JS-""PACKERS TRADE FOR BACK""

[Bretsky]

Packers trade for back
Giants yield Grant for pick
By BOB McGINN
bmcginn@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 1, 2007

Green Bay - Ryan Grant, a nondescript third-year player without regular-season experience, is the newest addition to the Green Bay Packers' menagerie of running backs.

On Saturday, the Packers acquired Grant in a trade with the New York Giants for an undisclosed draft choice. Conditional or not, the pick is presumed to be in the seventh round, a choice the Giants hoped to recoup after trading their own to Kansas City in May.

Grant, 6 feet 1 inch and 222 pounds, told a reporter in the Giants' locker room Friday that club officials had informed him he had the team made. At some point, the Packers declared interest and the deal was made. The Giants kept four backs.

"The Packers must have seen something they liked in the guy," a personnel director for an NFC team said Saturday night. "You're not talking about a guy who will hit you with the 'wow' factor. I think you're talking about a stopgap more than anything."

At this stage, the Packers just needed a healthy body at the position. Grant didn't miss a practice this summer.

Noah Herron underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Saturday for cartilage damage that he suffered Thursday night in Tennessee. Herron is out of the Philadelphia opener and, according to a source, is expected to miss no more than three weeks.

Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said Brandon Jackson (concussion) and Vernand Morency (knee) still must be cleared by doctors to face the Eagles. The other healthy back is DeShawn Wynn.

Grant, 24, carried 18 times for 90 yards (5.0-yard average) and one touchdown in exhibition games. He also caught one pass for 18 yards and returned a kickoff for 27. In the Giants' exhibition finale Thursday, he made several tackles on special teams.

A four-year player at Notre Dame, Grant wasn't drafted and signed with the Giants in May 2005 ($15,000 bonus). He was let go on the final cut in '05 after carrying just twice for minus-2 yards and catching one pass for 12.

After spending his entire rookie season on the Giants' practice squad, Grant signed a two-year deal ($5,000 bonus) with New York in January 2006. The final year of that contract, with a $310,000 base salary, now reverts to Green Bay.

In spring 2006, Grant suffered a massive cut on his left wrist in an incident at a New York nightclub that required surgery. He spent that season on the non-football injury list, working out on his own at a nearby facility.
"You're talking about a stopgap, on the same scale as Wynn," a scout for another NFC team said. "He's a good, tough runner but he's not a nifty guy. I think he's got good hands."

Grant ran 40 yards in an eye-catching 4.43 seconds at the '05 NFL combine, had a 33 1/2-inch vertical jump and a 9-7 broad jump, bench-pressed 225 pounds 17 times and scored 29 on the Wonderlic intelligence test.

"He definitely doesn't play like a 4.43," one scout said. "Maybe I'm missing something, but everything I saw of him was just OK. Quick enough, but not overly quick. Fast enough, but not exciting fast. He can drop his shoulder and get another yard or two, but he's not going to run anybody over."

Grant started all 13 games for Notre Dame in 2002, gaining 1,085 yards. He lost his job to Julius Jones in mid-'03 and finished with 567, then backed up Darius Walker in '04 and gained 515.

In all, he rushed 560 times for 2,277 yards (4.07) and 18 touchdowns.

One scout brought up P.J. Pope, a running back that the Packers had high hopes for before waiving him Aug. 24. Pope had a knee scope Aug. 6.

"Was he hurt that bad?" the scout said. "Because he's definitely better than this guy. Pope is pretty good. He's got more everything. Strength, vision.

"There's some guys on the street that have better reps (reputations) than Grant."

Neither scout said Grant had the ability to play fullback, where Korey Hall is the only one on the roster.

Tom Silverstein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

[Brohm]

Scouts did not see much in James Jones either. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Merlin]

Unlike James Jones, this guy has been around a few years.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Unlike James Jones, this guy has been around a few years.

Cullen Jenkins and Atari Bigby had been around a few years before the light went off.

[Merlin]

I loved Jenkins from day one. If you read what the scouts are saying, it's a mixed bag with no general consensus on him. The light may go on but he doesn't appear to be all that fast, just smart and that may be enough.

[gbpackfan]

Ouch. They were pretty harsh on our new guy. The insider blog at packersnews.com says that TT is looking real hard at waiver wire RBs. This kid may not even make the team.

http://www.packersnews.com/includes/newspaper/blogs/insider/index.shtml

[Bretsky]

First off, it's probably a conditional pick and it's probably not high. As our team gets better, if you feel that is happening, and our team gets deeper, it's less important to always have 12 picks per year. So we give up a sixth or seventh. Who cares. Worth a try.

[LL2]

They just traded for him so they would have a healthy body at the position. I hope Jackson gets a clean bill of health and has a break out season.

