Packers GM Ted Thompson wasn’t willing to say for certain that WR Donald Driver will still be on their roster for the start of training camp.
“I would never speculate on something like that,” Thompson said regrading Driver’s future with the team, via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
Driver is set to make a base salary of $2.6 million for the upcoming season, but his $1.5 million roster bonus is probably a bigger issue. He’s said that he’s more than willing to renegotiate his contract and expect a pay cut to return to the Packers, but at this point, his roster spot could be more valuable than anything else. Green Bay has stashed away some solid young receivers on their practice squad and even prevented teams from signing them away by giving them raises, but if there’s no roster spot available to them, they could both be gone.
Packers head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that Bryan Bulaga will be playing right tackle next season.
“I don’t see any reason to go down that road,” said McCarthy, via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “I think Bryan is on the verge of being a Pro Bowler at right tackle. He looks great.”
The Packers recently released long-time left tackle Chad Clifton, but McCarthy seems to like their combination of Marshall Newhouse and Derrek Sherrod moving forward. Bulaga is coming off of a very solid season for them and is one of the best young right tackles in the league. Considering that Sherrod is a former first-round pick, it makes sense to see what they have before looking at other options, but Newhouse actually graded out as the one of the worst blockers in the league last season by Pro Football Focus.
Nick Perry
One NFL scout told Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that Packers first-round pick OLB Nick Perry gave just “30-70 percent” effort during his time at USC.
Perry’s by no means a perfect fit in the Packers defensive system as he’s yet to play from a two-point stance. His effort has been questioned by a number of evaluators, so Packers LB’s coach Kevin Greene will have some work to in regards getting Perry to play up to his potential. Even with these concerns, he figures to be the team’s best option at outside linebacker next season.
Mike Daniels
According to Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, fourth-round pick DT Mike Daniels “doesn’t have a position” in the Packers’ base scheme.
McGinn points to the fact that Daniels is too short to play at the five-technique, and “not stout enough” to play nose tackle. GM Ted Thompson usually targets players that fit what they do, but Daniels will most likely be relegated to a “designated inside pass rusher.”
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As a fourth round pick I don’t find it as a bad thing that he projects as only a pass-rush guy. Especially when that was the worst area on the packers defense last year.
That’s certainly a fair point.
Don Capers opinion of Matt Daniels is much more important than Bob McGinn’s.
Great point. The fact that Capers actually referred to some of their draft picks as “square pegs fitting into round holes” is a little concerning, but he has to love the talent infusion on the defensive side of the ball.