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Donald Driver: Packer for life?

When Donald Driver tweeted that he’d be a “packer for life”, speculation around the Internet and Twitter grew rampant.  Did Driver just re-work his contract?  Had he been released and will be retiring at the end of the year?

Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk.com spoke to Driver’s agent, Jordan Woy, who stated that, “the Packers have always wanted Driver back.”

He went on to add,

“He has been busy with the DWTS show and the team knows that.  I discussed deal structure with the team a while ago and we will work out the details once Donald returns to Green Bay.”

This clearly doesn’t put an end to the questions surrounding Driver and Green Bay’s plan for him in 2012.  However, upon first glance, it definitely appears as if Driver could be back for another year with the Packers.

This is certainly a bit puzzling because of the depth at wide receiver that Green Bay is already blessed with.  Without Driver, the Packers still have Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, James Jones and youngsters like Dale Moss and Tori Gurley.  So, with all this younger talent, where does Driver exactly fit in?  Read more... (255 words + 1 image, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)

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Versatility could be Casey Hayward's greatest strength.

Remember when the NFL was about taking your best 11 guys and putting them against the other team’s best 11 guys? Those days are over.

Well, kind of. You still want your best 11 against their best 11, but those 11 change throughout the game much more often than they used to.

Today’s NFL is all about matchups and sub packages. Of course, certain players are so good that they will never leave the field, but just because a guy doesn’t play all three downs doesn’t mean he’s an inferior player. It means his skills might be a better fit in specialized situations, perhaps as a pass rusher on obvious passing downs, a slot corner on third down or a run stuffer in short-yardage.

Sub packages also depend on a coordinator’s scheme and gameplan. On defense, most coordinators these days want to try and create as much confusion for the offense as possible. Causing chaos is always good, too. The coordinator is likely asking himself how he can maximize the skills of each of his players to achieve the general goal of creating confusion and causing chaos, and he knows that this goal is easier to achieve with players that have diversified skill sets in line with the coordinator’s overall defensive vision.  Read more... (769 words + 1 image, estimated 3:05 mins reading time)

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Sam Shields sends the Packers to the Super Bowl.

Think back to the beginning of the 2010 season for a minute. The Packers defense was coming off an embarrassing playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals and the secondary faced many of the same questions that the pass rush faces today.

But instead of answering those questions in the draft, Ted Thompson’s solution was to plug in an undrafted rookie free agent that few people had heard of and actually had more experience as a wide receiver than a defensive back. Sam Shields came into camp with the reputation as a speedster, and that’s about it. Besides his ability to run really fast, nobody knew much else about him.

“This is how you’re going to fix the secondary, Ted?” Packers fans asked.

“Yup,” Thompson replied before taking another sip from his bottled water and turning away.

“Improving from within” was a talking point that Thompson and Mike McCarthy hammered home through training camp and the preseason. By 2010, most reasonable Packers fans understood that Thompson was rarely going to sign a free agent or make a trade that grabbed headlines.  Read more... (685 words + 1 image, estimated 2:44 mins reading time)

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Video from week 9 (Semi-Finals) of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Lets see how Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd perform the Samba:

Donald and Peta reached a new season high with a score of 29 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba (10), Len Goodman (9) and Bruno Tonioli (10). Goodman has still not awarded the pair a 10, consistently finding something technically imperfect with Donald and Peta’s performances.

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Green Bay is getting ready for the offseason

With the signing of five tryout players, the Green Bay Packers have reached the limit for their offseason roster with 90 players.  The NFL increased the allowed amount of offseason players on a roster from 80 to 90 this year.

The five tryout players signed were offensive tackle Shea Allard of Delaware, wide receivers Jarrett Boykin of Virginia Tech and Curenski Gilleylen of Nebraska, offensive guard Grant Cook of Arkansas and cornerback Otis Merrill of Illinois State.  It shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise that four of the five players are on the offensive side of the ball since the Packers only drafted two (both seventh-round selections) during the 2012 NFL draft.

The Packers will have until their four preseason games are played to get down to their final 53-man roster, which I’m sure we’ll continue to keep you up to date on.

So, what does this exactly mean for Green Bay?

For starters, it means that we won’t be hearing about many, if any, new signings from here on out.  The few weeks after the draft but before training camps begin are usually riddled with signings, but that will slow down dramatically now.  Read more... (336 words + 1 image, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

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Rookie OLB Dezman Moses

Ted Thompson and the Green Bay Packers have signed a total of 27 rookies to contracts within the past week. Eight of those were his 2012 NFL Draft picks, while the other 19 were undrafted free agents picked up immediately after the draft or brought in as tryout players during Rookie Orientation Camp. With the roster now at a full 90 players, it’s time to get to know some of these new faces.

First up is outside linebacker Dezman Moses.

Born on Jan. 4, 1989,  Dezman Mirrill Moses hails from Willingboro, N.J., where he played wide receiver and inside linebacker at Willingboro High. He was named first-team all-county, all-conference and All-South Jersey as a senior, when he hauled in 35 passes for 596 yards and 10 touchdowns as a wideout while recording 87 tackles and five interceptions – including two returned for touchdowns. Dezman is the son of Vernon and Valerie Moses and brother to two sisters, Lauren and Shaina.

Moses graduated with scholarship offers in basketball, football and baseball. He made the decision to play football at the University of Iowa, but transferred after two seasons to Tulane in 2009 and sat out that fall per the transfer rule.  Read more... (755 words + 1 image, estimated 3:01 mins reading time)

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Video from week 9 (Semi-Finals) of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Lets see how Donald Driver and Peta Murgatroyd perform the Waltz:

Donald and Peta received a total score of 28 from judges Carrie Ann Inaba (9), Len Goodman (9) and Bruno Tonioli (10). This matches their high overall score of the season, recorded just last week.

Follow @JerseyAlGBP You can follow Jersey Al on Facebook and Twitter .

#82914 on the Packers Season Ticket Waiting List.

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