| He Has a Groin When the big news at the voluntary practice is that CB Charles Woodson didn't blow it off this year, there obviously isn't much to say about it. The only item of interesting may be that WR Greg Jennings and CB Will Blackmon still aren't healthy. Since neither player made it through their rookie seasons in 2006 healthy and are still banged up, there is a concern that both players are injury prone. However, it's only June so this might be the last anyone hears of their injuries because they will both be at 100% come training camp. Mike McCarthy's press conference was as dull as ever, but he has picked up the annoying habit of referring to all injuries as body parts from NFL announcers who have been doing it since 2005. Saving Brett Favre's Shoulder I just love his attention to details. Favre said. "I think it's probably just tendinitis or something like that." Yes, it could be something. Obviously Favre has a "it's just a flesh wound" attitude regarding injuries, but he's probably right about this one. Tendinitis is just something all athletes have to deal with, and tendinitis is common in the shoulder's rotator cuff. After all the stuff that we know he has played through during his career, not counting all the stuff that would probably make me eat Advil like M&Ms that doesn't end up on an injury report, this shouldn't be a problem for 2007 and he is likely to play through it. Free Nick Barnett LB Nick Barnett was involved in a "disturbance" in Appleton outside a nightclub. Hopefully nothing stupid happened, but that seems unlikely since he ended up in custody. As someone who skirted around the edges of some late night illegal activities during my youth, I know it can be easy to find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you have to know when to walk away. And you have to be an idiot, or completely drunk, to find yourself arrested. Maybe he was jazzed up after the Beavers big win at the College World Series and just got carried away with himself. Hard Times What happened to former Packer DE Sean Jones, who played on the 1996 Super Bowl team? What made him steal from NFL players and mortgage lenders? Although he made millions as a player in the NFL, it was over a twelve year career and it wouldn't be a surprise if he didn't invest it wisely. It's sad because he was an important part of the Packers great 1996 team, and was a good player during his three seasons with the team. Just a sad story for everyone involved. Poll: Tight Ends There isn't a lot of traffic around here in June, but in the last poll, a slight majority of Packer fans held their collective noses and voted to give TE Bubba Franks one more chance to start at tight end. As awful as Franks was in 2006, he was a quality tight end as recently as 2004 and deserves one more shot to redeem himself. Besides, no one on the bench is clearly good enough to start in the NFL either. Entry Link :: 2 Comments SB Nation Home Page Recently we launched the redesigned SB Nation Home Page at sbnation.com and it looks outstanding. The old home page resembled the main page at Acme Packing Company, but had an awful back color and wasn't enjoyable to read. The new page looks great. I had absolutely nothing to do with the redesigned, and much improved site, so this is my thanks to all the guys who made our main site so much better. Now all we need is a Big 10 blogger to cover the Wisconsin Badgers. Media 101 This week in the SB Nation small market roundtable, Jimmy at Music City Miracles is discussing media coverage for small market teams. Tennessee is an interesting study for this discussion since they have one of the NFL's most marketable talents in QB Vince Young while playing in one of the smallest media markets. The bottom line by Jimmy: In conclusion, being a small market has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to media coverage. The disadvantages are the lack of exposure given to the team and the players on programs such as SportsCenter. This hurts the players from a recognition standpoint, which keeps them from getting endorsement contracts and Pro Bowl votes. I don't know if I agree with Jimmy, but I don't know if I disagree either. Media coverage is more national, even international, every year. Off the top of my head, it seemed like San Diego had the most Pro Bowl selections last season and they aren't in the biggest media market. I took a shot at describing how the local media treats the Packers and I didn't like the post and I'm not sure I even agree with what I wrote. ESPN has become unwatchable for me, but I'm more involved with sports than the average fan. This is a subject that I'm still thinking about. Big City Lights In the last week's installment of the SB Nation Small Market Roundtable, BigBlueShoe at Stampede Blue discussed free agent attraction to big city markets. This is a really hard topic to discuss because you are trying to determine what a free agent was thinking when he signed, other than how much money was being offered, and which teams are really struggling to financially meet free agent demands. Did no team outbid New England for DE Adelius Thomas last March because they didn't feel he was worth it or they simply didn't have enough money to afford him? In the end, BigBlueShoe doesn't think either really matters: There is no guarantee that signing a big money free agent will put you over the top, regardless of how big or small your market is. Drafting smart and sticking to your salary cap plan will often win you more games. This is why such a high premium is placed on the NFL Draft. As important as the NFL draft is to a team, free agency can quickly improve or dismantle part of a team. If a team is unable to compete financially in free agency, then that team is not going to win consistently. There is no evidence that any particular team just can't afford free agency so it