PaCkFan_n_MD
08-27-2006, 12:36 PM
By Dylan B. Tomlinson
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
In this back room at Lambeau Field, the mood typically is somber.
The players sit quietly at their lockers like they are waiting for an invitation to a party they can't wait to attend.
In the end, some will be invited, but most won't.
Welcome to the social hierarchy of the NFL. The starters, the Pro Bowlers and the draft picks are in one room. The undrafted free agents, the players who were claimed off waivers and the players who were signed off the street are in the other.
The Packers' main locker room houses 65 players. There are 84 players on the Packers' roster, with two on injured reserve and two on the physically unable to perform list. Rosters will be trimmed to 75 on Tuesday and 53 by Sept. 2. Until then, the Packers send their overflow into the back room.
Some will make it out, but most won't.
Officially, it's called the auxiliary locker room. None of the players call it that.
"They call it The Green Mile," Packers defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila said. "It's like death row. You're back there waiting to die, or in the case here, you're waiting to get cut."
The nickname is derived from the 1999 Stephen King movie about death row inmates in a state penitentiary. The Green Mile refers to the path the inmates must walk on the way to the electric chair.
"Rightfully so," Packers running back Samkon Gado said with a laugh.
"If you're in there long enough, it's the road to execution."
Packers General Manager Ted Thompson said he wasn't aware of the moniker and wasn't thrilled by it.
"I've seen the movie, but I don't think it's a fitting comparison," Thompson said. "The only reason they're back there is because we don't have room in the main locker room to accommodate everybody. We're not playing favorites."
Maybe not intentionally, but it's probably not a coincidence that with the exception of punter Jon Ryan and kicker Dave Rayner, none of the players in the auxiliary locker room are at the top of the Packers' depth chart. Only two of the players on The Green Mile, Rayner and guard Siitupe Peko, were drafted. Both players subsequently were waived by the teams that took them and are trying to extend their NFL careers by latching on with the Packers.
The players in the auxiliary locker room know their location isn't a vote of confidence.
"It's definitely a not-so-subtle way of letting us know that you have to earn your way into there," receiver Ruvell Martin said. "There are plenty of guys in (in the main locker room) getting cut, too."
Three of the Packers' most recent cuts  receiver Marc Boerigter, punter B.J. Sander and kicker Billy Cundiff  came from the main locker room.
"Being in here is no indication about how they feel about you as a player," Gado said. "Just because you get moved in here, it's still no guarantee that you're going to make the team."
Right now, the auxiliary locker room is packed. Until offensive lineman Todd Williams was waived earlier in the week, all 25 lockers on The Green Mile were in use. But that's not expected to be the case after Tuesday, when the Packers have to trim their roster from 84 to 75.
"There will be a lot of open lockers in here after Tuesday," Martin said. "Hopefully, mine won't be one of them."
Martin isn't likely to be one of Tuesday's casualties. He is one of just a handful of players in the auxiliary locker room with a legitimate chance to make the Packers' final 53-man roster. In addition to Martin, Ryan and Rayner, receiver Carlton Brewster, safety Tra Boger, running back Arliss Beach and tackle Josh Bourke could find themselves on the Packers' final roster when it is announced on Sept. 2.
"I try not to worry too much about where I am now," Martin said. "I don't have a problem being in here, but there's no question the goal is to make it out of here."
Making it out
Several prominent Packers players have walked the Green Mile into the main locker room. Gbaja-Biamila, Gado, receiver Donald Driver, linebacker Roy Manning, offensive lineman Chris White and defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins are among the players who made it out.
Most of those players don't look back too fondly on the time they spent there.
"You do feel like a bit of an outcast," Jenkins said. "You want to be in here with the rest of the team. You don't want to be in there."
When Gado was signed to the practice squad last season, he was given a locker in the back room.
"It's very humbling," Gado said. "There's a part of you that's just happy to be here, and there's part of you that says, 'I don't want to be in there, I want to be in here.'"
Fortunately for Gado, his stay on the Green Mile was a short one. About a week after he arrived, he was elevated to the active roster and moved into the main locker room.
"When they moved me in here, I was one locker away from Brett (Favre). I was so stoked and excited," Gado said. "You just want to get out of there so you can join the rest of the team. Fortunately, I was only there a few days."
Gbaja-Biamila talks wistfully about his time on the Green Mile. When he was first there as a rookie in 2000, the Packers had yet to move into the posh locker room where they reside today.
