Friday, July 25, 2014

Building The 53 - The Last Three Roster Spots

Welcome to the third and final installment of my look at the current roster for the 2014 Green Bay Packers heading into the start of training camp this weekend.  As I said earlier this week there are 35 locks* and 15 players that will most likely* make The 53.  That leave just three spots truly up for grabs, which is five less than last year.

Although the Packers usually keep a few undrafted rookie free agents (think Andy Mulumba), it is too hard to tell what players are going to emerge since training camp has not started.  Here are my pre-training camp rankings within each position (best to worst) for the rest of the current roster:

Quarterback: Chase Rettig
Running Back: Michael Hill, Rajon Neal, and LaDarius Perkins
Fullback: Ina Liaina
Wide Receiver: Jeff Janis, Kevin Dorsey, Myles White, Alex Gillett, Chris Harper, and Gerrard Sheppard
Tight End: Jake Stoneburner, Colt Lyerla, and Justin Perillo
Offensive Tackle: Aaron Adams, John Fullington, and Jeremy Vujnovich
Offensive Guard: Lane Taylor, Andrew Tiller, and Jordan McCray
Center: Garth Gerhart
Defensive End: Jerel Worthy, Luther Robinson and Carlos Gray
Defensive Tackle: Mike Pennel
Middle Linebacker: Sam Barrington, Jake Doughty, and Joe Thomas
Outside Linebacker: Andy Mulumba, Nate Palmer, Jayrone Elliott, Adrian Hubbard, and Korey Jones
Cornerback: Demetri Goodson, Jumal Rolle, Ryan White, and Antonio Dennard
Safety: Chris Banjo, Charles Clay, and Tanner Miller

Lots of things can change throughout the preseason but my current advice would be to keep Jeff Janis, Andy Mulumba, and Lane Taylor.  Check back as the preseason plays out for my continued thoughts on Building The 53.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Building The 53 - The Most Likelies*

Yesterday I gave you my 35 locks* to make The 53.  I think there are 15 guys that will most likely* make The 53, which is down from 18 last year, but that is because there are eight more locks* for The 53 this year over last season.

Just to reiterate, you may have noticed the asterisk in the title and throughout this post.  I put that there because if any of the following guys suffer a season ending injury during training camp (knocking on wood as I type), the Packers will place them on injured reserve so they would not make The 53 but still would be in the team's long-term plans.  Absent a season ending injury, here are the 15 most likelies* to make The 53:

Quarterback: Matt Flynn and Scott Tolzien

Running BackDuJuan Harris
Fullback: John Kuhn
Wide Receiver: Jared Abbrederis

Tight End: Ryan Taylor
Offensive Tackle: Derek Sherrod
Offensive Guard: None
Center: Corey Linsley
Defensive End: None
Defensive Tackle: Letroy Guion
Middle Linebacker: Jamari Lattimore

Outside Linebacker: Nick Perry and Carl Bradford
Cornerback: Davon House and Jarrett Bush

Safety: Sean Richardson
Specialist: None

That means absent injury, there are really only three roster spots up for grabs.  Check back tomorrow for my initial thoughts on the disposition of those final three roster spots.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Building The 53 - The Locks*

As training camp opens this weekend for the 2014 Green Bay Packers, much like I did last year, I am going to run a three-part series of looking at how I think The 53 will shake out before the start of training camp.  This marks my second in-depth look at The 53 following my first look in mid-May, which came a little more than a week after the 2014 NFL Draft.

The first installment are the locks* currently on the roster.  The reason all of the guys I am about to list are are locks* stems from one of three reasons.  One, they recently signed a huge contract extension (i.e. wide receiver Jordy Nelson).  Two, they were recently drafted in an early round of the NFL Draft (i.e. safety Ha Ha Clinton Dix).  Three, they are solid starters (i.e. middle linebacker A.J. Hawk) at an important position.

You may have noticed the asterisk following locks.  I put that there because if any of the following guys suffer a season ending injury during training camp (knocking on wood as I type), the Packers will place them on injured reserve so they would not make The 53 but still would be in the team's long-term plans.  Absent a season ending injury, here are the 35 locks*, up from just 27 last season, to make The 53:

Quarterback: Aaron Rodgers
Running Back: Eddie Lacy and James Starks
Fullback: None
Wide Receiver: Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Jarrett Boykin, and Davante Adams
Tight End: Andrew Quarless, Brandon Bostick, and Richard Rodgers
Offensive Tackle: Bryan Bulaga, David Bakhtiari, and Don Barclay
Offensive Guard: Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang
Center: JC Tretter
Defensive End: Datone Jones, Josh Boyd, and Khyri Thornton
Defensive Tackle: B.J. Raji and Mike Daniels
Middle Linebacker: A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones
Outside Linebacker: Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers, and Mike Neal
Cornerback: Tramon Williams, Sam Shields, and Casey Hayward
Safety: Morgan Burnett, Micah Hyde, and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
Specialists: Mason Crosby (K), Tim Masthay (P), and Brett Goode (LS)

That leaves 18 roster spots up for grabs.  Check back tomorrow for my list of guys "most likely" to make The 53.