AllGreenBayPackers.Com

Sam Shields received the second-round tender

Today is the day free agency is officially set to kick off, and it’s also the deadline for teams to tender their restricted free agents.

Yesterday, the Packers surprised some by hitting Evan Dietrich-Smith with the lowest possible tender. Because Dietrich-Smith was undrafted, the Packers would get no compensation if they he signed with another team and they opted not to match the contract. If the Packers don’t reach an extension with him before the season, he’ll make $1.323 million next year, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Dietrich-Smith is expected to step in as the team’s starting center if he returns. He replaced Jeff Saturday in the starting lineup in week 16 after starting four games at left guard earlier in the season.

According to Silverstein, Green Bay slapped Sam Shields with the second-round tender worth $2.023 million. If a team signs Shields to an offer sheet and the Packers choose not to match, they’ll get a second-round draft pick in return.

The Packers clearly don’t want to take a chance with Shields, as they are with Dietrich-Smith. Shields bounced back from a poor 2011 season and played well in 2012. Along with Casey Hayward, Tramon Williams and Davon House, Shields makes the team’s cornerback group one of the deepest positions on the team.  Read more... (443 words + 1 image, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Matthews and Perry will anchor the Outside Linebacker spots in 2013

Packers Outside Linebackers:  This is a group that had a lot of promise heading into 2o12 but after an injury to rookie Nick Perry and an underwhelming season from 2011 incumbent Erik Walden, there wasn’t nearly as much production as the defense needed nor wanted.  The Green Bay Packers enter the 2013 offseason with some questions at this vital position.

(Note: Listen to the combined linebackers podcast at the end of this article:)

Where are we now:

Here are the current suspects:

Clay Matthews III (1st round)

Nick Perry (1st round)

Erik Walden (UDFA)

Dezman Moses (UDFA)

Frank Zombo (UDFA)

Jamari Lattimore (UDFA)

Matthews was, once again, the steady rock of this group.  He had has second-best season, posting 13 sacks despite missing several games with a hamstring injury.  Not much more can be said of Matthews other than he makes the entire Packers defense better and he has to be a top priority of the team to retain when his contract expires at the end of the 2013 season.

Perry had high expectations after being drafted in the first round.  He showed some flash early in the season but was shelved after just six games due to an injured wrist ligament that required surgery.  It’s hard to say what Perry’s impact would have been but the team will enter the 2013 season program with him slated to start at left outside linebacker.  Read more... (1517 words + 3 images, estimated 6:04 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Frank Zombo

1) Introduction:  Packers outside linebacker Frank Zombo appeared in just seven games for the Packers in 2012.  Zombo has battled injuries for most of his three seasons in Green Bay and started this past season on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.  His first game action did not come until week 11 against the Detroit Lions and he played sparingly from there.  Zombo was not active for either of the team’s two playoff games.

2) Profile:

Frank William Zombo III

• Age: 25
• Born:3/5/1987 in Sterling Heights, MI
• Height: 6’03″
• Weight: 254
• College: Central Michigan
• Rookie Year: 2010
• NFL Experience: 3 years

Career Stats and more

3) Expectations coming into the season:  Zombo injured his hamstring before the team entered training camp and he was eventually placed on PUP.  Having been hurt for most of the 2011 season, Zombo was not slated to be a prominent part of the team’s defensive scheme in 2012.  It was unknown whether the team would get Zombo’s services at all and there had been some talk that the team might put him on season-ending injured reserve.

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Zombo did receive a game ball after the week 16 win over the Tennessee Titans but did little beyond that.  Zombo did not appear for many snaps in any of the games in which he was active.  In the week 17 game at the Minnesota Vikings, he played just one snap and was inactive for both playoff games.  Zombo graded out below average overall and did not make any impact plays for the team this past season.  Read more... (403 words + 3 images, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers celebrates his 27 yard touchdown run, the longest of his career

It started out ugly but the Green Bay Packers pulled out yet another early victory and swept the season series against the Detroit Lions with a 27-20 victory at Lambeau Field.