"The way the locker room was at that time, there was a square and then there was the Green Mile," Gbaja-Biamila said. "I was on the border of the Green Mile and the real world. I was in no-man's land. I was literally in the center of it. I could see both worlds. I was in one place and I wanted to get into the other place."
Then, Gbaja-Biamila realized there were worse places to be than on the Green Mile.
"I got cut," Gbaja-Biamila said. "Then, they signed me to the practice squad. Then, they put me on the roster halfway through the season."
When that happened, Gbaja-Biamila finally had earned a spot in the main locker room. But he was happy where he was.
"They tried to move me and I told them, 'I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay right here,'" Gbaja-Biamila said. "I wanted to stay there because I wanted to be reminded that I'm not that far from the Green Mile. It's a reminder that you're never that far from being cut."
Gbaja-Biamila kept that locker until the Packers moved into the new locker room before the 2002 season.
"I was hoping I could still be in there right now. But, I didn't know what (the locker room) was going to look like when they changed it," Gbaja-Biamila said. "It might be a little strange to be back there now."
For some of the players who once spent time on the Green Mile, they do their best to avoid the room at all costs.
"I've never been back there once. I don't want to go back in there," Gado said. "It might be a superstitious thing, but I've never had a reason to go back there. I remember the first time I came in, I remember the locker that I had, I think it was the third or the fourth one down there and there was just the feeling of unfamiliarity and not knowing what was going to happen. It was a feeling of uncertainty that I don't want to feel again."
When a veteran walks back into the auxiliary locker room, it's impossible to mask the looks of shock on the faces of the players who are there.
"(Receiver Robert Ferguson) came back here, and I asked him if he was lost," Martin said. "If you're in (the main locker room), there's really no reason to come back here."
Empty lockers
The two lockers next to Brett Favre's remain empty.
Earlier in camp, the lockers belonged to Cundiff and Sander. Since both were cut, one would assume Rayner and Ryan would be moved into the main locker room.
"I was thinking the same thing," Rayner said with a shrug. "But here we are."
Thompson said he won't move any players out of the auxiliary locker room until the final cuts are made.
"It doesn't make sense to be moving people around right now," Thompson said. "A lot can happen between now and then."
The ultimate decision about which players go into which locker room belongs to Thompson, but he says he doesn't give a lot of thought to who goes where.
"There are some standards, like which guys have the longest tenure with the club or who has been in the NFL the longest," Thompson said. "But I've never sat down and thought, 'I'm going to put this guy here, but I'm going to put this guy back here.'"
Thompson speaks convincingly about trying to keep all things equal for everybody on the Packers' roster. As unrealistic as that might be, it would seem logical for someone like Thompson to try to conduct business this way.
Quite simply, Thompson can relate better to the players on the Green Mile than he can the A.J. Hawks and the other first-round draft picks on the Packers' roster.
When Thompson came out of Southern Methodist in 1975, he was not selected in the 17 rounds of the NFL draft, but was able to stick with the Houston Oilers for a 10-year NFL career.
"To hear people tell it, I was on the bubble every year," Thompson said. "I felt like I always had to fight to keep my job."
Thompson said he admits he holds a special place in his heart for the underdogs who are on the Packers' roster  those guys who are in the back locker room, but could emerge as big-time players like Gbaja-Biamila, Gado and Driver.
"I think all of us probably do. It's interesting to watch their journey, their path," Thompson said. "Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but either way, you have to admire all these young guys."
It's for that reason Thompson strongly disputes the notion there is any social hierarchy in the Packers' locker room, no matter how much the players say otherwise.
"I've always said this, even like the little kid in Little League football or baseball that goes out there, they're putting themselves at risk of being ridiculed by their teammates," Thompson said. "If one of these guys comes here and doesn't quite make it, they have to get on with life. They've put themselves a little bit at risk because they have to go home and then their buddies come up to them and say, 'Why couldn't you make that team? Why weren't you good enough to do that?' So yeah, all of us that have played the game have been cut. So we understand that."
Thompson said he hopes the players who are in the auxiliary locker room don't think they're there because nobody's giving them a shot to make the team.
"Some of those guys you really root for," Thompson said. "Because what really matters is what they have in their hearts, it doesn't matter where their lockers are located."
The players on The Green Mile disagree. While all of them are happy to be on a NFL training camp roster, they know that if they're still on The Green Mile when the season starts, it will mean they failed to make the active roster. During the regular season, the only players in the back locker room are on injured reserve or the practice squad.
"All we can do is go out there and do our best during training camp and hope the coaching staff notices," Martin said. "If that happens, then we can get out of here and join the rest of the team."
