Packers Daily Links: McCarthy, Staff to Coach Pro Bowl

Head coach Mike McCarthy and his staff have been chosen to coach the NFC in the Pro Bowl. That and more in today's Daily Links...

There will be a few more members of the Packers organization participating in the Pro Bowl other than just Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews and Jeff Saturday. "For the second straight year, coach Mike McCarthy and his staff will coach the NFC Pro Bowl squad in Honolulu, Hawaii on Jan. 27, drawing the assignment as a result of their 45-31 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Playoffs Saturday night," writes Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com. The Pro Bowl will be a bit more under the microscope this season with criticism that players do not play hard and give it their all.

The future of defensive coordinator Dom Capers remains a hot topic among Packers fans. "If (Mike) McCarthy is mulling a change – and there are no telltale indications that he is – he must weigh a variety of factors, not the least of which would be the abominable defensive performance against the 49ers, as quarterback Colin Kaepernick rolled up an NFL single-game quarterback rushing record (181 yards, including a pair of touchdowns) and the 49ers finished with the fourth-most total yards ever gained in an NFL postseason game in history (579)," writes Jason Wilde. If the Packers do happen to make a change, the best in-house candidate to replace Capers could be safeties coach Darren Perry who has received overtures from other NFL teams in the past.

More on Dom Capers comes from the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

The Packers signed their entire eight-man practice squad to future contracts on Monday. "Among them were 2012 seventh-round picks, quarterback B.J. Coleman and tackle Andrew Datko, who spent the entire season on the team's practice squad with undrafted tight end Brandon Bostick," writes Wes Hodkiewicz of the Press-Gazette. The aforementioned three players seem to have the brightest future among the eight players signed. They'll be looking to make the 53-man roster next season, but nothing is a given.

More on the future contracts come from ESPNMilwaukee.com, Packer Report and Fox Sports Wisconsin.

Tackle Bryan Bulaga expressed confidence that he'll be able to return in time for training camp in 2013 during an interview with JSOnline. “If it were up to me, I would do everything,” Bulaga is quoted as saying by Tyler Dunne. “That’s just the way I operate. We’ll see. It’s a little bit far out in advance to tell what I’m going to be doing but I’m pretty confident training camp is a good goal to definitely look at.” Bulaga is recovering from a fracture in his hip. He'll be needed to stabilize the Packers offensive line next season.

Running back James Starks talked about his hopes to stay healthier in 2013 in an interview with the Journal Sentinel.

Backup quarterback Graham Harrell tells the Press-Gazette he plans to start working out very soon as he prepares for next season.

Return specialist Jeremy Ross discussed his disappointing turnover in the playoffs and how he'll handle the adversity in an article in the Journal Sentinel.

Former Packers director of football operations John Dorsey was introduced as the new Kansas City Chiefs general manager on Monday. Articles come from the Associated Press, Press-Gazette and JSOnline.

The future of Donald Driver is analyzed in an article at Fox Sports Wisconsin.

Fans talk about Donald Driver's future in a piece by Fox 11.

Donald Driver is to be honored by the Brown County Board this week.

Continuing the Donald Driver coverage is an article at Packer Report.

General manager Ted Thompson was in attendance at the East-West Shrine Game practices on Monday, as noted by SBNation.

Some post-season analysis of the Packers comes from Bob McGinn of the Journal Sentinel.

Items at AllGreenBayPackers.com include a stock report and a column wondering if the Packers are still "elite."

A notebook section at the Press-Gazette looks forward to the NFL Draft.

Video: Donald Driver discusses his future on the season-finale of "Inside the Huddle"...

Brian Carriveau is the author of "It's Just a Game: Big League Drama in Small Town America," a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and an editor at Cheesehead TV. To contact Brian, email [email protected].

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Comments (2)

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Beep's picture

January 15, 2013 at 12:23 pm

Looks like Jerel Worthy is going under the knife soon.
https://twitter.com/I_AM_Worthy99/status/291243069750276097

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PacMan's picture

January 15, 2013 at 02:01 pm

Well that explains it. They just wanted a paid vacation in Hawaii because they loved it so much last year.

If 49ers win SB - I think a very reasonable projection, that will be 1 SB win and 2 years in a row that they lost a 'SB' game. It just doesn't feel like that!

Things look much better for 2013 than 2012 did over 2011 with Baluga, Perry, Benson and hopefully Worthy returning and other draft possibilities.

I wonder if Rodgers can learn the read option?

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