Packers Make First Roster Moves

The team announced their first round of cuts and corresponding moves this afternoon. 

From the Packers:

The Green Bay Packers have placed WR Jordy Nelson on injured reserve and waived/injured WRs Javess Blue and Jimmie Hunt. The Packers have also released QB Matt Blanchard, WR James Butler, LB Adrian Hubbard, DB Kyle Sebetic and TE Harold Spears. The transactions were announced Tuesday by Ted Thompson, Executive Vice President, General Manager and Director of Football Operations.

With Blanchard having practice squad eligibility, I would not be surprised to see him back in that capacity. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Sebetic back on the practice squad as well. 

 

 

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Comments (27)

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

September 01, 2015 at 05:19 pm

Blanchard is a big surprise. I'll be surprised if some other team doesn't offer him a roster spot as a 3rd QB. Maybe inconceivable doesn't mean what I thought it meant.

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ray nichkee's picture

September 01, 2015 at 05:27 pm

Blachard wont make the packers practice squad. This was a respectful move. They slapped him in the ass one more time and said go find your team, you are not practice squad material.

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Zola Davis's picture

September 01, 2015 at 06:28 pm

Respectful? Yes. In that Alex van pelt said he deserves an NFL uniform. Cutting him now allows him to hitch onto a diff wagon. GBP knew they would get to practice squad so give him best opportunity for success.

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Crackerpacker's picture

September 01, 2015 at 05:43 pm

I don't think Blanchard makes a 53 on any team at this stage when he would have to learn a brand new play book. If he doesn't make the Packers practice squad he will imo make another teams practice squad where if we need him for our 53 we can bring him back at any time.

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Kale Lepak's picture

September 01, 2015 at 06:45 pm

This should make it easier to sign Blanchard to the PS, actually. He didn't play enough this preseason for a team to jump at him when they are cutting their own players. Thursday's game would've been his primary audition.

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JerseyAl's picture

September 01, 2015 at 07:25 pm

After seeing how comfortable Hundley looked in his first real action, there was no room or no reason to keep Blanchard. They did him a favor by cutting him now and giving him time for a tryout somewhere and maybe a PS berth with another team.

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Clay Zombo's picture

September 01, 2015 at 07:53 pm

Disappointed to see Hubbard cut but OLB is stocked. I wouldnt be surprised to see Jermauria Rasco or James Vaughters push Nick Perry off the roster in the final cuts. Perry is not getting better and cant stay healthy, time for some new blood.

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dobber's picture

September 01, 2015 at 08:54 pm

For the whipping boy Perry has become, he has value on early downs setting the edge against the run (if he can stay healthy) when Matthews is playing inside. I think Rasco and Vaughters could both make it to the PS.

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ray nichkee's picture

September 01, 2015 at 09:44 pm

Rasco has shined at moments but not much talk about him. I dont know why. Maybe he is a second stringer playing third stringers.

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DrealynWilliams's picture

September 02, 2015 at 12:05 pm

You're right, Ray. That's #59, right? He made a few nice plays against the run vs the Steelers.

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 02, 2015 at 12:29 pm

Perry may not be a great pass rusher, but he is a pretty good run defender.

We all saw the improvement the defense made after Mathews was moved to ILB. But a reason why that worked is because Perry was put in the base defense at ROLB. His ability to set the edge really allowed Mathews to play ILB.

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ben's picture

September 02, 2015 at 10:05 pm

Perry's best position in the 3-4 is at DE.

And I know it's a long way from 3-4 DE and not many players if any have the ability to play both, but Perry's 2nd best position is at ILB in the 3-4

Mainly cause he's as stout against the run as anybody on the team, and exactly what the Pack need in the middle. He has the perfect speed, power, and bull rush to rush from the middle. He also has the speed to drop into coverage on occasion. Again he runs a 4.64 forty with a 1.58 10yard split which makes him the fastest LB on the team. Clay-4.67/1.61, Barrington-4.91/1.71, Ryan-4.65/1.62, Bradford-1.76/1.66.

What Perry does NOT have, after trying to pound a square peg in a round hole for the past 3 1/2 years, is any outside pass-rush moves. None but a great bull rush that would be better utilized up the middle.

With Pennel at Nose, and Clay & Perry at ILB, the Packers my actually have a fighting chance up the middle against Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch.

Blanchard's gone

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NewNikeShoes's picture

September 03, 2015 at 12:48 am

Bro, Perry is hella slow-footed on the football field, however Matthews looks like a white ball of fury everywhere he goes. Combine stats don't mean much, game tape does.

Dude's kinda like a bit faster Mike Neal, they can't switch directions well(no coverage skills), no matter what their combine numbers say. He does a marvelous job holding contain on the outside tho, so we should keep him there. I watched a couple highlights of him last year, and rarely did an RB get past his side. He's that good, and IMO, a bit underrated in that aspect.

His best fit is at 3-4 OLB in our scheme, but I think we can all agree that easily, his best position in all of football would be a 4-3 end. Plus, our ILBs cover a decent amount, and Perry, due to his flat-footedness, is a huge liability in coverage.

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NickPerry's picture

September 03, 2015 at 05:12 am

That's exactly where Perry will end up next year, playing for a team that plays a 4-3 defense. He said before the draft he didn't want to play OLB, his best position was a 4-3 DE, and that's what he played his entire football career before the draft.

Harrison Smith was the player the Packers should have drafted in the 1st round of that draft, either him or Derrick Wolfe. They had a huge need after losing Collins and obviously still have needs at DL 5 years later.

