Due to the lack of news at this point of the offseason I thought I would torture you with my first attempt at a post. I warn you that I am not too blog savvy, with this being the only blog I follow.

As a regular reader of this blog it seems to me that there are a few young players that have the potential to be excellent contributors to the team, but are falling down the depth charts at least in the preseason APC world. There are three players that I’m going to bring up that I would like to hear your opinions on as to which player has the best chance of reaching their fullest potential and contributing greatly to the success of the team, and which player is most likely to be forgotten in a couple years. I’ll list a few points on each player, and I’m sure those of you more involved than I will have many more points to consider.

Derek Sherrod: You like to see top draft choices start, will he be able to win that position and perform as a top 10 T in the NFL?

Negatives-

Looked a bit uncomfortable in his limited playing

Suffered a significant leg break

Good roster depth at that position

Positives-

High draft choice

Has the physical tools to excel at the position

Alex Green: Not a top pick but if he is able to stay healthy I could see him being an excellent receiving option out of the backfield, similar to how Sproles is used in New Orleans. I feel his potential to be used in this fashion is greater than the other RB’s on the roster (just my opinion on this point), and that could bring yet another dimension to the Packs already potent offense.

Negatives-

Seems to already be labeled as injury prone

Has not had much of an opportunity to showcase his potential

Positives-

Relatively high draft choice

Not much competition/ depth at his position

Sam Shields: From out of nowhere.. . this is the kind of story you love to see. A story that started out not much different than Tramon’s. In 2010 he was a gem, last year not so much. He seems to have the physical set of tools needed, can he bring together the mental aspect of the position and keep progressing?

Negatives-

Did not play very good in 2011

Limited experience at CB (only a couple years at the position between college and NFL)

Positives-

Played very well in 2010

Good physical tools

I feel the break downs of the players are a little limited but, hey that’s what you guys are for.

The vast majority of roster turnover has already happened. There might be a few players not yet on the roster who squeeze out one of the 90, but by & large, this is the group who will face cuts down to 80 on the 28th of August & the final cutdown to 53 on the 2nd of September. The following is an early projection at who makes the roster.
Players with a 75% chance or better of making the 53
Players with a 75% chance or better of making the roster, but may not count against the 53 to start the season
Players with a 25-75% chance of making the 53
Players with a 25% chance or less of making the 53

See the full list & depth chart after the jump.

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Coming off a 15-1 regular season, it is of little surprise that the Green Bay Packers will likely be the favorites to win the NFC North, and possibly return to the Super Bowl for the second time in three years.

Unfortunately, the Packers play in an extremely difficult division with each team looking to dethrone Green Bay as the elite team in the NFC North. Today we'll take a look at five players who'll pose the biggest threat to Green Bay's hopes of repeating as division champions in 2012.

5. Jared Allen, DE, Minnesota Vikings

Let me start by saying the Vikings don't stand a chance in any game against Green Bay. With that said, Allen has dominated the Packers since he joined the Vikings back in 2008. It's like he's an unstoppable force who was sent here for the only purpose of absolutely destroying Aaron Rodgers.

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Johnny Jolly was granted early release from prison when a judge granted his request for “shock probation.” Help me out here..did the Packers release him, or is he still under the Packers control?

Jolly applied for the probationary term, 10 years in length, which can be permitted certain convicts in Texas after experiencing the "shock and trauma of prison."

He must also serve 200 hours community service. A violation of the probation will result in another prison sentence.

What do you think? Is Jolly worth another look? I also forget what his status is with the NFL. Is he suspended for a year? If so, when is that up?

Lots of questions...I think the Packers can never have to many possibilities for the D-line..He's low risk, big upside..

Poll

Should the Packers bring in Johnny Jolly if he is able to play?

• Yes, I like the potential
• No, The Packers have plenty of option and Jolly would be taking up space

  128 votes | Results

The NFL is a quarterback driven league. Since the 2003 Super Bowl, the teams to have won the Super Bowl have had the following quarterbacks: Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers.

