By
Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel
Aug. 2, 2010 7:59 p.m.
Green Bay - With Brad Jones out with a back bruise, it's a reminder to the Packers just how thin they are at outside linebacker beyond Jones and Clay Matthews.
With that in mind, the Packers experimented today with a group, from left to right, Clay Matthews, Nick Barnett, Desmond Bishop and Bradon Chillar.
"Right now they're taking a look at Chillar at the outside backer and either way you have it you can see a lot of athleticism out there," Barnett said. "So we'll see, it's definitely an intriguing idea with his athleticism and us having so much depth at inside linebacker with some athletes there. We've got to see first. This is our first day running that."
Most of the problem with Chillar playing outside linebacker is he weighs just 235 pounds, so you would give some against the run. But there's no doubt he's a fine coverage player and is a dynamic pass rusher in space.
If the Packers really had designs on getting Chillar acclimated to the outside, they would have tinkered with it during the offseason. They did not. The subject wasn't even broached. Monday morning was the first Chillar had heard of it, and he thinks it's temporary.
"It was a little bit of a surprise to me but with Brad going down, I think they just want to give me some reps for just in case, for later on in the year," Chillar said. "As I've showed in the past, I can play different positions and I take it as a challenge and it's fun."I enjoyed it, I'm not going to lie. I had fun."
One way that foursome works for the Packers is if the team believes they would still be a good rush defense and need to improve their pass coverage out of the linebackers (they do).In any event, having Matthews get reacquainted with LOLB -- he said he played both sides equally at USC -- will give the Packers options in keeping opposing players guessing.
"It's nothing new to me," Matthews aid. "I've kind of been growing into a right outside linebacker as far as my moves and just really perfecting them and now it's time to kind of take that to the left side of the game. Hopefully now I can become a master of both sides, really. It was a good first start today. Obviously there was a little rust. Break it off and just see where it takes me.
"I think if I continue to move around hopefully it can present some new looks for the offense. Hopefully it presents some problems and we can capitalize on some mismatches."
