Packers Sign Former Oregon TE Colt Lyerla

The Green Bay Packers officially signed Oregon TE Colt Lyerla, according to the NFL transactions release.

Recent reports mentioned that the Packers were “leaning” towards signing Lyerla to a contract at the end of rookie orientation camp.

“We did a lot of work on Colt,” GM Ted Thompson said Saturday. “He’s a very talented athlete. We interviewed him at the combine. We went through all those procedures, talked to a lot of people. He’s a young man that made some mistakes, and we feel like he was worth bringing in and taking a look at.”

Lyerla comes with numerous off-the-field issues in recent years as he did not travel with the Ducks for a game against Colarado last season, and later made the decision to leave the team all together. Shortly after that, he arrested and later plead guilty to the unlawful possession of cocaine.

The Packers could really use some extra competition at tight end as there is no guarantee that Jermichael Finley will be able to continue his NFL career.

Lyerla tested so well at this year’s Scouting Combine that his talent would be extremely hard to pass up given that it wouldn’t cost much at all to sign him to a contract. Lyerla posted a forty time of 4.61 forty, a 39-inch vertical, and 10-foot-8 broad jump.

Just for the sake of comparison, UNC TE Eric Ebron — who was taken No. 10 overall — ran a 4.61 forty, posted a 32-inch vertical and a 10-foot broad jump.

We’ll have to see if he’s able to impress the team during OTAs and training camp.