I took a swing at the 53 man roster immediately following the undrafted free agent signings, which you can find here. There have been a few developments since then. Obviously the most significant one is the release and probable retirement of Jonathan Franklin. I had him penciled in to the roster not only for this season but for many seasons. Other players made as much as a name for themselves as you can in OTAs. First I’ll lay out the new 53 man prediction followed by a little bit of analysis.
Quarterbacks (3)
Aaron Rodgers
Matt Flynn
Scott Tolzien
Running Backs (4)
Eddie Lacy
John Kuhn
James Starks
DuJuan Harris
Wide Receivers (6)
Jordy Nelson
Randall Cobb
Jarrett Boykin
Davante Adams
Jared Abbrederis
Chris Harper
Tight Ends (4)
Brandon Bostick
Colt Lyerla
Richard Rodgers
Ryan Taylor
Offensive Linemen (8)
David Bakhtiari
Josh Sitton
JC Tretter
TJ Lang
Bryan Bulaga
Don Barclay
Derek Sherrod
Corey Linsley
Defensive Linemen (6)
Mike Daniels
BJ Raji
Datone Jones
Jerel Worthy
Josh Boyd
Khryi Thornton
DE/OLB (3)
Julius Peppers
Nick Perry
Mike Neal
Outside Linebackers (3)
Clay Matthews
Carl Bradford
Adrian Hubbard
Inside Linebackers (4)
AJ Hawk
Brad Jones
Jamari Lattimore
Sam Barrington
Cornerbacks (5)
Tramon Williams
Sam Shields
Casey Hayward
Davon House
Jarrett Bush
Safeties (4)
HaHa Clinton-Dix
Morgan Burnett
Micah Hyde
Sean Richardson
Specialists (3)
Mason Crosby
Tim Masthay
Brett Goode
You’ll find that there hasn’t been any changes on defense. I don’t feel great about a few of the picks (Hubbard, Richardson) but nothing has happened during this offseason to change my mind about the players I feel will make the team. I can’t imagine that I’ll end up being right, but these are the guys that I believe in for different reasons.
On offense there is a little bit of change. I know that Coach McCarthy has no interest in going into another season carrying only 2 QBs. Originally I didn’t care about Coach McCarthy’s feelins because I felt the need to get more skill players on the offense. The loss of Johnathan Franklin quells those concerns. The team is no longer cutting someone that’s either very valuable or guaranteed to not make it to the practice squad if they carry 3 QBs. The other addition that you’ll see is Colt Lyerla taking the place of Andrew Quarless. I believe that all 4 of the tight ends that I have making the team have a special skill, something that they are very good at. Andrew Quarless is the only one who does not.
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Ross Uglem is a writer at PackersTalk.com.
You can follow Ross on twitter at RossUglem
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3 responses to “PACKERS FOOTBALL FRIDAY: 53 Man Roster Prediction Update: Camp Edition”
I agree with every player at each position except I believe they keep Quarless. Lyerla can play ST, he did it in college and he was very effective, 8 tackles 7 unassisted so they might cut Ryan Taylor. I don’t think they keep Tolzien either, at least I hope they keep Flynn over Tolzien and with that extra spot keep Ragan Neal at RB. I watched that Packers vs Bengals game on NFL Replay from last year and watched how good Franklin could have been. He was GREAT in that game and he didn’t lose the game for the Packers. Missed Red Zone attempts lost that game long before the Franklin fumble.