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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)

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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)

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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)

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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)

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Packers CB Casey Hayward played his way onto the rising list this week.

Since the Packers handled the Lions on Sunday, they should be able to handle the Bears this week, right?

Think about it. The Lions have:

• A talented but erratic QB
• One dominant receiver
• A tough defensive line
• A cover-2 strategy designed to contain the Packers

Sounds very similar to the Bears. The main difference is the Lions have a better offensive line and the Bears have a better secondary and running back. The Bears are also beat up.

That’s my preliminary analysis, anyway. Very in-depth, right?

We’ll see if my perception changes later in the week, but I don’t see many reasons to pick the Bears, especially when you factor in the hopeful return of Clay Matthews, Charles Woodson and (maybe) Jordy Nelson.

It was good to get the Lions out of the way. They annoy me for multiple reasons.

On to the stock report:

Rising

Casey Hayward
For some reason, Tony Scheffler was giving the Packers some trouble on Sunday. So the Packers called on Hayward and soon Scheffler wasn’t a problem any more. The rookie played all 84 snaps and had another strong game despite dropping another interception late. Now if he could only get home on blitzes like Charles Woodson used to….  Read more... (823 words + 1 image, estimated 3:18 mins reading time)

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Packers OLB Nick Perry

Just one day after head coach Mike McCarthy said the Packers may be without Clay Matthews for a couple weeks, the team appears to have lost outside linebacker Nick Perry for the rest of the season.

After the Packers selected Perry with the 28th overall pick in the 2012 draft, he entered training camp as the team’s starting left outside linebacker. Perry recorded two sacks in five games for the Packers before being injured.

Perry underwent surgery to repair his wrist, but he also injured his knee in week five at Indianapolis. The rookie outside linebacker reportedly had surgery on Tuesday.

Lance Allan, of WTMJ4 in Milwaukee, tweeted that Perry will likely wind up on the Injured Reserve.

While the Packers are now thin at the position, Erik Walden is quietly enjoying the best season of his career. Fellow outside linebacker Frank Zombo was just activated from the PUP list, and undrafted rookie Dezman Moses has made the most of limited playing time so far this season.

Moses is someone to keep an eye on. He impressed the coaching staff since the moment he arrived in Green Bay and was taking snaps with the second-team as early as June.

With the immediate future of 2011 first-round pick Derek Sherrod in doubt, the loss of Perry would mean the Packers’ last two first-round selections will have combined for very little impact in 2012.  Read more... (263 words + 2 images, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

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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)

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