Early Stab At 53 Man Roster

[HarveyWallbangers]

I have a strange take on RB. I honestly think Grant runs an ugly holdout, gets traded for a second in next years draft and we go in with:

Jackson, Wynn, CWhite

Kuhn

Welcome. Now, I'll move onto disagreeing with you. White couldn't beat out Hall last year. I'm guessing he won't this year either. Grant will play. He has to prove 1/2 year wasn't a fluke. If he does it again, he'll get big bucks.

[sepporepi]

Most teams carry 9 OL, sometimes 8 or 10.
I have NEVER seen just 7 and I strongly doubt the pack will start
it this year.

[DonHutson]

Not much love for Juice Coston in this thread. He's got his issues but I think he's right back in the hunt with Spitz and Colledge. If you rank the guards in different categories, it looks something like this:

Athleticism: 1) Colledge, 2) Coston, 3) Spitz

Size/Strength: 1) Spitz, 2) Coston, 3) Colledge

Consistency: 1) Spitz, 2) tie between Colledge and Coston - both are inadequate

Intensity: 1) Spitz, 2) another tie between Colledge and Coston - both seem pretty laid back on the field

It's obviously a very unscientific system, but Coston and Colledge rank about even to me. In fact the gap between Coston over Colledge in strength is probably a lot larger than the gap between Colledge and Coston in athleticism.

[idpackerfan]

I agree with most of what you guys think, with a couple of changes... here's mine...

QB (3) Rodger, Brohm, Flynn
No need for a vet... I think Rodgers will be fine.

RB (3) Grant, Jackson, Wynn
I think that Grant will be a stud again this year and average over 4.5 yds a carry. Jackson showed flashes in mop up duty against the lions last year... Wynn needs to drink some milk and try to stop being made of glass, but as an emergency 3rd string back, he'd be okay.

FB (2) Hall, Kuhn
I like Hall... maybe just cuz he came from an idaho school... even if it was *shutters* BSU.

TE (3) Lee, Finley, Humphrey
I think that Finley will come on midway through the season... humphrey will act moreso as a blocker... I wouldn't be surprised to see some 3 TE sets to throw a curveball at the D this year

OL (9) Wells,Barbre , Clifton, Spitz, Tauscher, Sitton, Giacomini,Colledge , Moll
I think that Barbre beats out Colledge in camp. He's a beast and finally seems to be getting a grasp of the scheme he's playing in(only know that from reading quotes and articles from coaches and I guess i'm taking their word on that)

WR (6) Driver, Jennings, Jones, Nelson, Martin, Swain
Robinsen has been a great story about coming back, but swain and jordy will make him expendable by taking over the return duties. I'm actually really excited about Jordy's return abilities... he's decisive, which is something we haven't had for a while in returners... they've liked to dance too much in the past couple of years for my taste.

DL (9) Pickett, Jolly, Harrell, Muir, Jenkins, Kampman, KGB, Thompson, Cole

LB (6) Barnett, Hawk, Chillar, Poppinga, Bishop, White
I think that Chillar beats out Pop for the 3rd spot. Bishop is a hard hitter and a capable backup for barnett. I like hodge, but he's the odd man out here.

CB (5) Harris, Woodson, Lee, Williams, Allen
I think that that Allen, an Undrafted free agent we signed will prove to be clutch. He's big (6-2) and I liked him when I saw portland state play. I know he's a dark horse, but with blackmoon being unable to stay healthy, I think that allen shows major flashes and they go with him and give up on trying to get blackmoon on the field for a full season. If they keep only 3 safeties, i can definitely see them keeping blackmoon for one more season.
S (4) Bigby, Rouse, Collins, Peprah
On here I have them keeping 4 safeties, but I have a feeling that they might only go with 3 with having woodson be their emergency option as a 4th safety. If they want to keep an extra guy at another position, then they can sacrifice one guy here... Also I think that Rouse beats out Collins in camp. He shows up and plays lights out. Ballhawk Rouse and Atari "I don't care about my body" Bigby would make a great combo of aggresiveness and coverage. I just liked Rouse last season a lot and think that he's going to be great.

ST (3) Crosby, DeBauche, Long Snapper
I think that DeBauche dispatches Ryan as the punter with his great directional punting skills. Seems to have quite the leg and is a feel good story since he played at wisconsin.

[texaspackerbacker]

1 Scott Wells C L
2 Korey Hall FB L
3 Josh Sitton G L
4 Daryn Colledge G L
5 Allen Barbre G L
6 Jason Spitz G/C L
7 Brian Brohm QB L
8 Aaron Rodgers QB L
9 Ryan Grant RB L
10 Brandon Jackson RB L
11 Breno Giacomini T L
12 Mark Tauscher T L
13 Chad Clifton T L
14 Jermichael Finley TE L
15 Donald Lee TE L
16 Jordy Nelson WR L
17 Donald Driver WR L
18 Greg Jennings WR L
19 James Jones WR L

20 John Kuhn FB x
21 Junius Coston G x
22 Matt Flynn QB x
23 Vernand Morency RB x
24 DeShawn Wynn RB x
25 Tony Moll T x
26 Tory Humphrey TE x
27 Ruvell Martin WR x

28 Patrick Lee CB L
29 Charles Woodson CB L
30 Al Harris CB L
31 Jeremy Thompson DE L
32 Aaron Kampman DE L
33 Cullen Jenkins DE L
34 Ryan Pickett DT L
35 Johnny Jolly DT L
36 Justin Harrell DT L
37 Nick Barnett LB L
38 Brandon Chillar LB L
39 Brady Poppinga LB L
40 A.J. Hawk LB L
41 Nick Collins S L
42 Atari Bigby S L
43 Aaron Rouse S L

44 Will Blackmon CB x
45 Jarrett Bush CB x
46 Tramon Williams CB x
47 Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila DE x
48 Michael Montgomery DE x
49 Colin Cole DT x
50 Tracy White LB x
51 Abdul Hodge LB x

52 Mason Crosby K L
53 Jon Ryan P L

What are the l and x ?

The only names of consequence I can see that are missing are Koren Robinson and Desmond Bishop. Who else did you leave out?

[Freak Out]

Has Grant signed yet? I remember reading awhile back that there could be some issues involving the tender he was offered.

We need the Beav!

[motife]

What are the l and x ?

The only names of consequence I can see that are missing are Koren Robinson and Desmond Bishop. Who else did you leave out?

L is a lock. x is probable.

Here's who I left out. I did not include a Long Snapper, and I admit I did not balance the roster by position and probable numbers at OL, DL, LB, S, CB, RB... I did at QB and WR..

Jason Hunter DE z
Daniel Muir DT z
Desmond Bishop LB z
Noah Herron RB z
Charlie Peprah S z
Tyrone Culver S z
Orrin Thompson T z
Brett Swain WR z
Koren Robinson WR z
Shaun Bodiford WR z
Chris Francies WR z

[motife]

ST (3) Crosby, DeBauche, Long Snapper
I think that DeBauche dispatches Ryan as the punter with his great directional punting skills. Seems to have quite the leg and is a feel good story since he played at wisconsin.

Other than an atrocious game in Chicago, didn't Jon Ryan just have one of the greatest punting gross and net avg.'s in Packer history?

[motife]

I couldn't find the net punting avgs. but since 1959 only 2 Packer punters had a better gross avg than Jon Ryan's
44.4, of last year.

In 2007 Ryan also had a net 37.6, 18 in 20, 13 FC, 19 ret for 113 yards, 0TD. 2 BLKD.
Here are some of his good gross games :
STL 1 - 60.0
KC 2 - 57.5
DEN 3 - 52.3
MN 3 - 50.7
DAL 3 - 49.7
DET 4 - 49.0
MN 4 - 49.0
CHI 5 - 48.0

2006 Ryan gross 44.5, net 35.7, 17 in 20, 4 FC, 55!! ret for 503!! yds, 1TD, 0 BLKD

Only 2 Packer punters with better gross avg's than Ryan in 06/07 :

1997 : Craig Hentrich 45.0. 36.0 net (worse than Ryan's in 07), but with 26! in 20. 15 FC, 32 ret for 255 yds)
1963 : Jerry Norton 44.7

The only other Packer punters to crack 43 : Ron Widby in 1973 and Boyd Dowler 2 years in the 1960's.

btw, Donny Anderson was the Packers Punter from 1965 to 1970 and had very good numbers, all above 40. In 65/66 Donny shared the duties with Don Chandler.

If Ryan improves as much in 08 as he did in 07, he'll be in the Pro Bowl.

[bobblehead]

I have a strange take on RB. I honestly think Grant runs an ugly holdout, gets traded for a second in next years draft and we go in with:

Jackson, Wynn, CWhite

Kuhn

Welcome. Now, I'll move onto disagreeing with you. White couldn't beat out Hall last year. I'm guessing he won't this year either. Grant will play. He has to prove 1/2 year wasn't a fluke. If he does it again, he'll get big bucks.

