On Signing Ahman Green

by Brandon on Oct 21, 2009 12:32 AM CDT in News Comment 22 comments

UPDATE: It's official, they've signed Green and placed DeShawn Wynn on I.R.

I was waiting until the end of Tuesday for some official word, but no such luck. It's still unclear whether the Green Bay Packers will sign RB Ahman Green.

Greg Bedard reported at JSOnline.com that the signing was reported. But shortly afterwards he reported that it may not happen at all, however, Green already has a copy of the playbook. Now his gut feeling is a signing tomorrow and RB DeShawn Wynn is placed on I.R. And that's all I've got on it.

Assuming Green is signed and Wynn is placed on I.R., it doesn't have much effect. The Packers have not had more than 2 RBs active each week, and I would expect Green would be left inactive for at least a few weeks. Just like RT Mark Tauscher, he's coming off an injury in 2008 and hasn't been in pads since then. Even if he does move ahead of RB Brandon Jackson, at the most, he's looking at 2 carries and 2 receptions/game. He would only play on a couple series in place of RB Ryan Grant.

The biggest impact would be that Green would have a real shot at becoming the leading rusher in franchise history. He's only 45 yards behind FB Jim Taylor.

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Disappointing

If we do end up signing him. Like you said the guy won’t be ready for a while, and even when he is ready you wouldn’t think he would have that much of an impact. Why not bring in a young back with fresh legs, and good speed? I just can’t stand the type of running backs TT prefers. Now a days it’s almost a necessity to have a running back with some blazing speed but TT always insists on keeping 3 running backs who are all virtually the same player.

by packallday555 on Oct 21, 2009 12:58 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

running back

1st of all its not our running backs that are having problems its the o line, i think the packers should have traded arron kampman to st louis form steven jackson. ryan grant is during an ok job but steven jackson would have brought a force

by BIRDMAN62 on Oct 21, 2009 4:13 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The offensive line hasn't been great at making holes

but it doesn’t help that when they do, Grant usually runs into one of their backs.

by Charlie Kelly on Oct 21, 2009 6:26 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Gran run into one of the backs of our pulling o-line and then almost get knocked over from it.

by packallday555 on Oct 21, 2009 10:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

W.O.W.

Is it already April 1 yet? Please tell me this is a joke. Are we sure Emmitt Smith isn’t available too?

by Danwood on Oct 21, 2009 6:07 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

why are people getting all bent over this?

He’s basically signing on as a 3rd stringer. Heaven forbid.

by swilldog on Oct 21, 2009 12:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

This.

We’re not replacing RyGrant or Brandon Jackson, we’re signing him to, if anything, be another option on goal line or 3rd-down plays.

by Thaddeus? on Oct 21, 2009 2:18 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You don't suppose that there are 32 better options sitting on a practice squad somewhere?

by Danwood on Oct 21, 2009 3:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Because the dude is injury and fumble prone and hasn't played in a year and a half?

by Danwood on Oct 21, 2009 3:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He was a pretty good pass blocker

so he might work well as a third down back and a check down option for Rodgers.

by Charlie Kelly on Oct 21, 2009 3:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I still believe a practice squad pickup from any othe team would be a better option than Green

Who was the last marginally effective 32 year old RB who missed a year and a half?

by Danwood on Oct 21, 2009 4:36 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not necessarily disagreeing on your assessment, just looking for a silver lining in the Ahman Green pick up.

by Charlie Kelly on Oct 21, 2009 4:43 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Got ya

I mean, I want the guy to do well, I just know that it’s been 6 or 7 years since he has really done that.

by Danwood on Oct 21, 2009 5:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

eh...

the practice squad is for raw talent. If they were worthy of being on a starting roster, they would be on it. I wouldn’t get too high on practice squad guys. I am NOT excited about Green. Would have rather seen Torain or Rhodes, but obviously if they worked him out he must have looked pretty good.

Green is a good blocker though and can catch out of the backfield which is about all he would ever do I think!

by TrevorR on Oct 22, 2009 10:07 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

OFFICIAL

Its on the Packers website now. Wynn on IR and Green signed up onto the team.

by TrevorR on Oct 21, 2009 12:12 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I like Green

Out of the backfield…Brandon Jackson is a liability and receiving isn’t one of Grant’s fortes. Ahman was a very effective check-down/screen option during his days in Green Bay, and I imagine that’s what they’re looking for from him.

"stay (green and) gold"

by Green and Bold on Oct 21, 2009 2:16 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Isn't this the sort of signing that people who fault the team for being too young...

want the Packers to make? He’s a veteran with success at the highest level at his position, signed for the veteran’s minimum. Why would that be a bad thing? Aside from his sweaty arms that the ball sometimes slips out of, he’s a great example of the “savvy veteran” myth.

The only thing that irks me a little is that John Kuhn apparently didn’t agree to change numbers. Green is second only to Jim Taylor at #30. Now, he’s #34. C’mon John, couldn’t you just give him your number so we can avoid all the asterisks in the record books?

by RobertArthur on Oct 21, 2009 4:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't mind them signing someone older than 22-24

But this is kind of extreme at the other end of the scale. RBs typically drop off after 6-7 years. See Alexander, Shaun and Tomlinson, LaDanien.

by Danwood on Oct 21, 2009 5:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not aware of any RBs available with 3-5 years of experience...

that would be any good. If they are good, or even decent, they have roster spots. Or they are injured.

If Green pans out, he’ll be a bargain. If not, he’ll retire and they’ll bring up Lumpkin. That’s the position they are in now, anyway. I just don’t see the downside, unless someone thinks that Lumpkin is such a talent that Green’s signing unnecessarily delays his promotion. I’ve never been on the Lumpkin bandwagon, so that argument doesn’t have much weight for me. I guess we’ll see.

by RobertArthur on Oct 21, 2009 8:33 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I guess my thought is that Green can't possibly be any good anymore

Otherwise, there would be teams jumping at him to fill their second or third string RB spots. Or even sit on their practice squad.

Any time we pull someone off their couch to come play on Sunday, I’m suspicious. Why was said person sitting on their couch? It can’t be because they didn’t want to play, because anyone who gets to the NFL level wants to play.

Maybe he’ll prove me wrong. It just seems like a very desperate move on TT’s part; a “OMG I’m out of ideas, I know, let’s bring back Ahman Green, he was good once” move.

by Danwood on Oct 21, 2009 10:01 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

seriously?

You think Green would sign to a teams practice squad? Seriously?

Honestly were you more excited about Wynn…he showed us NOTHING with plenty of opportunities. Teams sign guys off the couch all the time…I’d only be concerned if they started asking him to start running right away. he probably won’t even be active for a few weeks.

by TrevorR on Oct 22, 2009 10:09 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Danwood

I hear ya man, I’m not jumping up and down about the Green signing either. But this actually might be an ok move. Like guitarbob pointed out, he is a good pass catcher out of the backfield and very good at picking up blitzes. Which are two things that all of our other Rb’s struggle with.

I would have to think those are the two reasons we really signed him for. I hope we run much more screens because as we saw in the Vikings game they can be very effective. The addition of him and Tauscher will likely help shore up our pass protection problems a bit, and as we all know, if we can just give Rodgers some time we would be very hard to beat.

by packallday555 on Oct 22, 2009 10:52 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs