Lost in the emotion of a tough loss was Justin Harrell’s contribution on the field for the first time since last year. All in all, he looked much better than I expected he would.

Playing roughly 20 snaps, Harrell had a great read-and-react play when he stuffed Chris Johnson for no gain on a 3rd down draw and pushed the pocket overall much better than he did last season. If he can get his stamina up and give the Packers some more production of early downs (he was in quite a bit on passing downs for some reason) he can only help the defensive line rotation.

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• Thompson Comes To Play

Very interesting feeling looking at the following text on my phone today:

Packers activate DT Harrell, Release DE Gbaja-Biamila.
from Packers.com

And there you have it - a pre-season question answered, after Ted finally saw the writing on the wall with Kabeer’s play over the last 7 games.

The last great game play of Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila was in the NFC Championship game- a game where I must say he and Kampman excelled together. It’s actually sad that his peak seasons, the Packers could never find a true bookend to amplify his pass rushing skill. Unfortunately- that’s all he ever was as a defensive end- an extremely skilled (top 3 NFL for 4-5 years) 1 skill player.

For the record in 2008 - K.G.B. had 9 tackles, half a sack, and a pass defensed (in garbage time of the Colts game). Considering he was the highest paid player on the Packers - his future on the team has been in doubt since training camp.

Onto the other news- Justin Harrell. For the record I have already officially called him a bust. Prematurely I know. I don’t usually do that because everyone gets their three years, but sometimes people just don’t feel like they will grow to be superstars… As I have said in the podcast, Nothing will make me happier than Justin Harrell being the greatest pick the Packers have had since 1957.

So Justin. Can you be a hero?

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• KGB you will be missed

Our old friend Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press Gazette continues to showcase his unique ability to expose his shocking lack of knowledge when it comes to all things football and Green Bay Packer related. Which is funny, since he’s paid to write about both.

In his lengthy article on the eminent return of Justin Harrell, he treats us to this gem:

Though General Manager Ted Thompson drafted Harrell in large part because of his run-stopping potential at 6-feet-4 and 320 pounds, Harrell actually performed best as a pass rusher in his non-descript rookie season. Though he had no sacks, he did a decent job collapsing the middle of the pocket and providing an obstacle for quarterbacks’ throwing lanes.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Harrell added next to nothing to the pass rush and indeed, found himself stoned at the line again and again. I’m not sure which games Dougherty has gone back to review, but if he’s writing from memory, it’s faulty.

I will give Harrell credit for one  thing - he showed no quit last year on passing plays. You could often find him at the end of plays hustling downfield in pursuit of an opposing receiver. It was an impressive display for such a big defensive linemen, and he did it again and again. Of course, the only reason he could do so was because he was nowhere near the quarterback…

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• Justin Harrell: Cream Puff

Gilbert Brown. Grady Jackson. Ryan Pickett.

Run stuffers of the modern era. With coaches worried about Pickett’s health and conditioning, who do we have that can step up and meet the challenge of plugging up running lanes, penetrating O-lines and digging graves for QB’s? Colin Cole and Johnny Jolly are likely candidates, but show me a time this off-season or last season where either one of them did a good job of clogging the running lanes without Pickett.
And behind them?

Second year man Daniel Muir, rookies Conrad Bolston, Alfred Malone and recently acquired from the Intense Football League- Rodney Allen. (who I hope is the next Ryan Grant). According to Tom Silverstein -

In the three exhibition games the Packers have played without the injured Pickett, they’ve allowed opponents 372 yards rushing and a 3.9-yard average.

Those aren’t horrible numbers, but starting running backs such as Kenny Watson, Frank Gore and Selvin Young have combined for 100 yards in 18 carries (5.6 average) against the Packers’ No. 1 defensive unit. Against Denver on Friday night, the middle of the defense was the primary reason the Broncos rushed 28 times for 131 yards (4.7).

5.6 yards per carry. Ouch.

There is talk of a trade, but who and for who? Every die-hard fan knows that a 350 pound man does not a good defensive tackle make, nor are there many good DT’s in the NFL and so they are coveted and overpaid. Plus I find it ironic that the Packers are looking for a trade when they traded the very man they are looking for in March of this year.

I jokingly made a forum post over the weekend entitled what will be Ted Thompson’s biggest mistake of this year’s off-season- letting Favre go or trading Corey Williams to the Cleveland Browns. At the time, I thought it was a funny question for our Packer Fan Forum members, now it actually might be the question of the year. I was watching last year’s highlight video and watched the play where Williams pokes the ball out against the Redskins and Woodson runs it back for the score. Good stuff.

The Packers kept six defensive tackles last year, with Harrell now on the PUP list, they have more room for Pickett, Cole, Muir, Jolly and whoever wins the rookie DT sweepstakes. With linebacker being so deep this year, maybe they will do something they haven’t done since 2000 and keep seven linebackers.

Then we will really see something we haven’t seen yet.

Bob Sanders creativity.

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• An Embarassment of Riches?

The Green Bay Packers dropped their roster down to the mandatory 75 man limit today. The biggest surprise is DeShawn Wynn, who has missed practices and games this off-season. Kregg Lumpkin’s play in last Friday’s Denver game must have been the final push for cutting Wynn.

Also cut were fullback Ryan Powdrell, wide receiver Chris Francies and offensive lineman Ryan Considine. Francies will no doubt land an NFL job with someone in need of receivers as I have to believe he is better than most teams fourth wide receiver.

Least surprising? Justin Harrell has been placed on the PUP. That’s the Physically Unable to Perform List. The bold represents the waste of a first round pick in 2007. Harrell is officially a bust. He will miss six games and then….who knows. Waste some more of the Packers time and money I’m sure.

Update: Posted Ted Thompson press conference from this morning here.

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• Now It Begins…

I would absolutely love to take credit for this observation, but I can’t.

I am usually loathe to venture into the comment sections on any Packer news site, but this gem had me grinning and cursing its truth at the same time.

From a commenter over at the JS Online Packer Blog calling himself windycityPacker, after reading Greg Bedard’s account of newly acquired from the Odessa Roughnecks DT Rodney Allen faring very well in one-on-one drills:

Rodney Allen already has done more than Harrell.

Sad but true.

If this kid Allen makes the roster and contributes in any way, he will instantly become one of my favorite players on the team.

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• Thompson Comes To Play

Believe it or not, the Packers have bigger problems than Brett Favre heading into 2008. (And boy did it feel good not typing that name even once in that last post…) If you think about it, however the Favre drama plays out, the Packers will have added value to their team that wasn’t there last month, whether it be the addition of Favre’s playing services or an extra draft pick or two.

No, the bigger problem for the Packers is the fact that their defensive line could be in big trouble in 2008. Johnny Jolly’s issues, coupled with KGB and Justin Harrell’s injury problems, on top of the loss of Corey Williams, leaves the strength of the defense in 2007 in a precarious position. Despite the reports that the Packers will be blitzing more this season, the defense is still run by Bob Sanders, who never met a vanilla scheme he didn’t like. And all those vanilla schemes need exceptional play up front, and right now, ‘exceptional’ is not a word I’d apply to anyone on Green Bay’s defensive line other than Aaron Kampman and Ryan Pickett.

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• An Embarassment of Riches?

…but is it not a bit disconcerting that Johnny Jolly and Justin Harrell will not only be out until training camp, but now McCarthy is saying:

We anticipate those guys at some point in training camp being ready to go

Some point in training camp? What happened to them being ready to go AT THE START of training camp?

Throw in KGB’s slow recovery from surgery, and  the defensive line is starting to become a real concern…

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• No Veteran QB For the Packers?