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Packers DL Johnny Jolly

Packers defensive lineman Johnny Jolly has been reinstated by the league following a three-year suspension for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

Jolly was released from prison in May after serving six months of a six-year sentence on drug charges. After avoiding jail time following a similar charge in 2008, Jolly was arrested in October of 2011 and charged with possession of a narcotic compound containing codeine, which is a felony. He was already suspended by the NFL at the time of his arrest.

Jolly hasn’t played football since 2009, but the Packers could opt to bring him back to camp and compete for a roster spot. He was a restricted free agent at the time of his suspension, so Green Bay still holds his rights at the $2.5-million tender he received in 2010.

After being a two-year starter at Texas A&M, Jolly was selected in the sixth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played four seasons with the Packers prior to being suspended.

Brian Carriveau of Cheesehead TV tweeted a picture of Jolly’s reinstatement letter, which the defensive end posted on Instagram. His article ran before other media outlets ran with the story, and the news became public.

Pete Dougherty, of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, confirmed the story on Wednesday evening via Twitter.

NFL spokesman confirms Packers DL Johnny Jolly was reinstated effective Monday.

— Pete Dougherty (@PeteDougherty) February 27, 2013  Read more... (378 words + 1 image, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

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Next up in the AllGreenBayPackers.com’s positional group analysis is the defensive line, who while showed some improvement from their disastrous 2011 season was still probably the reason behind their playoff collapse this year.

Where Are We Now

Here are the current suspects;

• BJ Raji (1st round, 2009)
• Ryan Pickett (1st round, 2001)
• Mike Neal (2nd round, 2010)
• CJ Wilson (7th round, 2010)
• Jerel Worthy (2nd round, 2012)
• Mike Daniels (4th round, 2012)
• Philip Merling (2nd round, 2008, cut week 4)

So that’s where we are.  Thompson has made quite an effort to shore up his defensive line, with three 1st or 2nd rounders in the last four years.  However, despite Thompson’s focus on the defensive line, not much good has happened.  BJ Raji hasn’t been as dominant a force as he was in the 2010 Superbowl season, Mike Neal is essentially starting his sophomore campaign with all the injuries he suffered and rookie Jerel Worthy looked like a raw rookie before suffering an ACL injury.  Read more... (1446 words + 1 image, estimated 5:47 mins reading time)

• Raji: Raji spent considerably more time as a defensive end this year than as a nose tackle (536 snaps at DE vs. 123 at NT) and overall as I’ve written in my previous articles this is probably the best move for the Packers as defensive ends are much more important to a 3-4 defense than nose tackles.  While Raji definitely had a better season than his lackluster 2011 campaign, it still pales in comparison to his 2010 season where he earned the nickname “the freezer”.  One distinct possibility is that Raji is starting to wear down due to all the snaps that he’s had to take since there were no other viable DL around, but the addition of Worthy, Neal and Daniels will hopefully allow the Packers to have a decent DL rotation.

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The new season starts now. As Packer fans our season ended earlier then anyone wants. Now after all the Fire the coaches, maybe still going on for some, the players are not this or not that talk lets look at where the Packers are and where they might be going.

Mike McCarthy has said many times it is not as bad as some think and was not as good as some think.

For me when you look at the two teams in the Super Bowl this year you see two things, two of the better or best Defensive lines and Offensive lines in the NFL. Both Super Bowl teams have a high number of first round draft picks on both sides of the ball.

You can have all the skilled position players you want, but the games are won and lost in the trenches. San Francisco’s offense was able to keep the Packers offense off the field, in both games they played this year, the 49ers had a the ball on offense way more then the Packers. In the Playoff game the 49ers had the ball for over 38 minutes. The Packers were just beat by the more talented team. The outcome of every game at the highest levels of the NFL comes down to a hand full of plays by the best players, this is where that talent make a difference..  Read more... (1407 words + 1 image, estimated 5:38 mins reading time)

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Dom Capers might just go "Psycho" this year.

There has been some chatter recently about undrafted rookie Dezman Moses and the eyebrow-raising attention he has received from fellow defensive players. Though yet to put on “the pads,” the Packers linebacker has created quite a stir among fans, who have been desperately waiting for some good news when it comes to the team’s defensive front. One tangent to this story, however, is what it could mean for the “return” of the so-called “Psycho” package.

For those not in the know, the Psycho is a nickel package employed by Dom Capers in Green Bay’s defensive scheme. It is a 1-5-5 formation, meaning there are one defensive lineman, five linebackers, and five defensive backs on the field. The idea is to create confusion among the quarterback, the offensive line, and any backs responsible for picking up the blitz.

