Another Undrafted Free Agent Signs

Tom Silverstein has the roundup at JSOnline.com. In addition to the signing of one undrafted free agent, nine players have been invited to tryout. One player really caught my eye:

P Chris Keagle.

Unfortunately his career college stats of just under 40 yards/punt, and 2008 stats of just over 40 yards/punt, are pretty unimpressive. And he's on a tryout, so the chances that he makes it past the May rookie minicamp is just about zero.

The punting was a disaster last season as P Derrick Frost flopped. His replacement, P Jeremy Kapinos wasn't much better. P Durant Brooks is also under contract, but he was let go by two teams in 2008. I was really hoping GM Ted Thompson would make a move and acquire a quality punter somewhere, but the three guys currently in line for the job are a pretty mediocre bunch.

Another notable player invited to tryout is Maryland RT Dane Randolph, who was profiled by the Washington Post. Virginia Tech C Ryan Shuman is 6'3", 300 lbs., he was the starting left guard in 2006, and the starting center in 2007 and 2008. The only player today that was signed, not just invited to tryout, Texas A&M DE Cyril Obiozor, but he'll have to make the difficult transition from college DE to outside LB.

Really no one else on the list stands out. Randolph has a good chance to earn a contract since he's 6'5", 305 lbs., and played at a major college program. Shuman has a chance too. Everyone else is undersized, usually too short such as Virginia LB Jon Copper who at 6'0" is too short for an NFL linebacker, or a small school player who usually had to play at a small school for a good reason.

But as I said yesterday, these aren't players the Packers are counting on to make the team. They need them to fill out all the spots in training camp, and maybe one of them turns out to be the next DE Cullen Jenkins.