Packers Daily Links: Offseason Workout Program Begins Next Week

The Packers––and every team in the NFL who doesn’t have a new head coach––can begin their offseason workout program on Monday Apr. 16. “For a team like the Packers that typically doesn’t sign many veteran free agents, the offseason program is where major improvements must be made,” writes Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “For some on the Packers’ roster, this will be the first time going through a full program. The 2011 draft class got no offseason workouts, and the 2010 class got only the OTAs and minicamp, and not the predraft workouts, obviously.” Demovsky goes onto address several issues that raised with the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement that reduced the amount of offseason practice time compared to the previous season.

A reminder is given in an opinion piece by Kevin Seifert, the NFC North blogger at ESPN.com, that the offseason program is voluntary. “Rare is the player who should be criticized for working out away from the team,” writes Seifert. “In the NFC North, I can think of two players, the Minnesota Vikings’ Christian Ponder and the Green Bay Packers’ Graham Harrell, who would be disservicing their careers by skipping even a portion of their teams’ offseason programs. Both are hoping to make a significant jump in 2012, Ponder in terms of performance and Harrell on the depth chart, and both missed critical offseason work with coaches and teammates during the NFL lockout last year.” I think Seifert is oversimplifying the issue here. There’s far more players than just Harrell who shouldn’t be skipping the team’s workout program, namely almost every player with two years of experience or less, and every player not guaranteed of a roster spot. And that pretty much makes up the majority of the team.

Donald Driver’s performance on Mondays’ episode of Dancing With The Stars is summed up nicely by Kendra Meinert of the Press-Gazette. “Dancing to ‘Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix, a bare-chested Driver took the Rock Week theme with neck-snapping seriousness, whipping (dancing partner Peta) Murgatroyd around the floor and flashing a crazed, wide-eyed, tongue-out rock face a la Gene Simmons,” writes Meinert. “The performance catapulted them from their previous fourth-place standing to first with a score of 27. The judges proclaimed it both his best dance thus far and one for the Season 14 ‘DWTS’ scrapbook.” One couple will be elminated on Tuesday evening’s episode.

More on Donald Driver and Dancing With The Stars comes from the Packers official website and Access Hollywood.

NFL Draft prospect Ryan Davis, a linebacker from Bethune-Cookman, is interviewed at Packer Report, including an answer to what he likes about Clay Matthews.

Ongoing NFL Draft features look at quarterbacks at the Press-Gazette and linebackers at the Packers official website.

After appeal, the suspensions and penalties stemming from “Bountygate” were upheld by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. More from the Associated Press appear at the Press-Gazette and Fox 11.

The director of the documentary film Last Day at Lambeau, Michael Neelsen, will be interviewed on Wisconsin Public Television on Friday locally in Green Bay on WPNE, channel 38.

Audio: Courtesy of a radio station in Palm Beach, Florida, Chad Kroeger of the rock band Nickelback takes a swipe at quarterback Aaron Rodgers in an interview. Rodgers is mentioned about six minutes in…

Brian Carriveau is a writer for Cheesehead TV. To contact Brian, email carriveau@uwalumni.com.