[Rastak]

They just traded for him so they would have a healthy body at the position. I hope Jackson gets a clean bill of health and has a break out season.


Ummm, why didn't they just pick one up off waivers and keep the draft choice if "healthy body" was all they needed?

[GrnBay007]

The reporters have been down big time on the Packer's RB situation (rightfully so). It's only natural they are going to put a negative slant on this trade...considering the circumstances. Lets just wait and see.

P.S. ...Teddy, feel free to keep looking. 8-)

[HarveyWallbangers]

Ummm, why didn't they just pick one up off waivers and keep the draft choice if "healthy body" was all they needed?

Reported to be a conditional 7th--based on number of games on the roster. If that's the case, they really didn't give up anything. They can cut him for another player and not lose a pick.

[Rastak]

Ummm, why didn't they just pick one up off waivers and keep the draft choice if "healthy body" was all they needed?

Reported to be a conditional 7th--based on number of games on the roster. If that's the case, they really didn't give up anything. They can cut him for another player and not lose a pick.

Ah, a conditional pick.....yea, then it's almost like a waiver wire deal.

[The Leaper]

I agree that the draft pick likely won't be pried from Thompson's hands...but it still seems like a strange scenario to me regardless.

[ND72]

Grant is a zone runner, so that is what makes him "look good" in the eyes of TT & MM. I read that McCarthy really liked Grant when he came out of college. He's not a burner, but he's a solid zone runner with good vision. Plus he's kind of a "bigger" back, so he'd be a good 3rd and short type runner for them.

[Harlan Huckleby]

They just traded for him so they would have a healthy body at the position. I hope Jackson gets a clean bill of health and has a break out season.


I think you ought to be hoping for Morency to get better. It appears that he is better than Jackson, at least in short term.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Kind of interesting. From the JSO:


Costly deal: General manager Ted Thompson maintained that the New York Giants weren't going to cut Grant but a Giants source said the team was going to release him.

A source with one of the two teams said the Packers traded a sixth-round draft choice for Grant last week.

"That's not the information we got," Thompson replied when asked if he had heard the Giants would have cut Grant. "But you never know. He was on all their special teams and looked very much like a guy they were going to have on their team.

"We did what we had to do to get the young man. We liked what we saw on tape."

Grant, 6 feet 1 inch and 224 pounds, said he was told by the Giants that they were going to keep five backs, including him.

"They kind of gave me the heads-up I was going to make the team," he said.

A personnel director for an NFC team said Grant had an impressive summer.

"I was shocked they got the sixth for him," the scout said. "But if you base it just off preseason, which you hate to do, he was worth it. In college, he was just kind of a guy. But I'm telling you, he was impressive in preseason. He could be something, he really could."

[Carolina_Packer]

Damn that Shanahan! He strikes again. He picks up Selvin Young as a rookie FA and he's now number 2 on the depth chart. So now he's loaded with RB's and we're searching for a healthy productive one.

I don't recall that we picked up any other RB's on the undrafted free agent market, and with the question marks surrounding our backs, why not get some more of them in camp. If we had gone after a Selvin Young instead of a Clark Harris, we'd have someone right now who could be helping us. Yeah, I know, Monday morning QB'ing (granted, it's Friday), but with PJ Pope and Arliss Beach getting the heave ho, he really painted himself into a corner as far as who we kept and didn't have as big a margin of error as he could have had if he had just brought in more RB's to compete.

[Harlan Huckleby]

every time this thread pops to top of list I think the Packers just added a new back.

focus, focus...

[Joemailman]

Damn that Shanahan! He strikes again. He picks up Selvin Young as a rookie FA and he's now number 2 on the depth chart. So now he's loaded with RB's and we're searching for a healthy productive one.

I don't recall that we picked up any other RB's on the undrafted free agent market, and with the question marks surrounding our backs, why not get some more of them in camp. If we had gone after a Selvin Young instead of a Clark Harris, we'd have someone right now who could be helping us. Yeah, I know, Monday morning QB'ing (granted, it's Friday), but with PJ Pope and Arliss Beach getting the heave ho, he really painted himself into a corner as far as who we kept and didn't have as big a margin of error as he could have had if he had just brought in more RB's to compete.

Actually, Pope was an injury too. So Pack has had Morency, Jackson, Herron, Pope and Grant get hurt. Also, that doesn't include Wynn who missed most of the preseason with an injury. It's been argued that TT should have brought in a back with more experience, but I don't know if you can really say he didn't bring in enough backs. It's just a tough situation that they'll have to work their way through.

