Packers Release Derek Sherrod, Activate J.C. Tretter from Short-Term I.R.
The Packers parted ways with their 2011 first round draft pick on Monday.
Former Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Derek Sherrod by Andrew Weber—USA TODAY Sports.
As of Monday, only two out of 10 picks from 2011 Green Bay Packers draft class remain.
The Packers released former first round draft choice and offensive lineman Derek Sherrod, making room to activate J.C. Tretter from short-term injured reserve.
Now that the Packers have parted ways with Sherrod, only wide receiver Randall Cobb (second round, 64 overall) and cornerback Davon House (fourth round, 131 overall) remain from the 2011 class.
Even though he was able to make a modest comeback, Sherrod's broken leg in December of 2011 proved to be his ultimate demise, breaking both his tibia and fibula.
After spending the spending the remainder of the 2011 and all of the 2012 season on injured reserve, Sherrod was able to play a mere six snaps on offense in 2013 after being activated at midseason, coming off the Physically Unable to Perform list.
The Mississippi State product made the Packers' 53-man roster coming out of training camp in 2014, started one game in place of injured tackle Bryan Bulaga and played in 140 snaps total, struggling on many of them, especially in handling speed rushers off the edge.
It was clear Sherrod was never able regain the full range of mobility he had prior to injury.
The Packers had already declined to exercise their fifth-year option on Sherrod back in May, making him a free agent at season's end. He will be subject to waivers.
Monday's transaction seemingly leaves the Packers with little depth at the tackle position outside of Bulaga and starting left tackle David Bakhtiari, perhaps signaling that Tretter will back up several positions.
Week 10 was the earliest Tretter was able to be activated after being designated as the team's only short-term injured reserve player and suffering a fracture in his knee during the preseason. He has been practicing since Week 7.
Since Tretter was injured, fifth round draft choice Corey Linsley has ably stepped in his place at center despite not taking a single snap with Aaron Rodgers until the regular-season opener at Seattle.
Linsley has graded out tied for the third best center in the NFL this season, according to ProFootballFocus.com (premium content), making it unlikely he'll be displaced in the starting lineup.
Tretter played left tackle in college at Cornell after switching positions from tight end earlier in his career, but has practiced only sparingly at tackle since coming into the NFL.
Comments (46)
JimTaylor31
November 03, 2014 at 08:46 pm
Tough break for Sherrod. He seems like a good kid and I wish him the best. He worked his tail off to make it back but it just wasn't to be. Hopefully Tretter can give us the quality depth we lost with Barclay's injury.
jbromusic
November 03, 2014 at 10:24 pm
has there been any word on tj lang's status?
hybridauth_Facebook_100004765273075
November 03, 2014 at 10:37 pm
They did it to light a needed fire under the ass of Perry and always injured Datone Jones. The bust brothers.
lucky953
November 03, 2014 at 11:08 pm
"nice kid" just doesn't seem to get it done in the NFL trenches. Never thought he had the right temperament to be successful at this level.
Tundraboy
November 04, 2014 at 09:30 am
Had hoped he would overcome the bad break but just did not seem to have the attitude we desperately need. So we have Sitton,Linsley, and hopefully Tretter and Barclay to build on
Amanofthenorth
November 04, 2014 at 05:12 am
How little, if at all, Kuhn has played lately I thought it might have been him.
RCPackerFan
November 04, 2014 at 06:24 am
Its surprising they cut Sherrod now. I figured it would have been an offseason move. My guess is they practiced Tretter at T and decided that he was going to be better then Sherrod.
I do wonder though, if Barclay doesn't get hurt, if Sherrod made the 53 man roster to begin with. My guess is he didn't.
I am very happy to see the moves they made on the PS. I was very high on Neal when they signed him. I thought he was an underrated RB coming out of college. Joe Thomas seemed to be playing really well until he got hurt as well.. I am happy to see both of these guys brought back with the team.
I wouldn't be surprised that by the end of the year at least 1 of the 2 players make it up to the 53.
Guisado
November 04, 2014 at 07:05 am
I had high hopes for his recovery, but he had chances to show he was back this year and couldn't do it. This was an easy choice for the Packers.
NickPerry
November 04, 2014 at 07:18 am
Sherrod just wasn't getting it done. He struggled as a Rookie, had one of the worst breaks a man could have and just couldn't move on it like he needed to. He struggled with speed and couldn't run block worth a damn. What's more disturbing is that draft class. Looking at the drafts of 2011 and 2012 it shouldn't be a surprise the Packers struggle against "Elite" teams. Considering the Packers are a draft and develop team and Ted basically refuses to consider FA and Trades, there's not much left to develop.