The Grant situation is funny though, TT doesn't like holdouts and demands especially from a guy with half a season under his belt...do you think he will sign the minimum?

I know that Hall beat out White last year and is learning the position still, I probably agree with you that my call isn't likely since TT will go with his pick for at least one more year. I just see it shaping up the way I said.

Another poster said teams tend to go 9 OL, and if that is true the position is a lot clearer, but I thought most went with 8, I could be wrong.

[Bretsky]

I have a strange take on RB. I honestly think Grant runs an ugly holdout, gets traded for a second in next years draft and we go in with:

Jackson, Wynn, CWhite

Kuhn

Welcome. Now, I'll move onto disagreeing with you. White couldn't beat out Hall last year. I'm guessing he won't this year either. Grant will play. He has to prove 1/2 year wasn't a fluke. If he does it again, he'll get big bucks.

The Grant situation is funny though, TT doesn't like holdouts and demands especially from a guy with half a season under his belt...do you think he will sign the minimum?

I know that Hall beat out White last year and is learning the position still, I probably agree with you that my call isn't likely since TT will go with his pick for at least one more year. I just see it shaping up the way I said.

Another poster said teams tend to go 9 OL, and if that is true the position is a lot clearer, but I thought most went with 8, I could be wrong.

First off welcome to PR bobblehead

I don't think Grant will sign the minimum w/o some incentive clauses worked in; I could also see TT giving him a bit more money.......but Grant has no negotiating power and I don't think TT wants to extend him in a serious contract until he sees Grant excel for a season with AROD.

[motife]

...oops..

[KYPack]

Not much love for Juice Coston in this thread. He's got his issues but I think he's right back in the hunt with Spitz and Colledge. If you rank the guards in different categories, it looks something like this:

Athleticism: 1) Colledge, 2) Coston, 3) Spitz

Size/Strength: 1) Spitz, 2) Coston, 3) Colledge

Consistency: 1) Spitz, 2) tie between Colledge and Coston - both are inadequate

Intensity: 1) Spitz, 2) another tie between Colledge and Coston - both seem pretty laid back on the field

It's obviously a very unscientific system, but Coston and Colledge rank about even to me. In fact the gap between Coston over Colledge in strength is probably a lot larger than the gap between Colledge and Coston in athleticism.

I'll buy most of this, DH. The C&C boys are pretty much of a dead heat.

Both have their strong points.

Coston is strong and has the ability to make blow-up blocks at the point of attack. He also is an air-head and can disappear for multiple plays.

Colledge is a hellacious athlete. He makes pulls and downfield blocks that remind me of Wahle in his prime. He's soft, get bullrushed right off the field at times. He also has his moments of disappearing. Against Dallas, he was getting swarmed and just went into a flat footed shell. They had to bench him.

Somehow, I get the idea the coaches wanted Coston to emerge last year and were pissed that he seemed to regress again. Colledge got the gig by default.

Yer right, both guys needs to fire up, for different reasons, but more intensity would help both guys.

I think they want Barbre to win the LG gig, cut one of the C&C squad and give the back-up job to a kid. I hope we don't get rid of the wrong one. I think Colledge gets the job due to his ability to play tackle. He's real comfortable there & could do that job for us in the future.

[Patler]

The Coston/Colledge competition should be interesting. Colledge got the starting job back last season mostly because Coston was injured. When he first got into the starting lineup, the coaches seemed fairly pleased with Coston, but he got hurt quite quickly.

Coston could be even more versatile than Colledge. The Packers have practiced him at all five line positions. In college, Coston started multiple games at each of the five positions. I think the Packers consider him their #3 center, which is where he played mostly as a senior in college.

Coston is almost two years younger than Colledge. In some ways, I think he has more of a chance to make a major step this season than Colledge does.

[RashanGary]

Coston is almost two years younger than Colledge. In some ways, I think he has more of a chance to make a major step this season than Colledge does.

It would be a very pleasant suprise if everythign fell that way. Coston seems more natural at RG (considering they moved Spitz to left when Coston started if I remember correctly).

If they feel better about Coston than Colledge, I think it would be wise to move Spitz over right away so he can get acclimated and hit the ground running in preseason and the regular season. I'm starting to take issue with the way they put all of the good prospects ar RG and pretty much give Colledge no competition at LG (other than Barbre and who knows how he pans out).