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A photo I took of Donald Driver, in all his glory…  (click on image for a full-screen view)

(This was after the Seattle “Snow Globe” Playoff game.)

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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

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Packers WR Donald Driver is retiring after 14 seasons.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver announced on ESPN Radio Thursday morning that he is retiring after 14 memorable seasons.

The Packers have scheduled an official retirement ceremony for Wednesday, Feb. 6, in the Lambeau Field Atrium. Fans can attend and tickets will be available at the Packers ticket office starting Friday.

Driver is the Packers all-time leader in receptions (743), receiving yards (19,137), 1,000-yard receiving seasons (7), 50-catch seasons (9), consecutive games with a catch (133), receptions at Lambeau Field (363) and receiving yards at Lambeau Field (5,000).

What else is there to say about Driver? He was one of my favorite Packers of all time and will be remembered as one of the greatest Packers ever.

Leave your favorite Driver memories in the comments section and let’s spend today remembering No. 80 for everything he’s done for the Green and Gold.

Adam Czech is a freelance reporter and a Packers fan living in the Twin Cities. Follow Adam on Twitter. Read more of Adam's writing on the Packers here.

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Josh Sitton is part of a talented Packers offensive line.

It’s time for Packers training camp. Soon, your Sundays will be filled with Packers football instead of whatever other boring thing you do on Sunday’s without football.

Before camp officially kicks off, here’s how I grade the Packers position group by position group. We’ll start with the offense this morning and check out the defense later today.

How different will these grades look after camp? Who knows, but for now, this is where the team stands in my eyes.

Quarterback: A+
There’s not much more to say about Aaron Rodgers, the reigning MVP, that hasn’t already been said. Even if he regresses a little, Rodgers is still an ’A’ quarterback. I suppose I could dock the Packers a little for having backups with no experience, but I’m not. I’m sick of that debate. Backup QBs with “experience” are usually just bad QBs. I’ll take my chances with a young guy that can still be developed.

Link: Ron Jaworski ranked Rodgers the No. 1 QB in the NFL during a top-to-bottom review of NFL QBs on ESPN. Check out a summary of Jaworski’s thoughts on Rodgers in Kevin Seifert’s ESPN NFC North blog.  Read more... (746 words + 1 image, estimated 2:59 mins reading time)

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I’ll bet he thought nobody would see this. Packers’ hulking offensive lineman Josh Sitton shows he has “Moves Like Jagger.” Hilarious…

Follow Jersey Al:

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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

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Packers WR Donald Driver took a pay cut to stay in Green Bay.

Someone once said “show me the money!”; as we all know, what players and front office men say in public is often not what’s really happening behind closed doors (for instance, we’ll probably never know what the real reason behind the “Favre divorce”).  This is especially true for the Packers, where General Manager Ted Thompson has made it an artform to talk a lot without actually saying anything.  However, one thing that will always be true is the value of a contract (minus all the technical jargon, i.e. Washington Redskins and Donovan McNabb).  Money never lies and it gives us fans a true indication of what the Packers think of Donald Driver and what Donald Driver thinks of the Packers.  Below is the contract that Donald Driver recently signed and how it compares to another Packers wide receiver, James Jones.

• Contract:
  • James Jones: 3 year contract worth $9.4 million
    • Yearly average: $3.1 million
• Donald Driver: 1 year contract worth $2.5 million
  • Yearly average: $2.5 million
  • Signing Bonus
    • James Jones: $1.5 million
      • Yearly average: $500,000
• Donald Driver: $500,000
  • Yearly average: $500,000
  • 2012 Base Salary
    • James Jones: $2.3 million
    • Donald Driver: $2 million

I would argue that on a yearly basis, Jones’ and Driver’s contracts are essentially identical.  Obviously Jones has a little more security with 3-year deal (and more guaranteed money), but considering Driver is nearly a decade older than Jones, it’s a pretty good sign for Driver and a pretty bad sign for Jones.  Read more... (872 words + 1 image, estimated 3:29 mins reading time)

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Surviving Sunday with no Packers Football

I published my way-too-early Packers 53-man roster and depth chart prediction on Thursday. Now it’s time for some way-too-early predictions of the entire 2012 NFL season. I’m guessing my mind will change about several of these predictions between now and the period of time where it is no longer way too early to make these sorts of predictions, but for now, here goes nothin’.

Super Bowl
Steelers 34, Packers 27

MVP
Matthew Stafford, QB, Lions

Defensive Player of the Year
Patrick Peterson, CB, Cardinals

Rookie of the Year
Trent Richardson, RB, Browns

Coach of they Year
Mike McCarthy, Packers

Dark-Horse Super Bowl Pick
Eagles 27, Chiefs 24

Dark-Horse MVP Pick
Rob Gronkowski, TE, Patriots

Most Disappointing Team
New York Giants

Most Disappointing Player
Andre Johnson, WR, Texans

Player that Becomes a Star
A.J. Green, WR, Bengals

First Coach Fired
Jason Garrett, Cowboys

Ted Thompson speaks, OTAs, Dancing Donald Driver  Read more... (608 words + 1 image, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)

• Ted Thompson spoke with Rob Reischel on a variety of topics in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. You can tell Thompson is a scout at heart. He gives longer answers and even a little bit of insight on questions about the scouting process, and pretty much blows off questions about the draft, contracts and team building.

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Video from week 10 (The Finale) of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Here’s Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd in their competition-winning final dance – The Cha Cha:

For the second night in a row, Donald and Peta scored perfect 10s across the board.

Like a football team surging through the playoffs, Donald and Peta peaked at the best possible time and won the big prize. Not the Lombardi trophy, but the Dancing With The Stars disco ball.

Congratulations Donald and Peta!

Follow Jersey Al:

          Follow @JerseyAlGBP           Add to Circleson

Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

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