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Evan's picture

September 01, 2015 at 09:24 pm

Blanchard will end up on the practice squad.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

September 02, 2015 at 02:24 am

Although Abby practiced and caught a TD pass from Tolzien, I would not be surprised if he did not play a single snap on Thursday. It might be easier to get Abby to the PS if there is no game film of him this year.

OTOH, if GB is still realistically considering adding Abby to the 53, they might have him play a significant number of snaps so they can evaluate him. Same if in a classy move they let him play lots of snaps so he can showcase his precision route running and his knowledge of adjustments and checks (which he can only do in GB since that is the NFL playbook he knows) and possibly impress other teams. I think no snaps is more likely than him playing a lot of snaps.

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croatpackfan's picture

September 02, 2015 at 04:10 am

Yeah, with Abby it is question what will be. My opinion is that he will see field becuase Packers need another experienced slot runner as Abby is. But, more important is that I can see Abby playing PR duties in tomorrows game. He was predicted to be Packers PR man last year, rememeber? So, it is still unknown what will Packers decide to do with Abby. I do not think they are going to sent him to another team. If so, the would cut him yesterday...

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MarkinMadison's picture

September 02, 2015 at 06:44 am

I seriously doubt that the Packers will have a hard time getting Abby to the PS whether he plays or not. Not many teams are going to look to put a guy with his injury history onto their 53. This is a guy who didn't make it through the off-season last year, has participated in only a handful of practices this off-season. He has yet to play a snap in a single preseason game. Think about that, he has never even played in a PRE-season game. Abby was a great college player, but the love for him here is because of his time as a Badger, and because #12 said something nice about him once. No one has anything else to go on.

At this point the Packers are looking to fill out the bottom of their WR roster with guys who can provide some injury insurance. Do you pick a guy for that role who can't stay healthy himself? I'm thinking Abby ends up on the Packers' PS.

I was wondering what the heck the Packers were doing by playing Blanchard so little and now I guess we have the answer - they just wanted to see Hundley in extended action. A shame to see Blanchard go. I'm sure he'll catch on somewhere.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

September 02, 2015 at 09:00 am

I agree that teams have more success getting players they like onto the PS than we fans sometimes expect. I suppose knowing the playbook is really important in the NFL, so moving to another team right before the season means the player is well behind every one else. If GB releases Abby with the intent of signing him to the PS, which is not a given, if I were Abby I'd have to look at Nelson, Cobb, Adams, Monty and I would think Janis as probably ahead of me in GB, so Abby will be fighting for that 4th or more likely 5th WR position, i.e., being a bubble player, for the foreseeable future. If released, I might look favorably on some other team's offer of a PS spot, say NE who has a QB that has almost a fetish about his WRs being where they are supposed to be on the field. I would be worried if GB gives Abby a roster spot now or mid-season about whether he can stay on the field for reasonable stretches of time. This may all be moot in just 3 days. BTW, I am not much of a Badger fan.

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Dan Stodola's picture

September 02, 2015 at 09:26 am

"I am not much of a Badger fan."

That just means you don't have the built in bias that everyone else has. The PS is the perfect place for Abbrederis. I don't know if many/any other teams will be looking to put him on their roster, so PS is pretty likely at this point. Especially w/ no preseason to speak of this year or last.

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 02, 2015 at 07:21 am

Guys like Blanchard is the reason why I want a developmental league in the NFL.

Blanchard clearly has the talent to play in the NFL. He just needs to be developed and needs experience. If they had a developmental league he could go there and gain the experience he needs.
The problem with the NFL is there aren't enough roster spots and practice time to allow players like Blanchard to get developed.

Hopefully Blanchard lands on with someone.

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Dan Stodola's picture

September 02, 2015 at 09:21 am

Hopefully he lands on the Packers PS. That's why they released him so early. Throw other teams off and try to get him back on the PS.

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 02, 2015 at 10:13 am

I would like it, but would they keep 4 QB's on their team? I can see it if they are planning on not having Tolzien back after this year.

The other thought I had was they released him early to get on with another team.

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Dan Stodola's picture

September 02, 2015 at 09:29 pm

I think that's exactly what the Packers are thinking. They will let Tolzien go to FA, hopefully sign w/ another team and get a late round comp pick for him, get Blanchard on the PS and go w/ Rodgers, Hundley and Blanchard next year.

Perfect for the Packers. IF Blanchard gets put on a teams roster, so be it. But I don't think that's as likely as most seem to think. A QB on a teams roster has to know the playbook.

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 03, 2015 at 08:48 am

Yeah, I can definitely see it happening. I just am not sure they can do 4 QB's on the roster and get him enough snaps.
I would be happy with Rodgers, Hundley and Blanchard as our 3 QB's next year.

I can see Blanchard getting signed to someone else's PS, but not to a roster.

Right now I am happy with our back up QB situation.

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John Galt III's picture

September 02, 2015 at 10:28 am

Totally agree. The dressing 46 players of a 53 man roster makes no sense. Do like baseball. Each NFL team gets 100 players. 53 make the roster and dress. The other 47 belong to the team but play in league of their own. That would make a league of 32 teams with 47 players as an example. Players could be called up any time just like the minors in baseball.

There are plenty of cities with populations over 250,000 that don't have franchises: Salt Lake City; Portland, OR; Austin, TX; Fresno, Milwaukee, Wichita, Tulsa and so forth. Just use a local college stadium. The schools would love the money. You don't need a stadium seating 70,000. 10,000 to 30,000 would do fine.

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Evan's picture

September 02, 2015 at 12:34 pm

Your mouth to god's ears. I've said it a million times - every other major sports league in America has a dedicated developmental league. No reason the NFL should be any different. Minor League Baseball games are a blast. I'd totally go to the Packers D-league team games.

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