can have one person doing what three people can do, it may only be 46 people dressed out there but it's like having 60," said Williams, who at 6 feet 2 and 245 pounds is roughly the magic size. "It's a great advantage."
Fifteen players on the Packers' current training-camp roster are around that size. By comparison, none of the Packers' rivals in the NFC North Division—the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings—has even half that many.
The Packers value versatility because it allows the team to save precious spots on the 53-man roster. When you watch Green Bay play, it feels like half the team is 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds, since those players fill so many roles.
Williams and Ryan Taylor, both listed as tight ends, said they have lined up at about six different positions so far in the preseason—including at tight end, in the backfield, in the slot and at wide receiver, as well as on special teams. Linebacker Robert Francois, 6-foot-2 and 255 pounds, calls his size "on the edge" of every linebacker position. Since most teams around the NFL might view a player this size as a "tweener"—a player either too big or too small for a specific position—these players often can be overlooked by other franchises and end up coming to Green Bay on the cheap.
Francois thinks this preferred Packers height and weight combination is perfect because players are lean enough to play inside or outside linebacker. Then, any of them can rush the passer because they're big enough to go up against offensive tackles, yet quick enough to cover tight ends and receivers.
While canvassing for a roster spot when he was out of football in 2010, Packers linebacker Erik Walden assumed teams were looking for someone bigger. "I thought it was 6-4," he said. But at 6 feet 2 and 250 pounds, he turned out to be just what Green Bay wanted. "I'm blessed to be that size," he said with a grin.
Offensive coordinator Tom Clements said that the team's 250-pound army allows it to use different personnel groups interchangeably. "Make [the defense] change with us and put different guys in different positions where they might not usually be," Clements said.
Williams, the tight end, said the Packers can have a deeper playbook because they have more players who are familiar with many roles. Dom Capers, the Packers' veteran defensive coordinator, said Green Bay employs four linebackers in its base defense instead of the typical three, to have the versatility to match up with any type of personnel the opposition uses.
Williams assumed he was undersized when he saw the packs of 6-foot-4 tight ends in the league, but "when you get in here, you understand that we have a lot of tight ends and a lot of linebackers and you see that body type used a lot," he said.
And no, it never feels like a house of mirrors when the clones are on the practice field together in pads.
"I guess I'm used to it," Taylor said.
Write to Kevin Clark at kevin.clark@wsj.com