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
In this back room at Lambeau Field, the mood typically is somber.
The players sit quietly at their lockers like they are waiting for an invitation to a party they can't wait to attend.
In the end, some will be invited, but most won't.
Welcome to the social hierarchy of the NFL. The starters, the Pro Bowlers and the draft picks are in one room. The undrafted free agents, the players who were claimed off waivers and the players who were signed off the street are in the other.
The Packers' main locker room houses 65 players. There are 84 players on the Packers' roster, with two on injured reserve and two on the physically unable to perform list. Rosters will be trimmed to 75 on Tuesday and 53 by Sept. 2. Until then, the Packers send their overflow into the back room.
Some will make it out, but most won't.
Officially, it's called the auxiliary locker room. None of the players call it that.
"They call it The Green Mile," Packers defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila said. "It's like death row. You're back there waiting to die, or in the case here, you're waiting to get cut."
The nickname is derived from the 1999 Stephen King movie about death row inmates in a state penitentiary. The Green Mile refers to the path the inmates must walk on the way to the electric chair.
"Rightfully so," Packers running back Samkon Gado said with a laugh.
"If you're in there long enough, it's the road to execution."
Packers General Manager Ted Thompson said he wasn't aware of the moniker and wasn't thrilled by it.
"I've seen the movie, but I don't think it's a fitting comparison," Thompson said. "The only reason they're back there is because we don't have room in the main locker room to accommodate everybody. We're not playing favorites."
Maybe not intentionally, but it's probably not a coincidence that with the exception of punter Jon Ryan and kicker Dave Rayner, none of the players in the auxiliary locker room are at the top of the Packers' depth chart. Only two of the players on The Green Mile, Rayner and guard Siitupe Peko, were drafted. Both players subsequently were waived by the teams that took them and are trying to extend their NFL careers by latching on with the Packers.
The players in the auxiliary locker room know their location isn't a vote of confidence.
"It's definitely a not-so-subtle way of letting us know that you have to earn your way into there," receiver Ruvell Martin said. "There are plenty of guys in (in the main locker room) getting cut, too."
Three of the Packers' most recent cuts  receiver Marc Boerigter, punter B.J. Sander and kicker Billy Cundiff  came from the main locker room.
"Being in here is no indication about how they feel about you as a player," Gado said. "Just because you get moved in here, it's still no guarantee that you're going to make the team."
Right now, the auxiliary locker room is packed. Until offensive lineman Todd Williams was waived earlier in the week, all 25 lockers on The Green Mile were in use. But that's not expected to be the case after Tuesday, when the Packers have to trim their roster from 84 to 75.
"There will be a lot of open lockers in here after Tuesday," Martin said. "Hopefully, mine won't be one of them."
Martin isn't likely to be one of Tuesday's casualties. He is one of just a handful of players in the auxiliary locker room with a legitimate chance to make the Packers' final 53-man roster. In addition to Martin, Ryan and Rayner, receiver Carlton Brewster, safety Tra Boger, running back Arliss Beach and tackle Josh Bourke could find themselves on the Packers' final roster when it is announced on Sept. 2.
"I try not to worry too much about where I am now," Martin said. "I don't have a problem being in here, but there's no question the goal is to make it out of here."
Making it out
Several prominent Packers players have walked the Green Mile into the main locker room. Gbaja-Biamila, Gado, receiver Donald Driver, linebacker Roy Manning, offensive lineman Chris White and defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins are among the players who made it out.
Most of those players don't look back too fondly on the time they spent there.
"You do feel like a bit of an outcast," Jenkins said. "You want to be in here with the rest of the team. You don't want to be in there."
When Gado was signed to the practice squad last season, he was given a locker in the back room.
"It's very humbling," Gado said. "There's a part of you that's just happy to be here, and there's part of you that says, 'I don't want to be in there, I want to be in here.'"
Fortunately for Gado, his stay on the Green Mile was a short one. About a week after he arrived, he was elevated to the active roster and moved into the main locker room.
"When they moved me in here, I was one locker away from Brett (Favre). I was so stoked and excited," Gado said. "You just want to get out of there so you can join the rest of the team. Fortunately, I was only there a few days."
Gbaja-Biamila talks wistfully about his time on the Green Mile. When he was first there as a rookie in 2000, the Packers had yet to move into the posh locker room where they reside today.
"The way the locker room was at that time, there was a square and then there was the Green Mile," Gbaja-Biamila said. "I was on the border of the Green Mile and the real world. I was in no-man's land. I was literally in the center of it. I could see both worlds. I was in one place and I wanted to get into the other place."
