How long will he be a Packer?

[CaliforniaCheez]

I suspect Harris will be on the PUP at the begining of the season.

With Blackmon moving to safety the following CB might make the final roster.

Woodson
Williams
Underwood
Lee

Safety
Bigby
Collins
Burnett
Blackmon

I bet they go with 8 DB's until Harris returns.

[Patler]

I think if they decide now to get rid of him, they won't go through all those motions only to dump him on the final cutdown for 2 reasons.

1. Cutting him now would send a much clearer message to all on the team, those in the future on the team, the league, and Packer fans.

2. Cutting him later would only decrease the reps for others and tie up a roster spot that never had a chance anyway.



I think, that Underwood will not be charged and will be on the team all season. He will probably be given a stern warning to keep his nose clean or he will be gone.

I have to admit, I originally thought as you do.

I leaned toward your reason #1, but decided to discount it because I don't think the current roster really needs the message. The Steelers needed to send a message to their squad, and did. If others were "with" Underwood in his shenanigans, I would tend to agree. But it seems the other 6 had no involvement at all.

Your reason # 2 won't be an issue early in camp. Harris will be held out and Woodson doesn't need the reps. At some positions the Packers have had the opposite problems in early camp, not enough healthy bodies to take all the available reps in a meaningful way. MM has even skipped planned drills because of it. As time goes on, they will control who gets what snaps and whether Underwood takes any quality time away from others.

They keep players around for mop-up duty anyway. It's a little different than when they had 3 and 4 cutdowns during camp. Now they go from 75 to 53 in the final cut. They will have lots of guys with no chance all the time up to when final cuts are made.

I think the last cutdown makes sense for a couple more reasons. It will give the Packers a chance to second guess themselves, in case he really does learn from this experience. Also, if they are going into the season with a bunch of their top corners nursing injuries, they might be willing to keep Underwood while they sift through the last cuts from other teams.

[vince]

Another reason I don't think they'll cut Underwood immediately in the absence of a sexual assault charge is that it exposes the team to accusations of double standards as it relates to the team's handling of Jolly.

If Underwood does get charged with solicitation, that could change of course.

[Patler]

Another reason I don't think they'll cut Underwood immediately in the absence of a sexual assault charge is that it exposes the team to accusations of double standards as it relates to the team's handling of Jolly.

If Underwood does get charged with solicitation, that could change of course.

I agree. If he isn't charged, as I said initially, I think he will get cut at the final cutdown (assuming reasonable CB health at the time). If he would have been charged with some type of sexual assault, I think he would have been gone sooner. The possible charge of solicitation throws in a new wrinkle.

In the end, I think he is a goner, regardless.

[CaliforniaCheez]

How about a list of names kept instead of him? That may change your mind.

Has Lee or Bell really shown more talent? I do not think so.

[Patler]

How about a list of names kept instead of him? That may change your mind.

Has Lee or Bell really shown more talent? I do not think so.

I don't think the question is have they shown more talent, the key question is, have they shown less? I think a tie, or anything close to a tie, goes to anyone other than Underwood at this point.

Underwood showed nothing last year, and I thought he was on thin ice at the end of last year anyway. I think it was Witt who late in the season commented that Underwood was no different than he was at the start of camp, and that it was unusual for a rookie to show no improvement during his rookie season. He commented on commitment to improving. I thought it was somewhat unusually harsh for a low round rookie.

Wasn't Bell playing ahead of Underwood at the end of the season last year?

[Patler]

How about a list of names kept instead of him? That may change your mind.

Has Lee or Bell really shown more talent? I do not think so.

I already gave you the list in my first post starting this poll:

If he isn't charged, I suspect he will go into camp, and we will hear from the coaches how well Lee, Bell, Ford and Shields are doing. Little will be said of Underwood, other than he is "trying" but he has a lot of competition for a spot.

Lee - more talented, higher draft pick, injury problems.
Ford- talked up a bit last year. Played ahead of Underwood at times.
Bell - I think was playing ahead of Underwood at the end of the season.
Shields - blazing speed, potential return man may get him a spot.

I wouldn't have been surprised for any of them to come out ahead of Underwood even before last weekend.

[Fritz]

It all depends on how much talent he has that we have not seen because it has not been developed. If the coaching staff really thinks he's got the talent to be an NFL starter, i think that if he escapes major trouble they'll give him one more year to get his act together. They don't want to cut him and have him grow up somewhere else.

If he's a NFL backup, then unless he comes into camp humble and hardworking, he'll be gone.

That's what I think.

[CaliforniaCheez]

Well Patler, I would not call Mike McCarthy a liar.

I will wait and to see the evidence on the field during the preseason.

[Patler]

Well Patler, I would not call Mike McCarthy a liar.

I will wait and to see the evidence on the field during the preseason.

I didn't call him a "liar", I called him a "coach".

Coaches use motivational techniques that others might consider "lies" in a literal sense, just like ad agencies do. Its called "puffery" in advertising.

[Patler]

Well Patler, I would not call Mike McCarthy a liar.

I will wait and to see the evidence on the field during the preseason.

We'll all wait to see, I just thought a poll of people's feelings might be interesting. Just my opinion as of now, but I think he is a goner. Personally, I hope the kid learns, keeps his nose clean, and becomes a better player than a 6th rounder is expected to be.

I never felt the same way about Jolly. I expected the team would hang on to him until they had no real choice. Of course, his problems came after his second season and after he had showed performance on the field. But I got a different sense about him from the team even early on. They talked about his effort on the field as a rookie, and that in GB he was all about football. They mentioned early that his problems came when he got around influences from his younger years.

I sensed real frustration with Underwood last year, when they really needed him to step up. It was a golden opportunity for him with all the injuries, and I sensed that he did little to take advantage of that opportunity.

Now he puts himself and six teammates in a bad situation at a function they attended as Packers. It wasn't him on his own time, so to speak. He was there in his role as a Packer, even if it was after the event. The team (coaches, GM, etc.) will take it a little more personally than they would have if he was simply on his own when he did it.

Put it all together, and I just don't see a lot of patience or tolerance coming his way.

[Joemailman]

I think he make it, unless the Packers decide he's a lost cause character-wise. I think he has as much natural ability as any CB on the team other than Woodson. He probably would have been drafted higher than he was if he hadn't lost his scholarship at Ohio St. I think the Packers will give him one more shot to prove he can harness his ability, with the understanding that the time to grow up is now.

[Bretsky]

Bretsky is not commenting on the 3sum until the charges have been cleared

[CaliforniaCheez]

Although the poll shows a consensus, history has shown us that no matter how good the Packers team is there always seems to be one or two rookie free agents that make the team.

I think his chances are good but we will see.

[The Leaper]

I think he gets cut...the chances of a suspension still exist. He'll last until the final cuts, but I think Green Bay will go another direction.