[Carolina_Packer]

OK, all I'm saying is he has a zillion guys he brings into camp to compete for all the other positions, so why shortchange RB to the point where you are looking for enough bodies for camp? He was trimming RB's off the roster before camp began. It's not his fault for the injuries of course, but for his pre-camp planning. I don't know if there is much you can do once camp starts to get someone until the final roster cut downs either in trade or waiver. I just think he left us a little thin and hopefully will learn to stock up a little more. He's a throw it up and see if it sticks guy anyway, so if he had gone after a Selvin Young, he would find a potential diamond in the rough. Seems like a TT guy...under the radar, sat behind someone else and was respectable but not prolific; lots of upside.

[Bretsky]

Damn that Shanahan! He strikes again. He picks up Selvin Young as a rookie FA and he's now number 2 on the depth chart. So now he's loaded with RB's and we're searching for a healthy productive one.

I don't recall that we picked up any other RB's on the undrafted free agent market, and with the question marks surrounding our backs, why not get some more of them in camp. If we had gone after a Selvin Young instead of a Clark Harris, we'd have someone right now who could be helping us. Yeah, I know, Monday morning QB'ing (granted, it's Friday), but with PJ Pope and Arliss Beach getting the heave ho, he really painted himself into a corner as far as who we kept and didn't have as big a margin of error as he could have had if he had just brought in more RB's to compete.

Actually, Pope was an injury too. So Pack has had Morency, Jackson, Herron, Pope and Grant get hurt. Also, that doesn't include Wynn who missed most of the preseason with an injury. It's been argued that TT should have brought in a back with more experience, but I don't know if you can really say he didn't bring in enough backs. It's just a tough situation that they'll have to work their way through.

Good ole TT; he's all about quantity

[Lurker64]

He was trimming RB's off the roster before camp began.

He was? Anybody other than Arliss Beach, who was coming off a injury laden 2006? He got cut by the Cowboys on Sept 1, and I think he's still out there if we want another RB.

So not a huge misjudgment from Thompson there, is it?

[HarveyWallbangers]

He didn't exactly shortchange the position. How can you expect this?

#1 Morency - gets injured and misses pretty much all of camp
#2 Jackson - suffers concussion and misses time late in camp
#3 Herron - out for season
#4 Wynn - misses most of camp
#5 Pope - misses most of camp

Not to mention other guys who were brought into camp like Corey White.

How many more RBs did you want them to bring into camp?

[HarveyWallbangers]

Joe beat me to it.

[Carolina_Packer]

I'm fine with TT not getting in a bidding war for Ahman. It would have been a bad re-signing.

I don't blame him for injuries, of course...they happen, and you deal.

I think it just points out the issues with leaving so much to chance with youth and relative inexperience. Admittedly there were not a ton of great options out there, but I think a more experienced guy could have pushed some of the other guys more, and made us less reliant on the young guys so soon. Even a stop-gap guy would have worked, ala Chris Brown or (insert name of any other available RB). It's not perfect, but at least it gives you some more leadership.

Again, I understand that we're snake-bitten, but even if we were more healthy, I still see the wisdom in having a stop gap veteran for depth and leadership, just in case Jackson or Morency doesn't come through and it provides veteran depth. Could that guy have gotten hurt too? Yeah, I guess so, but perhaps a veteran guy may have better preparation or practice to stay away from injury.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Before preseason, I'm sure Jackson was considered the future. He was a 2nd round pick, and RBs in the 2nd round often contribute immediately. Morency was the stopgap/platoon guy until Jackson was ready. Herron was the short-term 3rd down back. Wynn was the flier/project. I also think they thought they had something with Pope. I imagine they didn't think Jackson would struggle so much in pass pro because that he was considered a good all around back. I must admit that I haven't seen more than 1 or 2 glaring mistakes in pass pro by him in the preseason, but you can bet that Philly is going to come after the kid.

[Carolina_Packer]

All I'm saying is why roll a big pair of dice on a rookie if you have the resources? Why not try and create a safety net by having a veteran for depth? If Jackson came in and beat out the veteran and made him expendable, that's the ultimate scenario. If he struggled with his game or got hurt, the veteran would come in handy. That's really all I'm saying, I guess. We physically had enough bodies at RB, but we certainly could have used a bargain, stop-gap, veteran to provide depth and some veteran leadership at a position that was questionable coming into the season. I'm not second guessing TT because I was first guessing him before training camp and during the free agency period.

[Harlan Huckleby]

RBs in the 2nd round often contribute immediately .

I wonder if this is true. OK, "contribute", that's pretty safe. But I'm gonna go look at recent st 2nd round RB's see how many started in recent years. A good use of my time. :)

[BallHawk]

RBs in the 2nd round often contribute immediately .

I wonder if this is true. OK, "contribute", that's pretty safe. But I'm gonna go look at recent st 2nd round RB's see how many started in recent years. A good use of my time. :)

If we're talking strictly 2nd round draft pick, Julius Jones and Clinton Portis come to mind.