Then, Gbaja-Biamila realized there were worse places to be than on the Green Mile.
"I got cut," Gbaja-Biamila said. "Then, they signed me to the practice squad. Then, they put me on the roster halfway through the season."
When that happened, Gbaja-Biamila finally had earned a spot in the main locker room. But he was happy where he was.
"They tried to move me and I told them, 'I'm not going anywhere. I'll stay right here,'" Gbaja-Biamila said. "I wanted to stay there because I wanted to be reminded that I'm not that far from the Green Mile. It's a reminder that you're never that far from being cut."
Gbaja-Biamila kept that locker until the Packers moved into the new locker room before the 2002 season.
"I was hoping I could still be in there right now. But, I didn't know what (the locker room) was going to look like when they changed it," Gbaja-Biamila said. "It might be a little strange to be back there now."
For some of the players who once spent time on the Green Mile, they do their best to avoid the room at all costs.
"I've never been back there once. I don't want to go back in there," Gado said. "It might be a superstitious thing, but I've never had a reason to go back there. I remember the first time I came in, I remember the locker that I had, I think it was the third or the fourth one down there and there was just the feeling of unfamiliarity and not knowing what was going to happen. It was a feeling of uncertainty that I don't want to feel again."
When a veteran walks back into the auxiliary locker room, it's impossible to mask the looks of shock on the faces of the players who are there.
"(Receiver Robert Ferguson) came back here, and I asked him if he was lost," Martin said. "If you're in (the main locker room), there's really no reason to come back here."
Empty lockers
The two lockers next to Brett Favre's remain empty.
Earlier in camp, the lockers belonged to Cundiff and Sander. Since both were cut, one would assume Rayner and Ryan would be moved into the main locker room.
"I was thinking the same thing," Rayner said with a shrug. "But here we are."
Thompson said he won't move any players out of the auxiliary locker room until the final cuts are made.
"It doesn't make sense to be moving people around right now," Thompson said. "A lot can happen between now and then."
The ultimate decision about which players go into which locker room belongs to Thompson, but he says he doesn't give a lot of thought to who goes where.
"There are some standards, like which guys have the longest tenure with the club or who has been in the NFL the longest," Thompson said. "But I've never sat down and thought, 'I'm going to put this guy here, but I'm going to put this guy back here.'"
Thompson speaks convincingly about trying to keep all things equal for everybody on the Packers' roster. As unrealistic as that might be, it would seem logical for someone like Thompson to try to conduct business this way.
Quite simply, Thompson can relate better to the players on the Green Mile than he can the A.J. Hawks and the other first-round draft picks on the Packers' roster.
When Thompson came out of Southern Methodist in 1975, he was not selected in the 17 rounds of the NFL draft, but was able to stick with the Houston Oilers for a 10-year NFL career.
"To hear people tell it, I was on the bubble every year," Thompson said. "I felt like I always had to fight to keep my job."
Thompson said he admits he holds a special place in his heart for the underdogs who are on the Packers' roster  those guys who are in the back locker room, but could emerge as big-time players like Gbaja-Biamila, Gado and Driver.
"I think all of us probably do. It's interesting to watch their journey, their path," Thompson said. "Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but either way, you have to admire all these young guys."
It's for that reason Thompson strongly disputes the notion there is any social hierarchy in the Packers' locker room, no matter how much the players say otherwise.
"I've always said this, even like the little kid in Little League football or baseball that goes out there, they're putting themselves at risk of being ridiculed by their teammates," Thompson said. "If one of these guys comes here and doesn't quite make it, they have to get on with life. They've put themselves a little bit at risk because they have to go home and then their buddies come up to them and say, 'Why couldn't you make that team? Why weren't you good enough to do that?' So yeah, all of us that have played the game have been cut. So we understand that."
Thompson said he hopes the players who are in the auxiliary locker room don't think they're there because nobody's giving them a shot to make the team.
"Some of those guys you really root for," Thompson said. "Because what really matters is what they have in their hearts, it doesn't matter where their lockers are located."
The players on The Green Mile disagree. While all of them are happy to be on a NFL training camp roster, they know that if they're still on The Green Mile when the season starts, it will mean they failed to make the active roster. During the regular season, the only players in the back locker room are on injured reserve or the practice squad.
"All we can do is go out there and do our best during training camp and hope the coaching staff notices," Martin said. "If that happens, then we can get out of here and join the rest of the team."