LB Abdul Hodge is the latest player with an interview posted at Packers.com. Unlike FB Brandon Miree who is traveling the country, becoming a movie mogul, and reading about the seven steps, Hodge is spending most of his time in Green Bay with his daughter, hopefully taking full advantage of the Packers training facilities.
Hodge is the most promising prospect that the Packers have sitting on the bench. Although LB Brady Poppinga was much better by the end of the last season, the idea of Hodge in the middle with LB Nick Barnett running wild on the weak side is exciting. However, Hodge hasn't proven that he is very good in coverage. During his only start, Hodge had an INT return for a TD, but the entire defense fell apart in pass coverage while QB Matt Hasselbeck picked them apart in the 2nd half. Hodge doesn't deserve all the blame, but he was part of the collapse. That was the start of a bad stretch for the team, which followed up the Seattle loss with two home blowout losses against the NY Jets and New England. Hopefully Hodge is much better next season either as a starting linebacker, or a special teams standout, where the team could really use him too.