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Washington CB Desmond Trufant

Green Bay Packers NFL Draft prospect profile: CB Desmond Trufant

Player Information:

Desmond Trufant, CB Washington
6-0, 190 pounds
Hometown: Tacoma, WA

STATS

NFL Combine:

40 time: 4.38
20-yard shuttle: 3.85

News and Notes:

Brother of NFL defensive backs Marcus and Isaiah. … Started 45 straight games before missing a game against Colorado this season. … All-Pac-12 first-team honors in 2012 after getting one interception, breaking up eight passes, forcing a fumble and blocking a kick. … Impressed scouts and turned heads at the Senior Bowl, likely vaulting himself into the first round. … Technique could use some work. … Some questions on his long foot speed. … Can play both man and zone coverage.

 What they’re saying about him:  Read more... (559 words + 1 image, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

• RantSports.com: “Give him a few years to gain some experience and there’s a good chance Trufant may turn out to be one of the biggest steals of the 2013 NFL Draft–especially if he manages to work on his speed. It’s always beneficial when a cornerback can make an impact during his rookie season and it will be interesting to see how well Trufant makes the transition to the NFL after an impressive career at Washington.“
• NFL.com: ”The brother of NFL cornerbacks Marcus and Isaiah flashes playmaking ability and very good foot quickness, but must play stronger, smarter, and avoid technique breakdowns to be considered a sure-fire NFL starter. His skillset will still likely see him as a Day 2 selection.”

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Pick the Packers’ Elite Eight

Last weekend, we picked our “Packers Players Sweet Sixteen.” As March Madness continues, we will parallel the NCAA Basketball tournament and have you vote for the eight best Packers on the roster; the “Packers Players Elite Eight.”

If you recall, we gave you the first 12 players last time and had you vote for the last four spots. The players you selected to include in the Sweet Sixteen were Casey Hayward, Bryan Bulaga, Jermichael Finley and Tim Masthay (just missing out was T.J. Lang).

This time around, you get to vote for the Elite Eight. So select who you think are the Packers’ BEST eight football players from the list. As a reminder, this isn’t a vote for the player’s value to the Packers, but rather who are the BEST football players on the roster.

The poll will be up through Friday Night and the results will be posted on Saturday.  Enjoy!

 
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March-Madness-Packers

As the NCAA Basketball Tournament is being played out across the land, I wanted to do something Packers-related with a “March Madness” theme. So here’s the idea:

We’re going to pick the 16 BEST players on the Packers roster.  And by we, I mean me and YOU – the readers. To make it simpler, I’ll pick the first 12. Then you will get to choose the last four from a group of 10 in the poll below.

This isn’t necessarily the Sweet Sixteen in terms of importance to the team (for example, Brett Goode might be in that group), simply the 16 best football players on the roster.

We’ll let the voting run through the weekend and announce the results on Monday? Sound good?

Disclaimer:  My top 12 are not necessarily ranked in order, they’re  just in the order in which they came to mind.

Green Bay Packers Sweet 16 – Best Football Players

1) Aaron Rodgers

2) Clay Matthews

3) Josh Sitton

4) BJ Raji

5) Ryan Pickett

6) Tramon Williams

7) Randall Cobb

8) Desmond Bishop

9) Morgan Burnett

10) Jordy Nelson

11) James Jones

12) Sam Shields

That last one was tough. I could have gone with Bryan Bulaga or Jermichael Finley, for example, but I’m still amazed Shields did not get drafted, with all the athletic ability he’s shown.  Read more... (326 words + 3 images, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

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Packers Cornerbacks:  All eyes were on the cornerback group during Training Camp in 2012. This unit, above all others, had some serious competition going on for a starting job. And the result was that this competition continued throughout the season until we ended up with Tramon Williams, Sam Shields, and Casey Hayward as the clear leaders of the secondary.

For expanded coverage of this topic, listen to the podcast using the player below or download the podcast from the Packers Talk Radio Network on Itunes.

Where are we now:

Here are the current suspects:

Tramon Williams (UDFA, 2006)
Jarrett Bush (UDFA, 2006)
Sam Shields (UDFA, 2010)
Davon House (4^th Round, 2011)
Casey Hayward (2^nd Round, 2012)
James Nixon (UDFA, 2012, Practice Squad)

How many teams can say that their top two cornerbacks went undrafted as rookies? The Packers can, though they can also say that their past two draft selections on cornerbacks are also beginning to make names for themselves.  Read more... (936 words + 1 image, estimated 3:45 mins reading time)

• Williams: After a horrible showing in 2011 thanks to an early shoulder injury, Tramon Williams was looking to get back to his championship form of 2010. Unfortunately, he only seemed to get about halfway there. He showed clear improvement but still came up short, especially in key moments. The big question is whether he’ll continue the upward trend or start falling again.

