Packers GM Ted Thompson announced a few transactions on Tuesday. LB Matt Wilhelm and LB Diyral Briggs have been acquired, taking the roster spots of LB Brady Poppinga and DE Mike Neal, who were both placed on Injured Reserve.Briggs was claimed off waivers from the Denver Broncos, after having been cut on Monday. He is 6'2" and 248 lbs, and entered the league as an undrafted rookie out of Bowling Green before last season. He appeared in 5 games with San Francisco as an OLB before his time with the Broncos, where he only made the field in one game.
Meanwhile, Wilhelm is 6'4", 247 lbs and has been around the league since 2003, when he was selected out of Ohio State in the 4th round of the draft. He plays ILB, and his experience is expected to be a big plus now that the Packers are left to replace Nick Barnett, a seasoned vet at ILB who was lost for the season.
Sources indicate another transaction will occur today (Wednesday). With these acquisitions, the Packers are up to 52 men on their roster. Interesting decisions loom. As Previously stated, CB Al Harris, S Atari Bigby, and RB James Starks are all eligible to be activated off the PUP list during the next two weeks. Meanwhile, the defensive line is in flux, with only Raji, Wilson, Wynn, and Montgomery available. Green Bay has 1 open roster spot, three rehabbed players hoping to be activated, and a severe need for reinforcements on the defensive line. Let's see how this all plays out. That's all for now. Keep checking back!
I sure hope they activate Starks, give that boy some reps some playtime, take the pressure off Jackson, let him breath a bit, it would also increase the chances of keeping Jackson healthy, lord knows at this point we do not need him going down. Now Granted Starks is un-proven in his NFL life, but in his previous life (college) that guy was scary fast, I've seen enough highlights on him from his days at Buffalo that the second a hole opens up, this man is gone, like a gazelle. The issue here is his health, he's not "injury prone" but he had one freak injury in college and made a sound decision to sit out his last year (which of course dropped his draft status from a potential 2nd -4th round pick to the 6th round the Packers drafted him at. From my understanding he did woo some folks in the June mini-camp and showed good burst, but pulled a hammy in early training camp hence being put on the pup list, hammy's happen to everyone so I'm not that bothered by it. He should have had enough time now in the time he's been working out and studying the playbook to be at full health and ready to get thrown to the wolves. I'm not expecting anything spectacular out of him this year, but if the Packers hold on to this kid and he develops properly we could have something special in a year or two. He's built like a WR, has the instincts of a RB, runs with a high pad level ( ala Peterson from Vikings) which does worry some coaches, but the Packers obviously saw some real potential in him. Definitely a project, will be nice to see if it works out.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaMmHWpXwZg
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ3dPkL0pr4&feature=related
think I've watched that second vid there at least 5 times, and each time I wish more and more that dude was suited up in Green and Gold healthy and the Packer playbook in his head, ready to go.
The problem with Starks is that he missed his ENTIRE senior season due to injury and his only pro reps came in training camp and briefly in the preseason, when he again injured himself. This guy has missed a ton of football. Look for the Packers to be extremely mindful of that, as well as the fact that he is a rookie. Given the fluidity of the roster, I don't know if Green Bay will be willing to stake a roster spot on him. Especially considering they will have to find a way to squeeze in Al Harris and Atari Bigby, who are practically guaranteed to be activated off the PUP list. There are only 53 spots to go around, and Green Bay has added a ton of bodies in the past few weeks.
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