Johnny Jolly Reportedly Cleared Five Months Ahead of Sean Richardson's Timeframe

The free agent is a little less than seven months removed from his last NFL game. It took the Packers 12 months to clear Richardson.

Free agent defensive lineman Johnny Jolly plays for the Packers in 2013 by Jeff Hanisch—USA TODAY Sports.

Free agent defensive lineman Johnny Jolly plays for the Packers in 2013 by Jeff Hanisch—USA TODAY Sports.

Over the weekend, any number of outlets covering the Green Bay Packers reported free agent defensive lineman Johnny Jolly has been cleared by doctors to return to action.

According to Wes Hodkiewicz of the Green Bay Press-Gazette:

Jolly's agent, Jack Bechta, told Press-Gazette Media on Friday his client has been cleared by his doctors from his C-5/C-6 spinal fusion surgery and is just waiting for a call.

Taking things one step further, Justin Felder of Fox 11 in Green Bay reported, "Jolly’s agent Jack Bechta tells FOX 11 Jolly’s doctors in Chicago say the lineman can return to football and is cleared for full contact once training camp starts."

It's perhaps surprising that Jolly has been cleared for full contact considering the cautious stance the Packers took with safety Sean Richardson a year ago, a player that also had spinal-fusion surgery between his C-5 and C-6 vertebrae.

It took the Packers about 12 months from the point of Richardson's injury in November of 2012 to activating him off the Physically Unable to Perform list in November of 2013.

Jolly reportedly experienced weakness in his arm late last season before playing the final game of his season Dec. 15 against the Dallas Cowboys. He had surgery Jan. 10.

It's worth noting that like fellow injured free agent Jermichael Finley, just because's Jolly's own personal doctor has cleared him for contact does not mean the doctors of the Packers or any other NFL team have to clear Jolly.

Finley was cleared by his doctor in May and still hasn't been signed.

The Packers are under no obligation to either clear Jolly or sign him, however, they do have one spot open on their 90-man offseason roster after injured running back Johnathan Franklin was released a little over a week ago.

There's been no report whether the Packers have scheduled to bring Jolly in for a medical examination.

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Comments (16)

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Allan Murphy's picture

June 30, 2014 at 11:27 am

???

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zeke's picture

June 30, 2014 at 12:36 pm

"It's perhaps surprising that Jolly has been cleared for full contact considering the cautious stance the Packers took with safety Sean Richardson a year ago, a player that also had spinal-fusion surgery between his C-5 and C-6 vertebrae."

Not really surprising unless the Packers' doctors are the ones clearing him. From what it says in this article, they haven't yet.

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4thand1's picture

June 30, 2014 at 04:02 pm

u suc

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Nerd's picture

June 30, 2014 at 02:50 pm

PUP him. He won't even count against the roster.

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Evan's picture

June 30, 2014 at 03:04 pm

Not sure how that would work.

If the Packers cleared him to sign him, would that also be clearing him to practice? Because once he practices he can't go on PUP.

I wonder if there is precedent for a team signing a player with the intent to immediately place him on the PUP list.

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MarkinMadison's picture

June 30, 2014 at 03:15 pm

My wife had the same surgery in March. From what little I've learned, the surgery is more common than you would expect - in fact my brother just had it last month and there was a guy at his son's graduation party who had the surgery done within the last year. What's different is the severity of the injury. In my wife's case she had the full J-Mike - could not walk immediately following the accident, etc. Others seem to, for whatever reason, get "caught in time," before they actually have a bruise to the spinal column itself, which is where you get the more obvious symptoms from. If JJ's need for the fusion surgery was caught before he had any major symptoms, then his recovery time could very well be much, much quicker than Richardson's, even though they had the "same" surgery.

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Evan's picture

June 30, 2014 at 03:27 pm

What's the timetable for your wife to get cleared for football activities?

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4thand1's picture

June 30, 2014 at 04:02 pm

She can play for cow's team, he still sucks

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MarkinMadison's picture

June 30, 2014 at 07:36 pm

COW tried to sign her, but she says she'd rather retire than play for a team with no chance of scoring.

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DrealynWilliams's picture

July 01, 2014 at 08:15 am

Niiiiiiiiiiiice

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Big Moe's picture

June 30, 2014 at 06:04 pm

I like the attitude which Johnny plays with, something that was lacking from almost all of the packer defenders last season.

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4thand1's picture

June 30, 2014 at 09:41 pm

I thought the same thing last year too. But they didn't give up and ended up winning the NFCN, although it was handed to them by the lolions. Watching Mulumba chasing Kaepernick on one leg showed a lot. They could have quit but didn't. The whole team showed a lot of heart.

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ottscay's picture

July 01, 2014 at 03:06 am

I'd really rather see Daniels and Jones on the line, but if the Pack's medical team clears him JJ would be a nice addition for goal-line stands or obvious running downs.

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lucky953's picture

July 01, 2014 at 08:47 am

Playing DL is the most tiring position in football. You need a good rotation. I believe JJ will get a chance to compete.

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TKWorldWide's picture

July 01, 2014 at 07:20 am

Clearly this illustrates that GB operates on a case by case basis, rather than: Spinal fusion? X number of months.

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Gianich's picture

July 01, 2014 at 10:39 am

Mashed Potato Mike and Tinkering Ted say: "You can't have enough big bodies." 89+1=90. Can't hurt and he'd offer more than any UDFA would at this point. Can always shelf him on PUP. We all know there will be an open roster sport come weeks 6-8.... Nameste, bitches!

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