If you're wondering what ever happened to former 1st round pick DT Justin Harrell, you're probably not alone. In his first two NFL seasons he's only played in 13 games and recorded 28 tackles. Lori Nichol has a good recap of his injury history:

• 2006 (college) torn biceps tendon.
• 2007 ankle injury.
• 2008 back injury, which led to two back surgeries, but they didn't work: 

Then he spent the offseason planning to rehabilitate and strengthen the back. But the pain wouldn't subside and that alarmed him heading into summer workouts. So Rob Davis, the former long snapper and current director of player development with the team, suggested Harrell try acupuncture. And go figure - a half-hour session with Green Bay chiropractor Dennis Plansky relieved Harrell of his pain. He is fine.


So we might have not seen the real Harrell play in either of the last two seasons. Now he's fine, and instead of playing at defensive tackle in a 4-3, he'll now be playing right defensive end in a 3-4. 

It appeared he was stuck playing behind DE Cullen Jenkins at right defensive end, until today when he got to play at left end, and on one play ran over RT Allen Barbre, because DT B.J. Raji is unsigned and DT Johnny Jolly is out for a week with a walking boot on. Although his opportunities should be limited during the season because he'll only play during likely rushing situations. 

There hasn't been a lot of production from the former 1st round pick, but two seasons later, he's finally healthy and at least will provide depth on the defensive line.

With players set to report on Friday, and the first practice on Saturday, I'm finishing up a position-by-position analysis. Last, but not least, is the wide receivers.

• Position Analysis: Secondary
• Position Analysis: Linebackers
• Position Analysis: Defensive Line
• Position Analysis: Offensive LIne
• Position Analysis: Quarterbacks
• Position Analysis: Running Backs
• Position Analysis: Tight Ends

Obviously this position is important, but I'd say there is no more important position, after quarterback. Mike McCarthy's offense is built around the passing game; he's much more likely to call pass than run. The offense was still good last season, despite RB Ryan Grant's struggles, because of the receivers. When the offense struggled in 2006, Mike McCarthy's first season, it was because QB Brett Favre wasn't able to rely on any receiver except WR Donald Driver.

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I'm going to be organizing a fantasy football league through Acme Packing Company, maybe more if there is enough interest, and I'll have all the details in a week or two. I may even have a prize to award the league winner. There should be a lot of fantasy football league and other information all over the SB Nation football blogs next month.

I wrote a Packers fantasy preview for the folks over at Razzball.com. Although I won't claim to be any sort of fantasy football expert; I really don't follow trends or projections league wide well enough. I'm only now starting to warm to the idea that a 5'7" running back who has never had a 1000 yard rushing season really could be the No. 2 overall pick in most fantasy leagues.

More photos » by Jim Mone - AP

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With QB Brett Favre out of the picture, until he reconsiders his retirement again next week, the Vikings have a decision to make at quarterback. Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels.

At first the decision might seem like trying to decide between having your mouth washed out with Lux, Palmolive, or Life Buoy. Tim over at Battle Red Blog, who spent the last two years watching Rosenfels play for the Texans, thinks it will be Rosenfels. Although he admitted at the end of last season, that Sage is nothing more than "a fine back-up." Anthony at Daily Norseman expects Rosenfels will be the starter too because he "chose him by default." Strong praise indeed.

I'm inclined to think Jackson will win the job. He's a more talented athlete with the stronger arm who's been coached by Brad Childress for the past three seasons, and likely knows the offense better. His ceiling is higher. They did everything they could to turn him into the starting QB last year, and I expect they'll favor him again this preseason. I expect Vikings management and coaches will want him as their starting QB.

But I agree with Tim and Anthony; the Vikings would be better with Rosenfels. It's not that he's some solid veteran game manager who will take care of the ball. He had a lot of trouble in 2007 and 2008 with turnovers; allowing 22 INTs and 8 fumbles in just over 400 pass attempts. But when he can avoid turnovers, he was very productive at moving the offense down the field in Houston. That's unlike Jackson, who seems to have trouble when forced into must-pass situations.

The tight end position is very similar to the fullback in Mike McCarthy's offense. Both are required to block first, and catch the ball second. The fullback occasionally has a rush attempt, but there were only 8 such attempts in 2008, all to FB John Kuhn. Starting FB Korey Hall combined with Kuhn to only catch 11 passes last season, compared to 39 receptions by starting TE Donald Lee alone. So while the fullback is truly a blocking position, the tight end does have a role in the passing offense.

But it's usually only as a checkdown receiver. At first, the tight end will stay in to block. But if the primary target isn't open, and the play starts to take a few seconds, the tight end will release the block and turn back to the QB as another receiving option. As the team gets closer to the goal line, it's more likely the tight end will run a route right off the snap and attempt to use his big body to establish position over a smaller defensive back.

I've been hoping the Packers could get more production out of their tight ends throughout the McCarthy era, but he doesn't seem to expect a whole lot from them as receivers, and we shouldn't expect much from them either.

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In the comments of a previous post was a great training camp story:

Meeting all the players, watching the players run plays live, filling an autograph book with their signatures, seeing the stadium for the first time in my life (even if just from the outside), getting to visit the Packer hall-of-fame, then finally stopping back to pick up a St. Bernard puppy… what an incredible birthday for an 11-year-old!

Although I hope to never go through something like your father did, follow the link to read the whole thing, I was just talking to my wife about what it would be like to take my kids up to Green Bay for training camp. I've got three children under 5 years old, so there's no point in taking them to training camp since it won't be memorable yet. My oldest son throws a tantrum every time I turn off the cartoons and turn on any sports program. I'm not sure which one, if any, of them will really be interested in football. But after I can tell they're fans, I'm looking forward to taking them to a practice, hopefully with their bike in tow so we can ask a player if they want a ride, and maybe get some autographs of our own.

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

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This is an awesome comment from the previous post:

Speaking of the Favre saga driving Vikes over the edge

…I went to the Anoka County fair (northwest suburbs of the twin cities & surrounding towns) last night, and they were selling purple #4 Favre jerseys. They were selling WELL too, and were on the backs of fair goers of all shapes and sizes. (Well, that’s technically not true. At the Anoka County fair, the only shape is round.)

If Favre doesn’t sign, there are going to be a lot of disappointed bumpkins over here in the twin cities, and they’ll have to add their Favre jerseys to the Jersey Pile of Broken Quarterback Dreams.

Right now I'm dying for training camp to start. There are no more free agents to sign, or draft choices to consider. The team is the team, so I just want to see them playing.

I'm so jealous of Bills fans since Buffalo's training camp has already gotten underway, but the Packers aren't starting until August 1st. For those of us not able to attend training camp, there's probably not much on TV until Family Night on August 8th. 

If anyone has any training camp memories, please consider writing a FanPost and I'll likely promote it to the front page.

More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

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Ok, so this is an easy one. Here's what I wrote about QB Aaron Rodgers last week:

But if 2008 was just a typical season that we should expect from him in the future; 4000 yards, 28 TDs and 13 INTs for the next decade, I'll gladly take it. QB is the most important player on any team and he's clearly a good one that they can build around for the future.

Some web sites have been making a story out of who should be the backup QB. I noticed Kevin Seifert wrote about it on Tuesday at his NFC North blog. It's not something I've weighed in on because we'll have to wait and see how they both play during the preseason. But here's what I know so far.

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