Bretsky
09-03-2007, 08:50 AM
Talented group has little fat to trim
Final cuts leave Packers loaded along defensive line
By LORI NICKEL
lnickel@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 2, 2007
Green Bay - Tackle Mark Tauscher was giving them a hard time Sunday during the first practice leading up to the season opener Sunday against Philadelphia.
How many defensive linemen do we need? Tauscher griped good naturedly, as a parade of 300-plus pound giants marched across him on the line of scrimmage.
Eleven, apparently.
When Packers general manager Ted Thompson made his final cuts to settle on his 53-man roster Saturday afternoon, he couldn't decide how to pick apart a talented crop of run stuffers and pass rushers.
So he just didn't.
Thus, the Packers are one of just two teams in the 32-team NFL - the other is Buffalo - with so many defensive linemen. About 21 percent of Green Bay's roster manpower is devoted to four spots -- the positions of defensive tackle and defensive end.
With that fact, the defense is clearly expected to be impetus of the 2007 Packers. It also means someone with talent and or potential is going to have to sit it out on Sunday.
Which begs the question, who? It is possible the Packers' first round draft choice, Justin Harrell, would be held inactive for the season opener?
"I would be disappointed" in that, Harrell said. "But I would have to approach it like a man and know that I would have to work harder. It would be one of those things where you'd have to swallow your pride and keep working."
Though Harrell is listed on the Packers' web site depth chart as a starter, and though he played 40 snaps in the Seattle exhibition game, he has really not been with the starters all training camp. Harrell spent Sunday with most of the other younger defensive linemen - on the scout team.
He said he isn't worried yet about playing time and will prepare for the game as if he were playing.
But last year, the Packers typically dressed eight defensive linemen. They have six defensive tackles.
Assuming Ryan Pickett starts as usual at left defensive tackle with Aaron Kampman and Cullen Jenkins on the ends, the Packers will have to pick a starter for right defensive tackle. The leading candidates are Johnny Jolly and Corey Williams. Where will that leave Harrell, Colin Cole and Daniel Muir, all defensive tackles?
They don't yet know.
"The way we practice, anyone could go with the ones, anyone could go with the twos," said Jolly. "You might be on the work team. I mean, we never know who is going to start. Whoever they put out there, we'll be in a good position anyway. We're not missing a beat from the first group, second group, third group. When the coach takes someone out, no one is being mad, no one is getting grouchy, because we're out there working as a team."
Still, sitting out won't sit well to the veterans.
"I had to be inactive for a game last year and I wasn't happy about it," said Cole. "It's not for me to judge but anybody who is not going to play is not going to be happy."
In Thompson's defense of keeping 11, two ends are injured. Michael Montgomery and has an injured knee and did not practice Sunday. Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila also has an injured knee, though he did practice some Sunday.
Still, 11 is a lot. A handful of teams have 10, but most teams with a 4-3 defense like the Packers hang on to eight or nine defensive linemen. Thompson didn't entertain any last-day trade offers for any of his defensive linemen and said he wouldn't have given any of them up unless it was a "blockbuster" deal anyway.
"I felt good about this group. I kind of wanted to keep this group together," said Thompson. "We feel like we have 11 that can play. Anytime you have big people that you feel have promise and can actually contribute and do all those things, I think you have to try to carry them if you can. ... We wanted to make sure we tried our best to keep our best 53, and that might mean the roster gets skewed a little bit."
Thompson said it is his intention to keep all 11, though injuries could deplete that group just like any other position.
"In the past four years that I have been here, there have been guys that have gone down which just put a lot of pressure on other guys," said Cole. "I think going in to this year, we wanted to be more prepared for that, in case it does happen."
However, if the Packers get in deeper trouble at running back with injuries and inexperience, the defensive linemen could also be dangled out as trade bait.
"If that would be the case, if they had to make a trade, I would think it would be somebody from the D-line," said Williams.
If the Packers do end up keeping 11 defensive linemen, though, they're going to have to figure out how they will divvy up the playing time and practice repetitions to keep their talented players content and confident.
"That might be hard, you know what I'm saying?" said Williams. "Everybody should have the attitude that they want to play. If they don't, then something is wrong with them.
"If you let it get to you, it will affect how you practice and when you do get in a game, your mind will be so messed up, thinking about, man I haven't been playing. I'm going to be ready whenever they call me, it might be this game, it might be the next game. You never know. You have to stay prepared for whatever."