appears that all teams are on equal financial footing.Brian G said some teams don't have enough cash to hand out big signing bonuses and that is probably true. The Packers lost out on a few free agents this offseason to other teams, but it wasn't because they simply didn't have enough money to pay them. The NFL is so good at making money that this should not be a short term problem for the Packers, but this has been a problem in the past and you never know when it might become a problem in the future. An Unsurprising Cut It's not a surprise, but the Packers finally parted ways with T Kevin Barry. He initially showed some promise at the beginning of his career, but never showed up when Mike Sherman actually gave him a chance. However, GM Ted Thompson gave him a two year deal in March 2006, probably because the Packers were so thin at OL that he felt he needed to keep who he already had, but it was known that they were switching to a zone blocking scheme and keeping a 330 lb. immobile tackle seemed like a bad idea. After missing the 2006 season with an injury and the drafting of three quality offensive linemen in 2006 (Daryn Colledge, Jason Spitz, and Tony Moll), plus Allen Barbre in 2007, it is time to part ways with the man. Hopefully his release in June will give him enough time to find a home before training camp. Maybe a team that employs a power running game is looking for a giant right tackle. End of the Road After injuring his back twice in the last three years, his team signed the most overpaid player in the league to fill his spot (RG Leonard Davis), and the emergence of RT Marc Columbo after the ex-Bear had spent many years trying to come back from injuries himself, the Dallas Cowboys found they had no more use for ex-Packer, three time Pro Bowl RG Marco Rivera. Rivera's departure was the beginning of the end for a team that had just won three consecutive NFC North titles. Due to his age and the high mileage of playing in over 100 consecutive games, it seemed like Rivera would attract little interest in free agency. Plus Rivera had taken a step back in 2004 as he was pushed around more that season than in the previous one. However Detroit and Dallas got into a bidding war for him and Dallas won by offering a $8 million signing bonus. It was a bitter pill to swallow by letting him leave and only signing the fumes of RG Matt O'Dwyer's career and drafting 7th round G William Whitticker to replace him. Both players were failures, but it did lead to the drafting of promising RG Jason Spitz. Letting Rivera leave was the right thing to do because the Packers had salary cap problems anyway and he was being rewarded for past performance when his NFL career seemed unlikely to last too much longer. Although he started 30 of 32 games in Dallas over the last two seasons, his back was no longer able to hold up. Since he is unable to pass a physical at this point, it seems that his career is over. Rivera doesn't deserve to end his career like this, but that's how it goes sometimes and it sounds like he is taking his release with class. Hopefully he is just as successful with his 2nd career as he was with his first one. T-Murph is Back The 2005 season was loaded with disappointments from the loss of players in free agency, the awful 4-12 record, and the end of a run of three consecutive NFC North titles. Injuries were a problem too with the loss of RB Ahman Green for much of the season. Another major injury was the loss of rookie 2nd round pick WR Terrence Murphy. In 2004, WRs Javon Walker and Donald Driver each had fantastic seasons, but there was little depth behind them. Murphy was a needed addition and had just completed an outstanding career at Texas A&M. From USA Today: Murphy finished his career with 29 starts in 45 games. He caught 172 passes for 2,600 yards (15.1 avg) and ten touchdowns. He shattered the previous school career records of 117 receptions for 1,740 yards by Bethel Johnson (1999-2002). He produced big number in a tough college conference, started a lot of games during his college career, and showed 4.4 speed, all signs of a promising NFL career. Unfortunately his career was cut short by a neck injury suffered early in his rookie season. After stepping away from football for a year, the Packers have invited Murphy to join them as a coaching intern. I don't know if he'll make a good coach, but I'm disappointed I didn't get to see him have a long and successful career on the field for the Packers and I hope he'll find success in coaching instead. More NFL Europa Action His team is in the cellar, but WR Carlton Brewster remains among the leaders in NFL Europa stats. His stats have slipped from the early season and he didn't do much in the last game, but his big 20 yard reception on 3rd and 17th was something to hang his hat on. Sometimes players are able to pad their stats with a long 10 yard play when it's 3rd and 11, but it should be considered a failure unless it moves the chains. Brewster is someone forgotten while minicamps move forward and he remains in Europe, but the experience is only good and he might be a pleasant surprise during the preseason. It worked for WR Ruvell Martin. Vote for Brewster at the All NFL Europa Team site. I only voted for Brewster, former Packers QB J.T. O'Sullivan, and another Packer OG Adam Stenavich. I recognized about six names on this entire list. It's sort of interesting, like watching an accident on the side of the road, to see how this league has constantly been changing. If the Amsterdam team folds than it will become NFL Germany with all the teams in that country. I was trying to find out if this league is actually accomplishing something or has a future. Few NFL teams seem aggressive about assigning players to the league and Europe has lost interest with the exception of Germany.
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