It’s only once a year, every team has to endure it. It’s the Green Bay Packers turn to cram two days of game plan installation and preparation into a single Tuesday as they get ready to meet the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night at Lambeau Field. While the money talked for the NFL when they decided to add the Thursday prime time games onto the schedule, it’s borderline cruel and unusual for football players to subject themselves to such physical exertion twice from 3:25 to 6:30 PM on a Sunday and do it again at 7:15 PM on a Thursday, a span of 96 hours and 45 minutes later.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur admitted he never left Lambeau Field after the Pack’s overtime win against the Dallas Cowboys to begin planning to face the team he served as offensive coordinator in 2018 before getting hired in Green Bay. He slept on a couch in his office and kept grinding all day Monday.
While the players had Monday off, they returned today for an early morning meeting and the first of two walk-through practices. The offensive and defensive first and second down packages were presented this morning. A quick lunch, more meetings and the second walkthrough in the afternoon covered specialty situations, third down and the red zone. It was after 5:00 PM when LaFleur sent the guys home and headed to the media auditorium for his last press conference before the game.
An he had plenty to address.
This afternoon, General Manager Brian Gutekunst announced a series of personnel moves beginning with the release of wide receiver/kick returner Amari Rodgers and running back Kylin Hill. Rodgers was waived after another disastrous game. His third quarter fumbled punt return led to the Cowboys’ go ahead touchdown. It was his seventh fumble and the fourth lost fumble this season. Drafted in third round last year as a slot receiver, Rodgers never got involved in the offense once Aaron Rodgers convinced Gutekunst to bring veteran Randall Cobb back for that role. He had just four receptions and one rushing attempt as a rookie but did return 20 punts and 11 kickoffs. There were adventures as a rookie on special teams with muffs and indecision however. This season, Rodgers had just 8 catches in 10 games, even though Cobb has been on injured reserve since the Buffalo game. Special Teams coach Rich Bisaccia defended Rodgers repeatedly but the mistakes kept coming. Hill’s release came just a couple of weeks after he was reinstated off the injured reserve list. Last year against Arizona, Hill tore his ACL on a wicked collision on a kickoff return. He showed some promise in that department with a season long 41 yard runback earlier in the year. The 2021 7th round pick completed his diligent rehabilitation but wasn’t going to break into the running back rotation behind Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon.
LaFleur was asked about both cuts, beginning with Hill.
A couple of veterans reacted to Rodgers’ release between the walk through practices. Cobb has known Amari since he was a youngster, when his father, former Tennessee national championship winning quarterback Tee Martin was an assistant coach at Kentucky where Randall played. He said he spoke with Amari after hearing the news.
Aaron Rodgers also commented on the release and he understood how frustrated the team and even more so the fans were with Amari’s transgressions but he spoke compassionately about the young player.
It didn’t take long for Gutekunst to fill the roster openings. Running back Patrick Taylor was promoted from the practice squad to the 53 man roster to take Hill’s place. Two players were added to the practice squad, 6th year veteran wide receiver Dede Westbrook and third year linebacker Tim Ward.
Westbrook is the far more interesting acquisition. He was a 4th round draft choice out of Oklahoma by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017. He played four seasons in Jacksonville, two with former Packer offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett on staff. He spent the 2021 season with the Minnesota Vikings. Westbrook had back to back 66 catch seasons with the Jaguars and in his career, has 170 receptions for 1788 yards with nine touchdowns. He’s also returned 69 punts in his career, averaging 9.3 yards a return with one touchdown. LaFleur wouldn’t rule out the possibility of bringing him up to the active roster by Thursday night.
Ward is a third year pro, signed by Kansas City as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion. He played only one game for the Chiefs before getting released and signing with the New York Jets in 2021 where he appeared in 11 games.
Even though the team hasn’t practiced per se, the Tuesday injury report still listed 17 players, with only five who did not participate. Romeo Doubs will be out again with his high ankle sprain, De’Vondre Campbell and Shemar Jean-Charles are likely to sit again while David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins both went the distance against Dallas and are expected to play.
The Packers also designated to Cobb to return from injured reserve. He suffered an ankle injury against the Bills and has sat out the requisite four weeks. Cobb said he’s made progress but has yet to run full speed routes against defenders. The team has until 4:00 PM Thursday to bring him back to the active roster.
