Steve at Packer Geeks and Greg Bedard over at JSOnline are amongst the anti-Culpepper crowd. Both make good points and are worth the read, I’ll just touch on the one major variable I think has escaped them both.
It is becoming more and more apparent that Mike McCarthy is a damn good coach of quarterbacks. Where ever he’s gone, any quarterback he’s worked with has improved from when McCarthy first arrived. (Yes, even the pathetic Alex Smith) And I think people will be slightly shocked how well Rodgers plays this season, mostly because of McCarthy’s tutelage. I also think that he could work small miracles with Daunte Culpepper.
Culpepper gets a lot of grief for the last few years when he was with the Dolphins and the Raiders. He even gets lambasted for his last year with the Vikings, after Moss had been traded. But what people forget is the year before, when Moss was hurt halfway through the season. Culpepper, with Scott Linehan running the offense, was simply unstoppable. The only thing that kept him from being named the MVP of the league was Peyton Manning’s (pre-Brady) record setting season. The next year, Linehan left to be run Nick Saban’s offense in Miami. Moss was traded, and the offense was given to the offensive line coach. Needless to say, disaster followed, with Culpepper being asked (and trying on his own to do) too much. The offense fell apart and Culpepper got hurt, and the great downward spiral began. He went to Miami, where Saban made sure Culpepper would be made the scapegoat of the offense by rushing him back too early. Then he went to Oakland where he had basically the equivalent of a junior-varsity offense, with a dearth of playmakers.
Look, I understand the animosity fans like Steve have toward him. Culpepper is a complete idiot off the football field, from his blatant egotism when dealing with Brad Childress, to his dealings with the media, to his belief that he can still be a franchise quarterback. But all that aside, give him McCarthy and the Packers offense, and give him a low-risk deal, what could possibly be the harm? I seriously doubt he would even be on the opening day roster, but why not bring him in as a camp arm and see what he can do?
All this is moot anyway. As Tom Silverstien suggests, this is all most likely draft-week subterfuge. My guess is they take a QB this weekend, and then sign Tim Rattay, as I’ve been telling them to do since Brett retired.