Point-Packer
November 04, 2014 at 08:14 am
God awful first round draft choice. Not Ted's Tony Mandarich, but close. Hate to look at the list of players taken after Sherrod in that draft.
Evan
November 04, 2014 at 08:53 am
I'll do it for you - a whole lot of garbage. Bypassing the QBs for obvious reasons, it's not till Brooks Reed at 42 or Kyle Rudolph at 43 where you get a "decent" player that would have made sense for the Packers. I do remember liking Brooks Reed a lot - but he's pretty much a bust as well. Maybe Kendricks or Wisniewski?
2 33 Ras-I Dowling CB
2 34 Buffalo Bills Aaron Williams CB
2 35 Cincinnati Bengals Andy Dalton†
2 36 San Francisco 49ers Colin Kaepernick QB
2 37 Cleveland Browns Jabaal Sheard DE
2 38 Arizona Cardinals Ryan Williams RB V
2 39 Tennessee Titans Akeem Ayers LB
2 40 Dallas Cowboys Bruce Carter LB
2 41 Washington Redskins Jarvis Jenkins DT
2 42 Houston Texans Brooks Reed DE
2 43 Minnesota Vikings Kyle Rudolph† TE
2 44 Detroit Lions Titus Young WR
2 45 Denver Broncos Rahim Moore S
2 46 Denver Broncos Orlando Franklin OT
2 47 St. Louis Rams Lance Kendricks TE
2 48 Oakland Raiders Stefen Wisniewski C
2 49 Indianapolis Colts Ben Ijalana OT
Tundraboy
November 04, 2014 at 09:33 am
Looks like that was not a great year anyway, so far
sonomaca
November 04, 2014 at 10:57 am
Thanks for posting that list.
Not as if TT missed on great talent after the 32nd pick. It was just a bad draft year. Happens.
BTW: can we please have a redo on the Goodson/Rolle decision. Rolle is rolling in Houston.
Evan
November 04, 2014 at 11:13 am
Exactly - if you want to criticize TT, go for it, there are many legit things to complain about. The Rolle/Goodson situation is exhibit a right now.
Packer_Pete
November 04, 2014 at 09:26 pm
Thanks for posting this list. Keeps things in perspective. The funny thing is that people who are critical of GMs drafting had some of those as "their choice" if they could draft, but don't consider that most of those are "busts" also. Instead, should some GM find a good player in rounds 4 - 7, then suddenly everybody is screaming why this or that player wasn't chosen in rounds 1 or 2 by their team's GM and instead the "bust" player. That's why I'm always asking anybody who is critical who they'd have chosen at that spot instead of the player that was chosen by their team. Not a list of 10 potential picks. Just the 1 that you'd have chosen. Almost all draftniks refuse to provide just 1 name, since they'd have to stand by their pick. If instead they'd have 1 good player out of the list of 10 they want to give then they say "see I'd have chosen that guy"...
Tundraboy
November 04, 2014 at 09:35 am
Lets hope there is never a Manadarich like pick for a lot of reasons
egbertsouse
November 04, 2014 at 08:40 am
Another one of TT's 1st round busts. I know he got AR and CMIII but there have been a lot of others that went nowhere.
Evan
November 04, 2014 at 08:48 am
"Things that could be said of every single GM in the history of the game."
Packer_Pete
November 04, 2014 at 09:40 pm
Ron Wolf used to say that any draft where one got 3 starters was a good draft. So looking back at TT's drafts, here are the players that started multiple games:
#12, Nick Collins, Poppinga
AJ Hawk, Colledge, Greg Jennings, Jason Spitz, Jolly
James Jones, Bishop, Crosby
Jordy Nelson, Finley, Sitton
Raji, Matthews, TJ Lang, Brad Jones
Bulaga, Burnett, Quarless, Starks
Cobb
Hayward, Daniels
Lacy, Bakhtiari, Hyde
for 2014, 2 already start, and the 2 others will be starters: HHCD, Adams, Linsley, Rodgers
2 drafts didn't net 3 starters, and one could say maybe Poppinga wasn't a real starter either, ok.
White92
November 04, 2014 at 09:07 am
Anyone concerned about the depth at tackle?
Who is next man up now if one of the tackles go down?
Evan
November 04, 2014 at 09:13 am
Very much so.
It sounds like it's going to be Tretter.
I'm fine with him at C or G. And even RT in a pinch. But LT? Maybe if Bahk were to get hurt they'd shift Bulaga over there and put Tretter at RT?
RCPackerFan
November 04, 2014 at 09:39 am
Lets remember that Tretter was a T in college. So maybe that is his natural position and he might do well there if needed. Also pending on the situation, Lang can move out to T.
IMO, they must have thought Tretter was far and away better then Sherrod at T to let him go, otherwise they don't make that move.
barutanseijin
November 04, 2014 at 12:54 pm
Tretter was fine for an ivy league tackle. Not sure he's big enough to do it in the pros.
I'm a Tretter fan, but beating out Sherrod is nothing to get excited about. Marshall Newhouse did it. Barclay did it. Even an educated sack of potatoes could probably do it.
RCPackerFan
November 04, 2014 at 02:06 pm
I don't know if he is big enough either. But reading into the Packers releasing Sherrod for him, they have to believe he is.
When did Newhouse beat out Sherrod? When did Barclay do it?
Are you talking about the previous 2 seasons in which Sherrod started the season on IR or the PUP list?
barutanseijin
November 04, 2014 at 10:03 pm
Newhouse beat him out in 2011. When Clifton went down, Newhouse took his place, not Sherrod. Barclay was ahead of Sherrod when Sherrod came back at the end of 2013.
White92
November 04, 2014 at 02:23 pm
that was my concern as well
packsmack
November 04, 2014 at 09:39 am
That's exactly what they'd do, possibly even kicking Lang out to RT if needed.
SON OF LOMBARDI
November 04, 2014 at 11:36 am
NO BRAINER...SENTIMENTALITY IS OVER IN 2ND HALF OF SEASON...CONTRIBUTORS ONLY...JC IS FAR AND AWAY MORE ADAPTABLE FOR ANY SCENARIO OLINE HAS....HARD TO BUST TT ON "CLARENCE" SHERROD...AT THE TIME IT WAS A LEGIT PICK....BIG TACKLES WERE ALL THE RAGE...HE WAS FLAT OUT UNABLE TO RECOVER FROM HORRIFIC INJURY...HAPPENS IN A VIOLENT GAME.
Evan
November 04, 2014 at 11:39 am
For what very little it's worth, here are some mock drafts from just before the 2011 draft and where they had Sherrod going.
#26 to Ravens: http://walterfootball.com/draft2011_1.php
#23 to Eagles: http://www.sbnation.com/2011-nfl-draft/2011/4/28/2137670/nfl-draft-2011-...
#29 to Bears: http://www.si.com/nfl/2011/04/21/2011-nfl-mock-draft
#29 to Bears
http://www.mynfldraft.com/NFL-Mock-Draft-2011
Just some more food for thought.
RCPackerFan
November 04, 2014 at 12:14 pm
Sherrod was worthy of the 32nd pick. Most had him as the 4th or 5th best T available.
The problems for Sherrod was that he never got a fair chance. The year he was drafted was the year of the holdout and he didn't get an offseason. His first action with the Packers was training camp. Where they decided for whatever reason to have him play Guard. Not his natural position. Then after they realized it wasn't going to work, they put him back at Tackle and it really delayed his development.
As the season wore on he was starting to play better in practice (from what I heard) and when he finally got playing time he had his horrific injury.
After that he has been trying to come back from and never was able to.
I am not saying he would have been a pro bowl player or anything. I am not even saying he would have been a good player. I have no idea how good he would have been had he not got injured. None of us know. I'm just saying that he never really got a very good opportunity to show how good he could have been.
I don't blame Thompson for that draft pick not working out. It was just a bad situation.
barutanseijin
November 04, 2014 at 12:47 pm
Did you watch him play? He was big, soft and slow before and after the injury. Playing tackle in training camp his rookie year wasn't going to make fast and mean.
Highlight of his career was the tackle after a Matt Flynn INT in Denver.
RCPackerFan
November 04, 2014 at 01:59 pm
After the injury he was slow. That is kind of to be expected after a player breaks bones in their leg, and not playing for 2 1/2 years.
Before he played, we have no idea how he would have been. At the time he wasn't perfect, but that is the case for many rookies.
The problem his rookie year was they had him cross training to have him learn 2 positions. That is normally fine when a player has an entire offseason to learn both. Problem was that year he didn't have that. He only had training camp for practice. You could see it in his play that he wasn't comfortable. When players are comfortable doing something they play faster. So yes, if he played Tackle and tackle only in training camp he would have developed faster and played faster. Instead he had to try to learn a new position, which he never played before and had to do so in a short amount of time, due to no offseason.
Problem with everyone, is they have absolutely no patients in a player. If a player isn't playing like an all pro by the end of training camp they suck. We need to relax and let young players develop.
Sherrod never got that chance due to his injury.
barutanseijin
November 04, 2014 at 09:55 pm
I dunno. When he did manage to see the field in 2011, he was picking up false start penalties. I think he was trying to compensate for his lack of quickness. He was still doing this in 2014, after a full training camp and playing only tackle. Call it speed, quick feet, nimbleness, whatever the guy never had it.
The top tackles in that draft did fine despite the short preseason. In fact, all the 2011 OL picks from rounds 1-2 started more games in their rookie years than Sherrod has his whole career (1), except for 2nd rounder Ben Ijalana. (Ijalana is still playing, though.) Even the 2011 third rounders were better than Sherrod. Sherrod was the worst OL pick in the 2011 draft.
Thegreatreynoldo
November 05, 2014 at 03:18 am
Agree completely, RC Packer Fan. Sherrod had excellent measurables, and production in college (no sacks allowed in his last two years in college). The only criticism was that he lacked a mean streak and despite outstanding size and strength, he was more of a finesse player. This often does not translate well to playing guard.
From what I can tell, Sherrod tried hard to come back, did everything asked of him, and I wish him well in the future.
barutanseijin
November 04, 2014 at 12:39 pm
I don't think TT should get a pass for following conventional wisdom. He gets paid to see through it.
If the Packers want a guy who's going to follow the draft guides and mocks, they might as well have you or me make the picks. I'm cheap; I'd be happy with half TT's money.
Packer_Pete
November 04, 2014 at 08:28 pm
are you saying that a NFL GM has to predict any serious injury that will happen to one of the players they drafted? let's get real...
Sherrod was the best OT in the SEC the year he was drafted. And it wasn't even close. So no, I also don't blame TT for drafting him. Unfortunately, with the holdout and the injury, Sherrod never really had a chance. He didn't miss a single game in college or high school for injury reasons, so there was no injury history either.
barutanseijin
November 04, 2014 at 10:20 pm
I don't buy the injury excuse. The guy never had what it takes to play in the NFL. TT gets paid to figure that out.
Packer_Pete
November 05, 2014 at 06:02 am
then every single NFL GM is a failure. As they all had their share of "busts". what are you suggesting, that you somehow would only pick pro-bowl players?
delveart1828
November 04, 2014 at 12:19 pm
It's not about TT picking busts. Tired of hearing that. How many bust players were chosen in the first round of 11. Sherrod wasn't the only one. It's a crap shoot. Pack needed an OL man. Some will bust and some won't. How can anyone know for sure.
White92
November 04, 2014 at 02:25 pm
Bears took Gabe Carimi right before Sherrod IIRC. Badger Ol can't miss right?
Of course they are the Bears..
barutanseijin
November 04, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Carimi is far better than Sherrod. He's still playing, even starting. Both the Bears & Tampa got something in return when they unloaded him. Can't say that about Sherrod.
RCPackerFan
November 04, 2014 at 02:57 pm
Its crazy when you look at that 2011 draft. the top was good, but it fell apart fast.
Considered to be Busts so far by most from the 2011 draft.
8 - Jake Locker
10 - Blaine Gabbert
12 - Christian Ponder
13 - Nick Fairley? (some consider him one some don't)
20 - Adrian Clayborn
23 - Danny Watkins
25 - James Carpenter
26 - Jon Baldwin
28 - Mark Ingram
29 - Gabe Carimi
31 - Cameron Hayward
32 - Derek Sherrod
This doesn't include other players that were considered to be very good players that haven't developed.
Evan
November 04, 2014 at 03:06 pm
I'd bet 12/32 is very much an average "bust" rate for any 1st round. Might even be a little low.
RCPackerFan
November 04, 2014 at 03:14 pm
Yeah, i don't know for sure what the bust rate would be. It would be interesting to go through and look what the normal bust rate is/was.
And honestly a few players from that draft I have no idea if they are considered a bust or not.
What is funny is in that draft, they said the safest pick (best pick) was Danny Watkins. I don't think he is in the league anymore.
And JJ Watt went 11th overall.. I remember some thought that was a bit high for him.
RCPackerFan
November 04, 2014 at 03:16 pm
always a fun website to go back on and see who was picked where.
http://www.drafthistory.com/index.php/
Samson
November 04, 2014 at 09:16 pm
Try this:
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/draft-finder.cgi