[Harlan Huckleby]

OK here are rookie years of recent 2nd rounders
games started, rushing attempts, yards, average

2006
(0) 61 244 4.0 LenDale White, Tenessee
(1) 166 941 5.7 Maurice Jones-Drew, Jacksonville

2005
(5) 112 370 3.3 J.J. Arrington, Arizona
(0) injured Eric Shelton, Carolina (leave him out)

2004
(0) 75 396 5.3 Tatum Bell, Denver
(7) 197 819 4.2 Julius Jones, Dallas
(3) 62 162 2.6 Greg Jones, Jacksonville

None of them started half the games.
2 of 6 are bigtime contributors, Julius Jones and Maurice Jones-Drew
4 of 6 had good rushing averages.

[RashanGary]

Who the F just pissed in the koolaid? This kool aid tastes awfull.


We have four guys and we don't know if any one of them is going to pan out. The good thing is that only one of the four has to play well for the season. Hopefully we can get one of our guys to pick up a couple yards. Hell, Gado did a good job behind a shit line. These guys might be able to, too.

If all of our rocks were in Jacksons basket, I'd be really worried. We only have about 1/3 of our seasons rocks in his basket though. He might turn out, but so might Grant, Wynn or Morency. They might all be injured and fail for the whole season. I don't think that is probable though.

[Bretsky]

Who the F just pissed in the koolaid? This kool aid tastes awfull.


We have four guys and we don't know if any one of them is going to pan out. The good thing is that only one of the four has to play well for the season. Hopefully we can get one of our guys to pick up a couple yards. Hell, Gado did a good job behind a shit line. These guys might be able to, too.

If all of our rocks were in Jacksons basket, I'd be really worried. We only have about 1/3 of our seasons rocks in his basket though. He might turn out, but so might Grant, Wynn or Morency. They might all be injured and fail for the whole season. I don't think that is probable though.


Sorry, next time I'll go on the Bush :lol:

[retailguy]

At some point, don't we have to sit back and ask WHY all the running backs are hurt? Is it some kind of bad training? Bad luck? Bad Karma? Bad protection from the line? Increased hits from the lack of line play? Other?

I think Justin has finally slowed down from guzzling the kool-aid bong long enough to see how it really tastes, but, I'm not trying to be a "downer" here.

I really want to know what everyone thinks (theorizes) about how all these injuries happened. The last time the RB corps got decimated? 2005. When we had "stopgap" guards.... Hmm. Kind of makes you wonder, no?

[Joemailman]

At some point, don't we have to sit back and ask WHY all the running backs are hurt? Is it some kind of bad training? Bad luck? Bad Karma? Bad protection from the line? Increased hits from the lack of line play? Other?

I think Justin has finally slowed down from guzzling the kool-aid bong long enough to see how it really tastes, but, I'm not trying to be a "downer" here.

I really want to know what everyone thinks (theorizes) about how all these injuries happened. The last time the RB corps got decimated? 2005. When we had "stopgap" guards.... Hmm. Kind of makes you wonder, no?

Probably bad luck. Maybe training. Morency, Wynn and Pope all got hurt very early. Don't know if there's anything there to go on though. Jackson suffered his concussion when he was driven to the turf by Poppinga, something that doesn't happen in practice very often. I don't think it's the line. RB's get tackled on virtually every play even if the line is playing great. Najeh Davenport played behind a great line for a couple of years and still was always hurt. During that same period, Ahman stayed healthy, so it wasn't the line.

[packers11]

a BLAST from the past...

haha its so funny to look back...

"another T.T. trade" :lol:

[pbmax]

I knew we should have hung onto PJ Pope. That has to be one of T2's top ten mistakes. :)

[BallHawk]

A personnel director for an NFC team said Grant had an impressive summer.

"I was shocked they got the sixth for him," the scout said. "But if you base it just off preseason, which you hate to do, he was worth it. In college, he was just kind of a guy. But I'm telling you, he was impressive in preseason. He could be something, he really could."

This guy deserves a medal....

[FritzDontBlitz]

A personnel director for an NFC team said Grant had an impressive summer.

"I was shocked they got the sixth for him," the scout said. "But if you base it just off preseason, which you hate to do, he was worth it. In college, he was just kind of a guy. But I'm telling you, he was impressive in preseason. He could be something, he really could."

This guy deserves a medal....

So does this guy:


"He definitely doesn't play like a 4.43," one scout said. "Maybe I'm missing something, but everything I saw of him was just OK. Quick enough, but not overly quick. Fast enough, but not exciting fast. He can drop his shoulder and get another yard or two, but he's not going to run anybody over."

Tell that to John Lynch.