The Green Bay Packers signed 15 undrafted free agents after the 2012 NFL draft, and I came away pretty underwhelmed. Even the big name player, USC RB Marc Tyler, isn't someone who should be considered a find. He deserved to be undrafted.
He ran a lousy 4.76 in the 40 at the NFL combine, and it gave him a poor 85 Speed Score. I would put him way behind Brandon Saine, who ran a 4.43 in the 40, and has a very good 114 Speed Score. But Tyler does a good job of avoiding defenders (field vision), following his blockers, and catching the football as a receiver.
However, these undrafted free agents may make up a big part of the roster. Looking back at the list of 15 undrafted free agents signed before the start of the 2011 season, I see that 11 of those players are currently on the roster. Some of them were released and re-signed, while Shaky Smithson spent all season on I.R., but there's no denying that they provided depth.
Though the 2011 undrafted free agent class might be a high water mark. The Packers didn't lose as many free agents as they had the previous year, and many of those 2011 undrafted free agents will still be eligible for the practice squad next season. The 2012 undrafted free agent class is going to have to outplay the returning players. Maybe they can do it, but right now it's just speculation whether any of them can. Here's the rest of the players signed:
South Dakota State WR Dale Moss.
Iowa State WR Darius Reynolds.
Vanderbilt DB Sean Richardson.
Buffalo WR Marcus Rivers.
Winston-Salem FB Nic Cooper.
Minnesota TE Eric Lair.
Gannon NT Randy Colling.
Tulane DE/LB Dezman Moses.
Southern Utah DB Dion Turner.
SD State OL Tommie Draheim.
Minnesota RB Duane Bennett.
Wake Forest TE Cameron Ford.
West Virginia OL Don Barclay.
Michigan Tech DE Drew Vanderlin.
2 comments:
RB positions gets me just about as excited as long snapper lol. I'm in a distinct minority on that one, but this league is so different from the days when we were drafting Brent Fullwood and Darrell Thompson and others in the first round, in our desperate attempt to fill the then *crucial* RB hole.
4.76? In that video, he looks faster. I looked up Brandon Jacobs time, thinking he would be around there too (Jacobs looks slow to me) and he actually came out with 4.58 speed (although knee injuries slowed Jacobs down over the years).
I think our RBs were plenty good enough to win a SuperBowl and also for us to go 15-1 last year, averaging 60 yards a game, just about.
So, *shrugs*. The position makes me go "meh".
Just don't fumble it like Kuhn and Grant did in the playoff game last year *groans*
Tyler seemed faster to me too, but maybe it was the level of competition. He looked pretty big and fast compared to the defenders on Utah. I'm sure he'll get a chance this preseason, and that'll be a much better look.
Oh yeah, I remember thinking Darrell Thompson was the answer to all of their problems on offense. I completely drank the Kool-Aid into his hype.
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