Final cuts leave Packers loaded along defensive line
By LORI NICKEL
lnickel@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Sept. 2, 2007
Green Bay - Tackle Mark Tauscher was giving them a hard time Sunday during the first practice leading up to the season opener Sunday against Philadelphia.
How many defensive linemen do we need? Tauscher griped good naturedly, as a parade of 300-plus pound giants marched across him on the line of scrimmage.
Eleven, apparently.
When Packers general manager Ted Thompson made his final cuts to settle on his 53-man roster Saturday afternoon, he couldn't decide how to pick apart a talented crop of run stuffers and pass rushers.
So he just didn't.
Thus, the Packers are one of just two teams in the 32-team NFL - the other is Buffalo - with so many defensive linemen. About 21 percent of Green Bay's roster manpower is devoted to four spots -- the positions of defensive tackle and defensive end.
With that fact, the defense is clearly expected to be impetus of the 2007 Packers. It also means someone with talent and or potential is going to have to sit it out on Sunday.
Which begs the question, who? It is possible the Packers' first round draft choice, Justin Harrell, would be held inactive for the season opener?
"I would be disappointed" in that, Harrell said. "But I would have to approach it like a man and know that I would have to work harder. It would be one of those things where you'd have to swallow your pride and keep working."
Though Harrell is listed on the Packers' web site depth chart as a starter, and though he played 40 snaps in the Seattle exhibition game, he has really not been with the starters all training camp. Harrell spent Sunday with most of the other younger defensive linemen - on the scout team.
He said he isn't worried yet about playing time and will prepare for the game as if he were playing.
But last year, the Packers typically dressed eight defensive linemen. They have six defensive tackles.
Assuming Ryan Pickett starts as usual at left defensive tackle with Aaron Kampman and Cullen Jenkins on the ends, the Packers will have to pick a starter for right defensive tackle. The leading candidates are Johnny Jolly and Corey Williams. Where will that leave Harrell, Colin Cole and Daniel Muir, all defensive tackles?
They don't yet know.
"The way we practice, anyone could go with the ones, anyone could go with the twos," said Jolly. "You might be on the work team. I mean, we never know who is going to start. Whoever they put out there, we'll be in a good position anyway. We're not missing a beat from the first group, second group, third group. When the coach takes someone out, no one is being mad, no one is getting grouchy, because we're out there working as a team."
Still, sitting out won't sit well to the veterans.
"I had to be inactive for a game last year and I wasn't happy about it," said Cole. "It's not for me to judge but anybody who is not going to play is not going to be happy."
In Thompson's defense of keeping 11, two ends are injured. Michael Montgomery and has an injured knee and did not practice Sunday. Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila also has an injured knee, though he did practice some Sunday.
Still, 11 is a lot. A handful of teams have 10, but most teams with a 4-3 defense like the Packers hang on to eight or nine defensive linemen. Thompson didn't entertain any last-day trade offers for any of his defensive linemen and said he wouldn't have given any of them up unless it was a "blockbuster" deal anyway.
"I felt good about this group. I kind of wanted to keep this group together," said Thompson. "We feel like we have 11 that can play. Anytime you have big people that you feel have promise and can actually contribute and do all those things, I think you have to try to carry them if you can. ... We wanted to make sure we tried our best to keep our best 53, and that might mean the roster gets skewed a little bit."
Thompson said it is his intention to keep all 11, though injuries could deplete that group just like any other position.
"In the past four years that I have been here, there have been guys that have gone down which just put a lot of pressure on other guys," said Cole. "I think going in to this year, we wanted to be more prepared for that, in case it does happen."
However, if the Packers get in deeper trouble at running back with injuries and inexperience, the defensive linemen could also be dangled out as trade bait.
"If that would be the case, if they had to make a trade, I would think it would be somebody from the D-line," said Williams.
If the Packers do end up keeping 11 defensive linemen, though, they're going to have to figure out how they will divvy up the playing time and practice repetitions to keep their talented players content and confident.
"That might be hard, you know what I'm saying?" said Williams. "Everybody should have the attitude that they want to play. If they don't, then something is wrong with them.
"If you let it get to you, it will affect how you practice and when you do get in a game, your mind will be so messed up, thinking about, man I haven't been playing. I'm going to be ready whenever they call me, it might be this game, it might be the next game. You never know. You have to stay prepared for whatever."