Simply put, if you don't have a great quarterback you aren't winning the Super Bowl.

This is also why nine of the last 11 MVP winners have been quarterbacks, the most recent winner being Aaron Rodgers. Which brings us to the question of the afternoon: Could Aaron Rodgers win the most MVP Awards in NFL history?

Peyton Manning currently has more MVP trophies than any other player in NFL history with four. While it's possible that he wins another trophy with the Denver Broncos in the next year or two, it's rather unlikely considering the lack of wide receiver talent currently surrounding him.

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Man, this is a boring time for football, isn't it? For example, the big headline for the Vikings today is they cut WR Kris Adams to make room for a guard. That's pretty bad when that's the big story, isn't it? Well, that's football in May for you. This site has gotten pretty quiet lately so I thought I would try to get the party going again. This article is about decisions I would make if I were "dictator of the NFL". Basically I would be able to make decisions and that would be that.

1. Increase the roster size from 53 to 60. Are they worried about player safety? This is a good way to do something about that. This would keep players fresher and this would relieve teams of the stress of having to send a player back out there who might be partially injured all because they are thin at that position. This would allow for teams to carry an extra WR, offensive lineman, running back, kicker(Not a punter- because if the kicker gets hurt, his team is screwed), and whatever else a team deems necessary.

2. Give each team an extra timeout each half- This would just simply give teams more flexibility in terms of decisions at the end of each half.

3. Create rules that prevent owners from "butting in"- As Packer fans, we are in a great position. Our "Dictator", Ted Thompson, is allowed to run the show as he see's fit. There are too many owners across the league who interfere with the football operations of their teams and it end's up being detrimental to the team. Let the football people do their job, and you guys stay out of it. Let the coaches, scouting department, and front office decide when the young QB will start. Let them decide how to handle the headcase defensive end. Let them do their job.

4. Impose harsh penalties on those who skip camp and hold out- There a some players, such as "he who will never be mentioned again" on this site, who think they are too good to go to camp. Note: If a team decides to give a player the franchise tag, these same rules apply. If a player is under contract and not at the first day of training camp, they don't get to play football that season. We will make exceptions for injuries and family issues, but not using those as an excuse to get out of being penalized for holding out. If a player is under contract and is a holdout for more than five regular season games, they have given up their right to play in the NFL, permanently. Quit your whining and get your butts on the field.

Hello, football fans, and welcome to the 24-hour APC Open Thread! Many thanks to Kevin for allowing this silliness.

There are other Open Threads around SBN. Feel free to drop by any of them.

Battle Red Blog, home of the AFC South Eternal Threads. Very welcoming group of people, with quite the mix of Colts, Texans, and the occasional Jags fan. Disgust for the Titans is extremely welcome.

Niners Nation, home of the San Francisco 49ers...

Pride of Detroit Community Open Threads. Division Rivals the Detroit Lions may be, BUT their fanbase is a good group of people. Respect them, and they should respect you. (of course, arodgb may heavily disagree in this regard)

Bleeding Green Nation's OTs.

A bit new to the game, but still there: Revenge of the Birds OTs

Gang Green Nation Threads About Nothing: Wait...doesn't that sound like a certain SHOW About Nothing?

Canal Street Chronicles, getting in on the OT action as well

Cool Kids Club, on The Phinsider. Really, they got things started with OTs. Their threads come and go, and will usually disappear into the night as though they never were after a certain point.

Rules of the thread:

NO POLITICS

NO RELIGION

NO THREATS

NO NAME-CALLING OTHER POSTERS ON THIS BLOG. There w ill be other people who stop by this thread. Yes, this is a Packersblog.Please refrain from trolling others, even virulent fans of rival teams. If you want a trash-talk thread (like the one we had in the Super Bowl), I can make one.

Absolutely NO SAYING YOU'RE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST

Since we've had a little...issue...with people posting NSFW pictures, please keep in mind that some people might well read this thread at work. If you're going to post a picture that might be considered Not Safe For Work in any way, shape, or form, post a link to it instead of embedding it in the comment. That way, nobody gets in trouble.