By overloading the line and creating some pre-snap movement, the defense makes it hard for the offense to set their protections. It also gives the opposing coaches something extra to plan for during the week.

(This blog post at Blitzology does a nice job of highlighting the pass rushing flexibility of the Packers’ nickel packages, including the Psycho.)

Dom Capers’ use of the Psycho package dates back to his days with the Jacksonville Jaguars (1999-2000), but he first unveiled it with the Green Bay Packers in 2009. They had immediate success against the Chicago Bears that December, creating chaos for Jay Cutler and keeping their offense off-balance.  Of course, just like any play, the more it’s used, the less effective it becomes.  Read more... (784 words + 1 image, estimated 3:08 mins reading time)

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Veteran free agent DE Phillip Merling became the twelfth defensive lineman on the Packers' offseason roster.

Call it the “shotgun approach.” Ted Thompson added his twelfth defensive lineman to the roster on Wednesday with his signing of DE Phillip Merling, who spent the last four years with the Miami Dolphins. Of the four (non-Packer) veteran free agent signings by Thompson this offseason, three have been defensive lineman: Daniel Muir, Tony Hargrove, and now Merling.

There’s obviously been some emphasis by the Packers on bolstering the talent and depth across the unit. The drafting of Jerel Worthy and Mike Daniels take the total number of new linemen up to five, meaning almost half of the group will be new faces in training camp.

Is this a case of desperation in response to the horrible performances of last season? No, that’s taking it a bit far. Ted Thompson is not spending beaucoup money on these free agent players, which one would tend to do when desperate.

But he is stockpiling the talent pool in a variety of ways, and hoping a good number of them stick.

The three free agent signings are not superstars. Tony Hargrove is the most well known of the group, but he’s probably not going to be a game-changer. His career has been up and down, playing with four different teams over eight years and racking up just 19.5 sacks and 16 run stuffs in the process. Hargrove hasn’t started a game in two seasons, and he only has 25 starts to his name across his entire career. Those numbers aren’t meant to discourage anyone – they’re certainly not the whole story – but they’re not indicators of a guy who’s going to “tilt the field.”  Read more... (1080 words + 1 image, estimated 4:19 mins reading time)

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Anthony Hargrove says he's a Green Bay Packer

Free agent defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove has taken to twitter again, this time to announce he is officially a member of the Green Bay Packers:

It offiicial.. Here I come Packer Nation….Green and Yellow

Soon after, we heard this from Packers beat writer Paul Imig of Fox Sports Wisconsin:

Anthony Hargrove’s agent confirms that the contract with the #Packers is 100% complete. It’s done. He’s a Packer.

Later on, Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com confirmed the signing. Seifert (or someone at ESPN spoke with Hargrove via telephone.  Hargrove was quoted as saying, ”When you think of this team, you think of one of the most respected organizations in the league. For them to come after me is very moving. I feel blessed today.”

So let the questions begin.

Can Hargrove be “Packer People?”

Will Hargrove be suspended as part of “Bountygate?”

Can a 4-3DE be successful in the Packers version of the 3-4 defense?

Has somebody kidnapped Ted Thompson?

As for me, I’m just thrilled they have someone who is an NFL starting caliber defensive lineman, who has hopefully left his troubles behind. Let’s all cross our fingers…

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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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DT Daniel Muir is the latest free agent signing by the Green Bay Packers.

The Green Bay Packers have just announced their second free agent signing of the season – defensive tackle Daniel Muir. Here is the information as reported by Packers.com:

Muir, a 6-foot-2, 312-pound fifth-year player out of Kent State, played for the Indianapolis Colts from 2008-11, appearing in 40 games with 26 starts. He posted a career-high 66 tackles (54 solo) and a half-sack for the Colts in 2009.

Muir originally entered the NFL as a non-drafted free agent with the Packers in 2007. He appeared in three games for Green Bay as a rookie in ’07 and recorded eight tackles (four solo). Muir was a four-year letterman (2003-06) at Kent State, playing in 46 games with 45 starts.

It’s clear Ted Thompson has identified the same holes in the team as just about everyone else. With the replacement of center Scott Wells by former Colts player Jeff Saturday, Thompson has now moved onto addressing the gaps in the defensive line. The departure of Cullen Jenkins last season coupled with the disappointing play and four-game suspension of Mike Neal have made the unit rather thin.

Muir is not guaranteed a spot on the roster, but it’s obvious the Packers are taking this need seriously. Thompson doesn’t often dip into free agency outside of his own team, so these last two signings are rather noteworthy.

Expect Thompson to continue to shore up the defensive pitfalls with draft picks in April.  Read more... (281 words + 1 image, estimated 1:07 mins reading time)

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