The Green Bay Packers have made their final decisions on the 53-man roster, and who they hope to sign to the practice squad, but the news is coming out slowly, one player at a time. The Journal-Sentinel has a running thread, and I'll be saying my two cents as the news comes out while the team gets in touch with each player.
One move that's not yet official is TE Spencer Havner. Tom Silverstein tweets that they are looking to trade him. He'll probably get released. I'm surprised, but not really surprised. They have to keep TE Andrew Quarless, who's a great receiver, and TE Tom Crabtree has received a lot of great press in camp while replicating Havner's skill set (good blocker, decent receiver). I just expected Crabtree would be released instead of Havner.
RT Allen Barbre. I'm surprised it took this long. See every start in 2009.
DT Anthony Toribio. He looked good last preseason, but I haven't noticed him much this preseason. With the healthy return of DE Justin Harrell, and drafting of DE Mike Neal and NT B.J. Raji in consecutive years, there is a lot of competition on a line that doesn't need quite as much depth since they've switched to a 3-4. He might end up on the practice squad.
DE Ron Talley. See Toribio above. Everything I said about Toribio applies to Talley. If I had to choose, it seems like Toribio is a little better at getting into the backfield.
RB Kregg Lumpkin. He's OK, but he has trouble staying healthy and isn't that much better as a lead back then FB John Kuhn. And Kuhn does a lot of other things better such as play multiple positions and on special teams.
S Will Blackmon. I'd love it if he was kept as a backup safety and kick returner, but he's not healthy now and obviously missed a lot of time in the past and in college due to injuries. Staying healthy is a skill too, and he's not going to contribute much if he's constantly on I.R.
WR Jason Chery. He did return a punt for a TD, but he bobbled two kick off returns against the Chiefs and made his release an easy decision.
WR Charles Dillon. He did a good job as a receiver with 6 receptions against the Chiefs. But I didn't notice him on special teams and he wasn't an option as a returner. He had to do more.
C Evan Dietrich-Smith. Actually, I'm surprised he was kept last season. He looked good at times, getting a good push up the middle. But QB Matt Flynn took a lot of shots in the pocket this preseason, and it certainly had something to do with Dietrich-Smith failing to pick up a defender on the blitz at times. Apparently they are expecting that LS Brett Goode is just fine after getting knocked out of the game versus the Chiefs, and OL Jason Spitz can backup anywhere.
LB Alex Joseph. Another guy who had trouble staying healthy, but seemed to be a big hitter. It didn't appear he had a future on the outside, and couldn't find a spot amongst all the middle LBs.
RT Breno Giacomini. Via Facebook. Again, I'm surprised it took this long. He looks the part but struggles blocking anyone with speed. Particularly damning: he couldn't beat out Barbre last preseason for the starting RT job.
DE Jarius Wynn. It was going to be a battle to keep his roster spot after they drafted Neal, and it isn't like he's done a lot either. He's showed some promise at times, but he's also gotten called out publicly by Mike McCarthy for his effort.