Green Bay - Here's what Ted Thompson had to say this morning about the five roster moves he made to get to 75 players:
(What are you finding out about Justin Harrell from the specialist?)
We had him see another guy, and after consultation with Pat, we felt like another procedure would kind of hurry things along. He's gotten himself in remarkable shape. I think our guys have done a great job in the rehab, but we've reached a point where we sort of plateaued, and looking out over the timeline, we felt like it was going to take a few weeks without doing anything, but maybe doing a little extra procedure might hurry things along, and we felt like reserve/PUP was an appropriate spot for him.
(When is he going to have that surgery?)
Fairly soon. Maybe today. The quicker the better, obviously, because then you can start back on the whole recovery thing. It's too bad. He's worked very hard, and I know being a high-profile pick, a No. 1 pick, there's a lot of pressure put on that and expectations of fans. It's not his fault, and he's trying his best to get back, and we're still counting on him to help us this year.
(Same procedure he had last time or different?)
A little bit different, and I'm not going to go too far into it, because it's really not appropriate for me, but it's a little bit different. A little different take.
(How good is this kid, because none of us have seen a whole lot out of him? What do you think Packer fans are going to see from him eventually?)
I don't know. Eventually we hope that he's the good player we think he is. He was a good player in college, he had some injuries in college, and we need to get past that. We don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with him. We don't think it's a lack of toughness. We just think he's just had some bad luck. We think he's going to be a good part of a good group.
(Do you need to find some defensive tackle help here?)
We feel pretty good about our defensive tackles, and we've always felt like the group was good. Amongst our defensive line, we think we have a fair number that are going to make this team and be a pretty solid group.
(Even with the health concerns?)
Actually the last two or three training camps, we've had all 14 or 15 of them practicing all the time. This year it hasn't worked out that way. It happens. It's been that way at running back for us last year. We had guys hurt all the time, and even the year before the running back position during the season was like that. Sometimes it just works out that way.
(What went into the thought of releasing Wynn in this first round of cuts?)
Well, we felt like we got him back healthy, and based on our group of running backs, we felt like this was the appropriate time. We didn't feel like there was ... you have to get down to 75, and that was one of the places we were a little bit over number-wise.
(With Wynn, he showed so many glimpses of how good he could be, but he never seemed to stay healthy. How do you view his time here?)
The NFL is a tough business and people get hurt. Sometimes guys have worse luck than others. I think it's fair to bring everybody's attention ... he helped us win a couple games last year. In New York, in a tough place to play, a great defense, he helped us win a game. He's a good player. He did the best he could. He had a sprained ankle. He wasn't able to compete and the other guys competing for that spot, I think it's more of a positive than anything else, that we've got other guys that have been out there competing and doing a good job.
(What does he need to do to succeed in this league? Do you think he can play in this league still?)
I do. I think he has to do what he does, which is run the football, but in this league you have to be available. That's part of the requirement, and it's the thing that you run into this time of year. We've got 15 guys probably that haven't played in some of the games or played just very little, and that's the way it goes in a training camp. You get nicked up during training camp going twice a day at times and the stress put on your body.
(In evaluations, how do you balance what you're watching in practice and on film with the game action?)
We do both. Obviously the practice stuff is sort of the meat and potatoes of the evaluation process, because you get to kind of lay your hands on them and really look at it and kind of test them against other people, especially the young guys versus the guys that have proven they can play in the league. But some guys are gamers. Some guys don't perform very well in practice, and you put them in a game and they do great. Other times it works the other way. All that is sort of added up, and you try to make the best decisions you can coming up. These are tough days. I've always said these are the toughest days of our jobs, is to go through these releases.
(What are you finding out about Justin Harrell from the specialist?)
We had him see another guy, and after consultation with Pat, we felt like another procedure would kind of hurry things along. He's gotten himself in remarkable shape. I think our guys have done a great job in the rehab, but we've reached a point where we sort of plateaued, and looking out over the timeline, we felt like it was going to take a few weeks without doing anything, but maybe doing a little extra procedure might hurry things along, and we felt like reserve/PUP was an appropriate spot for him.
(When is he going to have that surgery?)
Fairly soon. Maybe today. The quicker the better, obviously, because then you can start back on the whole recovery thing. It's too bad. He's worked very hard, and I know being a high-profile pick, a No. 1 pick, there's a lot of pressure put on that and expectations of fans. It's not his fault, and he's trying his best to get back, and we're still counting on him to help us this year.
(Same procedure he had last time or different?)
A little bit different, and I'm not going to go too far into it, because it's really not appropriate for me, but it's a little bit different. A little different take.
(How good is this kid, because none of us have seen a whole lot out of him? What do you think Packer fans are going to see from him eventually?)
I don't know. Eventually we hope that he's the good player we think he is. He was a good player in college, he had some injuries in college, and we need to get past that. We don't think there's anything fundamentally wrong with him. We don't think it's a lack of toughness. We just think he's just had some bad luck. We think he's going to be a good part of a good group.
(Do you need to find some defensive tackle help here?)
We feel pretty good about our defensive tackles, and we've always felt like the group was good. Amongst our defensive line, we think we have a fair number that are going to make this team and be a pretty solid group.
(Even with the health concerns?)
Actually the last two or three training camps, we've had all 14 or 15 of them practicing all the time. This year it hasn't worked out that way. It happens. It's been that way at running back for us last year. We had guys hurt all the time, and even the year before the running back position during the season was like that. Sometimes it just works out that way.
(What went into the thought of releasing Wynn in this first round of cuts?)
Well, we felt like we got him back healthy, and based on our group of running backs, we felt like this was the appropriate time. We didn't feel like there was ... you have to get down to 75, and that was one of the places we were a little bit over number-wise.
(With Wynn, he showed so many glimpses of how good he could be, but he never seemed to stay healthy. How do you view his time here?)
The NFL is a tough business and people get hurt. Sometimes guys have worse luck than others. I think it's fair to bring everybody's attention ... he helped us win a couple games last year. In New York, in a tough place to play, a great defense, he helped us win a game. He's a good player. He did the best he could. He had a sprained ankle. He wasn't able to compete and the other guys competing for that spot, I think it's more of a positive than anything else, that we've got other guys that have been out there competing and doing a good job.
(What does he need to do to succeed in this league? Do you think he can play in this league still?)
I do. I think he has to do what he does, which is run the football, but in this league you have to be available. That's part of the requirement, and it's the thing that you run into this time of year. We've got 15 guys probably that haven't played in some of the games or played just very little, and that's the way it goes in a training camp. You get nicked up during training camp going twice a day at times and the stress put on your body.
(In evaluations, how do you balance what you're watching in practice and on film with the game action?)
We do both. Obviously the practice stuff is sort of the meat and potatoes of the evaluation process, because you get to kind of lay your hands on them and really look at it and kind of test them against other people, especially the young guys versus the guys that have proven they can play in the league. But some guys are gamers. Some guys don't perform very well in practice, and you put them in a game and they do great. Other times it works the other way. All that is sort of added up, and you try to make the best decisions you can coming up. These are tough days. I've always said these are the toughest days of our jobs, is to go through these releases.