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Pickett is currently the oldest player on the Packers roster at 33

Since the Green Bay Packers’ 2012 season ended, the team has lost three of their oldest veterans in that of Donald Driver (37, retired), Jeff Saturday (37, retired) and Charles Woodson (36, released).  That makes defensive lineman Ryan Pickett their oldest player at 33 and the only veteran on the current roster with 10 or more years of experience.

It’s impossible to say what the team’s average age will be come the end of this year’s training camp, but it is clear that the team is headed for a youth movement for the next year or two.

The Packers being one of the league’s youngest teams is nothing new to most of us who will recall that from 2006 – 2009, they were the NFL’s youngest.  In 2011, the Packers were third youngest and in 2012 they were fifth youngest roster in the league.  In 2013, the Packers will be strong contenders for the “youngest” label once again.

Here is a list of players , courtesy of ESPN, that were on the roster during the 2012 season.  I don’t expect the team to bring running backs Cedric Benson nor Ryan Grant back in 2013.  That leaves John Kuhn as the only player currently 30 years old or more.  Several players are set to turn 30 this year; AJ Hawk, Aaron Rodgers, Tramon Williams and Greg Jennings.  Read more... (910 words + 3 images, estimated 3:38 mins reading time)

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Tramon Williams

1) Introduction: Packers CB Tramon Williams has often been used as an example of GM Ted Thompson’s undrafted “gems.” Picked up by Green Bay during the 2006 season, he slowly worked his way into the starting role and became a big reason for the team’s Super Bowl run in 2010. Tramon has embraced his path openly, using the slogan “Unwanted 2 Untouchable” on his personally-sold merchandise.

2) Profile:

Tramon Vernell Williams

• Age: 29
• Born: 03/16/1983, in Houma, LA
• Height: 5’11″
• Weight: 191
• College: Louisiana Tech
• Rookie Year: 2006
• NFL Experience: 6 years

Career Stats and more

3) Expectations coming into the season: To say Tramon Williams had a “down year” in 2011 is an understatement. An early shoulder injury appeared to make him a shell of his former self, who just a year prior caught 9 interceptions across the regular season and postseason. With the shoulder close to 100% and ready to go, Packer nation expected Tramon to once again become the shut-down, playmaking cornerback from their championship season.

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Tramon Williams gave Packers fans the boost of confidence they were looking for in Week 2 against the Chicago Bears. He was not only instrumental in shutting down WR Brandon Marshall, he also snatched two interceptions to help seal the Bears’ fate. Unfortunately, those were the only two interceptions Tramon would have all year. His low point of the season was easily the dismal performance he gave against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 17. In addition to his lackluster coverage and abysmal attempts (?) at tackling Adrian Peterson, Tramon kept a Vikings’ fourth-quarter touchdown drive alive with a completely unnecessary hands-to-the-face penalty.  Read more... (525 words + 1 image, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

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Packers CB Tramon Williams found himself in the falling category. Safety Morgan Burnett was steady.

The Packers end of season, full roster stock report is upon us. Below are over 2,300 words of insight, analysis, opinions and nonsense about every player currently on the Packers roster.

Read closely and enjoy, because many of these players likely won’t be around in 2013.

I incorporated each player’s performance from this season, and their future outlook while categorizing. Please agree or disagree in the comments.

As always, thanks for reading the weekly stock reports. Onto the last one:

Rising

Aaron Rodgers
It wasn’t as great as his MVP campaign, but it was still damn good. With chaos and injuries swirling all around, Rodgers kept the Packers offense moving forward and limited mistakes. A fine all-around performance and no reason to think it won’t continue in 2013.

Randall Cobb
With Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson hobbled most of the season, Cobb broke out and turned into the Packers most dangerous weapon. I worry a little about his durability, but his production when healthy was great. Oh, and he needs to drop fewer passes.

DuJuan Harris
Is this too much praise for the 5-foot-7, 210-pound rolling ball of butcher knives? Maybe. But if I’m buying Harris stock, I want in right now. I think he’s going to stick with the Packers and get a chance to make some noise.  Read more... (2396 words + 1 image, estimated 9:35 mins reading time)

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