The Green Bay Packers released 2011 1st round pick Derek Sherrod yesterday. The whole thing just makes me sad. You’ll see a lot of people just label him a bust and a mistake but we don’t know that it’s true. The injury that he suffered against Kansas City assured that he would never be the same player. The fact that we never know what the original potential of Sherrod is is the worst part.
I’m not trying to make excuses for Ted Thompson. One of the reasons that this team isn’t the elite program that it was in the early 2010’s is the lack of quality players from the 2011 and 2012 drafts. The ship certainly seems to have been righted in 2013 and 2014. But the failure of Derek Sherrod to become a useful part of the team has a ripple effect.
I’m a big JC Tretter fan. I think his versatility is very helpful for the team and he and Don Barclay could have solidified what would be a very good group of backups on the offensive line. What he is not is a backup left tackle. The release of Derek Sherrod makes Tretter the backup at almost every position on the line.
It also puts the Packers in a very precarious position. Let’s say that TJ Lang isn’t ready for the Chicago game on Sunday. The line from left to right would be Bakhtiari, Sitton, Linsley, Tretter and Bulaga. What if someone gets hurt?
Lane Taylor can’t play tackle. Garth Gerhart can’t play tackle. You could easily be in another “Daryn Colledge getting everyone killed playing tackle” scenario. I’m not going to stand up here and say that Sherrod was a good player, but the offensive line needs to stay healthy from this point until the end of the season.
From what I can ascertain if Lang plays, Tretter will back up everyone on the line from Sitton on down to Bulaga. If something were to happen to David Bakhtiari, Bulaga would slide over to the left side and Tretter would play on the right side. The fact that Lang is already injured throws the whole thing into a dangerous place.
I am usually the last guy to be critical of Ted Thompson and the front office, but does it really make sense to keep a guy like Demtri Goodson or Carl Bradford over Derek Sherrod when the team is already this thin on the offensive line? Time will tell.
---------------------
Ross Uglem is a writer at PackersTalk.com.
You can follow Ross on twitter at RossUglem
---------------------
4 responses to “Packers Release of Sherrod Could Bring Back OL Musical Chairs”
I will agree about Goodson but Bradford??? He will be the future at MLB mark my words..I believe he should be getting play time now to get experience so they can finally wash their hand of Jones and Hawk plain and simple..Bradford is faster and plays with high intensity and will prove to be one of the Packers best ILB before his career will be over. As for Sherrod it was sad what happened to him but to say because he broke his leg is the reason he was a bust is ludicrous, Look at Cobb he broke his leg and came back without missing a step so Sherrod is what he is a mediocre lineman plain and simple! I wish him luck in his future but I for one am glad they cut their losses with him.
It’s not ludicrous at all. Cobb’s injury was nowhere near as severe as Sherrod’s. Our resident MD, here, Kelly, told me after it happened she didn’t think Sherrod would ever be able to come back from that. Looks like she was right…
Seems like every year, Ted Thompson rolls the dice at a particular position. Last year it was the safeties.
Seems like every year, Ted Thompson rolls the dice at a particular position. Last year it was the safeties.