Surviving Sunday: Packers News, Notes and Links for the Football Deprived

July 6, 2014 /   /  Adam - ALLGBP.com, Adam Czech, Packers, Surviving Sunday

Surviving Sundays with no Packers Football

Surviving Sundays with no Packers football.

It’s Fourth of July week, which means it’s extremely quiet around the NFL and even quieter if you’re looking for news about the Packers.

I also blew off three of my fingers setting off firecrackers. So instead of a trying to squeeze a long post out of some Packers-related topic that isn’t really news, how about I take a way-too-early crack at predicting the Packers 53-man roster?

(Adam locks himself into a room and begins hours and hours of intense study. He emerges days later, weary and beaten down, but relieved that he finally chiseled the Packers roster down to 53 players.)

(Actually, none of that is true. Adam just drank a couple of beers and tried to figure out who is going to end up on the final 53. Sure, he thought about it, but he also thought about getting a double fudge cookie dough Blizzard at Dairy Queen the other day before finally settling on the Peanut Buster Parfait.)

Ok, I just finished making my first prediction and I counted up all the players. I ended up with exactly 53 players on the first try! I thought for sure I’d have to make a few tough cuts, but I nailed 53 right off the bat!

I bet this happens to Ted Thompson all the time.

Does this mean my way-too-early Packers 53-man roster prediction will turn out to be the actual 53-man roster come September? Absolutely not. But let’s talk about it anyway.

Who did I leave off the roster that you think will make it? Who did I put on the team that you don’t think will be there?

And as long as your actually reading it, did I count correctly? Do I actually have 53 players there? (And don’t count Aaron Rodgers twice. Yeah, he’s good, but he only counts for one player.)

QB
Aaron Rodgers
Scott Tolzien
Matt Flynn

I say they keeps three QBs, and Tolzien wins the backup gig.

RB
Eddie Lacy
James Starks
DuJuan Harris
John Kuhn

Just cross your fingers that at least two of the top three RBs make it through the season healthy.

WR
Jordy Nelson
Randall Cobb
Jarrett Boykin
Davante Adams
Chris Harper
Jared Abbrederis

I’m slipping Harper in there and hoping Jeff Janis makes it through to the practice squad.

TE
Andrew Quarless
Richard Rodgers
Brandon Bostick
Ryan Taylor

They’ll need a special teams contribution from the tight end group, so I think Taylor sticks around.

OL
C J.C. Tretter
C Corey Linsley
G Josh Sitton
G T.J. Lang
T Bryan Bulaga
T David Bakhtiari
T Derek Sherrod
T/G/C Don Barclay

Having a guy with as many starts under his belt as Barclay as your sixth O-lineman is a good “problem” to have.

DL
Mike Daniels
B.J. Raji
Datone Jones
Letroy Guion
Josh Boyd
Khyri Thornton
Jerel Worthy

A lot of unproven ability in this group.

LB
Clay Matthews
Julius Peppers
Nick Perry
Mike Neal
Carl Bradford
A.J. Hawk
Brad Jones
Jamari Lattimore
Sam Barrington

You heard it here first: Watch out for Sam Barrington this season. He can play.

DB
CB Tramon Williams
CB Sam Shields
CB Casey Hayward
CB Jarretty Bush
CB Demetri Goodson
CB/S Micah Hyde
S Morgan Burnett
S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
S Sean Richardson

This will be a great group if they can squeeze one more good season out of Williams and get some pass rush help from the D-line.

ST
K Mason Crosby
P Tim Masthay
LS Brett Goode

The Packers should probably cut Masthay since they’ll never be punting this season.

Packers News, Notes and Links

  • Aaron Rodgers came in at No. 11 in the NFL Network’s list of the best players in 2014. Naturally, everybody got all wound up about it (another sign you’re stuck in the most boring depths of the NFL offseason). Apparently, players were polled to compile the list, which shows that NFL players really don’t know what they’re doing when evaluating fellow players.
  • Potts Ave. in Green Bay could soon be re-named Mike McCarthy Way. Get it done. Packers Super Bowl winning coaches get a street named after them. End of discussion.
  • Ray Rivard at Lombardi Ave. wonders if Ryan Pickett deserves another shot. I most definitely think he does. Pickett is still tough to move off the line, rarely gets knocked down and was nimble enough to move laterally down the line to pursue plays. He’s no longer an every-down player, but if I needed a run-stuffer to play a limited number of snaps, Pickett would be near the top of my list to call.
  • The crew at Acme Packing Co. put together a list of the top 10 Packers plays from the 2013 season. Of course, Rodgers-to-Cobb in week 17 tops the list.
  • Hopefully this is the season that the Packers break their unfortunate run of having players go down with serious neck injuries. ALLGBP.com’s Thomas Hobbes wrote a good (but scary) piece about neck injuries this week.
  • Ian at Packerstalk.com wonders if Packers fans should buy the post-mini camp hype surrounding TE Richard Rodgers. I’d look for the Packers to use Rodgers in red zone situations this season and Brandon Bostick to get looks as the down-the-seam tight end.

Non Packers links and other Nonsense