It was a rather unusual win for the Packers.  They gained nearly as many yards on the ground as they did through the air and after 35 consecutive games, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not throw a touchdown pass at Lambeau Field.

The emergence of the running game was the story of this contest, as well as the Packers not panicking after spotting Detroit an early 14-0 lead.  They showed once again that no team handles adversity better than they do and that will serve them well going into the playoffs.  If the running game can continue to grow, then Rodgers will go from being deadly to unstoppable.   A solid Packers rushing attack is the last thing many opponents want to see.

Here are the good and not-so-good performances from the game against the Lions.

Note: Want to hear our “experts” expand on their selections as well as discuss the game and give you the “Packers Stock Report?” Check out the podcast to hear more reasons for their picks. Listen in using the player below or download the podcast from the Packers Talk Radio Network on Itunes.

Game Balls

WR Randall Cobb  Read more... (1032 words + 1 image, estimated 4:08 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Matthews ruled out for Sunday’s game at Lions

According to Fox Sports, Packers linebacker Clay Matthews has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions.  The Packers will likely use a combination of Dezman Moses and Frank Zombo in place of the injured Matthews.

Matthews was expected to be “a couple of week” as stated by head coach Mike McCarthy.  The team will see how CM3 responds to rehab on the injury and he will be re-evaluated next week.

Jason Perone is an independent sports blogger writing about the Packers on "AllGreenBayPackers.com

Jason Perone
      Follow @JasonPerone           Add to Circleson

——————

---- Get AddToAny

TE Andrew Quarless will probably start the year on the PUP list.

The first NFL roster cut-down of the season is fast approaching. On Monday, August 27th, the Green Bay Packers will need to have trimmed their roster down to 75 players from their current total of 90.

Even though these are essentially the worst players on the team, the decision of who to cut is a tough one. Not only do Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson need to consider the skill of each player, but they also have to take into account the remaining depth they’ll have to work with for the remainder of the preseason. This being the case, the first roster cut-down can be a good time to declare some of the Injured Reserve (IR) or Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) players for the start of the season.

As a reminder, only players who did not practice at all during training camp are eligible for the PUP. They remain on the list for the first six weeks of regular season, after which they have a three-week window to return to practice. From the point at which the player returns to practice, the team has an additional three weeks to decide whether to elevate them to the 53-man roster, place them on injured reserve, or release them.

Here is a group of eight players who could possibly end up on one of these lists during the upcoming roster cut-down:

Physically Unable to Perform (PUP)  Read more... (944 words + 1 image, estimated 3:47 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Packers with injuries fail their physicals

A good number of Packers players (including some surprises) failed their physicals this week and will not be able to participate in the first days of training camp. Here is a rundown on what is know about each player so far:

Charlie Peprah:  (Released by the Packers)  A lingering knee injury caused Peprah to fail his physical and the Packers quickly decided to release him. I suppose that speaks highly of the plethora of young safeties the Packers currently have on their roster and how the Packers feel about them.  For Peprah, his best time with the Packers was certainly the Super Bowl season, but his play last year was dreadful at times, and I was considering him likely to be a camp cut anyway.

Desmond Bishop: (PUP) Bishop please! Say it ain’t so!. Desmond has a calf strain suffered in his training session last week and was placed on the non-football related injury list. He’ll be back soon.

Derek Sherrod:  (PUP) Sherrod’s recovery from the broken leg has gone very well, according to Mike Mccarthy, and the Packers expect him to be ready “soon,”, which I would take to mean sometime in the next week or two.

Andrew Quarless: (PUP) No surprise here. The severity of the knee injury he suffered last Dec 4th makes him a longshot at best to even participate in camp. I’d say he’s a lock to never be activated in camp and be on the PUP list when the season starts.  Read more... (849 words + 3 images, estimated 3:24 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny