Thought I'd spend some time to talk about some real Packers news, and not the latest rumors surrounding a certain quarterback named Brent. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's good news. The Journal Sentinel is reporting that because of the recurring back spasms he has been having, among his other injuries, defensive lineman Justin Harrell "fears (his) career could be over."Career? That's what you'd call a career? The Tennessee alum has played just a handful more NFL snaps than I have, and he thinks the end could be near. Now, as you'll read in the article, nothing is for certain, and there is a very good chance Harrell could be on the field sooner rather than later. But to hear a guy think that his career might be over is never a good thing.
Justin Harrell has become more than just an oft-injured lineman during his time with the Packers. In essence, he has become the epicenter of the fuel for the hatred for Ted Thompson (I'd include the Favre situation here, but Thompson has already proven to be right about that). I didn't mind that we drafted Harrell, he's a quality player with loads of potential, but it was where we drafted him that caused all the concern.
If Harrell would be forced to hang it up early, that would be a huge waste of the 16th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. This one was of those picks where the entire Packer Nation collectively said, "Who?" and were left to watch the analysts fumble over their words as they tried to figure out why the Packers reached on a guy with injury problems.
I've always thought that if Harrell was healthy, he'd be able to prove himself in this league. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like he'll never get that chance.
7 comments:
uRon Wolf bungled plenty of first-round picks, too. Just like every sport, the draft is usually a crapshoot.
The guy has loads of talent, and his collegiate injury (bicep) has nothing do with his back injuries of the last couple of years. There's no way you could've anticipated disc problems. Sometimes there's just bad breaks like that. Terrence Murphy had promising start before a career-ending neck injury. Where's the same level of criticism for that missed opportunity in round 2? It's basically the same thing as Harrell now, just an accelerated timetable. Sometimes there's just unforeseen things that happen.
If we're going to blame Thompson for wasting the 16th pick on Justin Harrell, he also needs to get a lot of credit for small-school finds like Greg Jennings, Nick Collins, and James Jones and late-round unearthings such as Johnny Jolly and Desmond Bishop.
Gotta love blind cheeseheads slobbering tt's knob for leading the packers to a 31-33 record in his tenure, bravo!
Year 1 was cleaning up GM Mike Sherman's mess. (And if you want to talk about failed draft picks, look no further than his tenure.) 27-21 after Year 1.
In fact, look no further than Sherman's 2004 draft as a direct reason why the team was in such a sorry state in 2005. His top four selections:
Ahmad Carroll.
Joey Thomas.
Donnell Washington.
B.J. Sander.
He actually traded UP to take a punter. And to make it even worse, a shitty punter who was so bad that he was inactive his entire rookie season in favor of washed up veteran Bryan Barker.
Sherman's incompetence as general manager led to a woefully thin roster in 2005, and when loads of injuries struck that fall, the team was doomed.
Granted, 2008 was a disappointing season despite Aaron Rodgers' emergence. But you can't put much blame on Thompson for that 4-12 season in 2005.
hahah - I really don't care about ted or any of this, I just say it to get you people riled up, and it worked to a T ;)
I gonna take you to the bank, Mike, IM gonna take you to the blood bank!
I'm gonna go Tom Cable on your ass Brett, Tom Cable on your ass!
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