Please remember that any time you spend on the APCOT's is entirely voluntary. Nobody is forcing you to be here.

If you were one of the people who rec'd the previous open thread to move it to the Recommended FanPosts section, please go back to that previous thread now and un-rec it. That way, the previous thread will move out of that section, and these won't be cluttering APC as much.

With those rules in mind, have fun.

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This is the most simple argument ever. He is too good to throw for that many yards. Last year, for example, we witnessed, what most everyone who has watched the NFL closely will admit, was one of the best season-long performances by a QB, ever. He still only ended up with only 4643 yards.

Why?

Mike McCarthy pulls him out of blowouts to give his backups time to gain experience (a-hem sean peyton).

Last year, Rodgers sat out, obviously the final game. He also, however, sat for a full quarter during the Broncos game, and sat for a little more than a quarter during during both the Minnesota and Oakland blowouts. If you add onto that, the San Diego game, where during the 4th quarter, the Packers did not throw the ball once, and were fighting off a serious charge, there is a solid 2 games where Rodgers did not play or did not need to throw becuase they were up so big.

This was also with one of the worst defenses in Packer history. I don't know if we've ever been dead last in yards allowed before, but that is sure to improve. How does an improved defense affect Rodgers? Many would argue that he will have more time with the ball, and more opportunities to rack up the yardage and score more TD's. I'm taking it in a different direction. This is going to lead to more dominating blowouts and less close games where Rodgers has to throw the ball late to get that game winning or game securing score. With more blowouts, I can see even more time sitting on the bench, while McCarthy gives Harrell, Coleman, or Hill an opportunity to show what they're made of.

More blowouts lead to more time on the bench. He's going to become better and better as he grows as a player. As he is already the best player in the league, and only getting better. So why won't the best player at his position not going to be gunning for every record in his position? A) His coach isn't a running-up-the-score-cheater and B) his team is too good to allow him to play more than necessary to secure the deal.

He will get more MVP's, he will get more division titles, but 5,000 yards is not going to happen.

For months now we have all been crying out for help at defense. While the names and positions have differed, we all wanted some serious talent on defense to stop the hemorrhaging of yards. I do not disagree, but lately we've struck a new tune, and it goes something like this:

• In our pass-first offense, we don't really need a great running back.
• Investing in a high-caliber back like Adrian Peterson would be a waste of his talents.
  
• We really just need someone that can block for Rodgers and catch a few dump passes. Can he play special teams?
• The importance of running the ball is really just to make the play-action pass more effective.

But consider this: in time of possession, the Packers ranked dead -x-x-x-x.

Okay. Stats failed me. Our average time of possession was actually pretty good - 11th in the league according to Team Rankings. But stay with me - [too close for missiles,] I'm switching to qualitative analysis. How many times did you see our defense get tired because Rodgers et. al scored so quickly? Adding a dynamic running back that was a real threat in his own right would help us dominate time of possession, dictate the tempo of the game, and give our defense a rest. Far too many times this past season we had to punt the ball away and give our opponents another chance to score because we couldn't run the ball to eat up the clock and move the chains.

I'm not saying we should have spent a first, second, or even third round pick on a running back. I do think that we have been tending to undervalue the running back position because the offense is on fire and scoring points. Being able to pick up yards on the ground would give us more control over the overall game and would help keep our defense fresh. Some have projected we'll have the best offensive line in the league. To not use that talent to block for a talented running back would seem to be a waste.

I'm posting this mostly as a question for readers and commenters on APC. Some have played college football, has anyone ever had a tryout with an NFL team?

One of the things that prompted me to write this was reading through the list of 29 young men 'try outs' at PackerNews. It was especially the DE, Luke Black of Fairmont State University in West Virginia that stood out to me. He was named 2nd team all-WVIAC (West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) at DE; and the other DE on the 2nd team all-WVIAC is my nephew. As far as I know, he hasn't received any invitations to try out for any teams.

Anyway, it made me curious about what it is like to be there. Does anyone have this experience and would you be willing to share it here?