Packers Practice Report: Is Don Barclay In Danger of Losing His Job?

The Green Bay Packers practiced Thursday afternoon as usual in preparation for a Sunday game which this week pits them against the rival Minnesota Vikings. A number of players were held out of practice on Wednesday due to injury, and the team (and its fans) was likely hoping for a few of them to return on Thursday.

Well, Packers fans, I'm sorry to say that that was not the case today.

The team has announced today's injury report and there was no change from the players participating yesterday to today. That means that James Jones, Nick Perry, Ryan Taylor, Jermichael Finley, and Clay Matthews were all held out of practice. Inside linebacker Brad Jones, who was a full participant on Wednesday, was downgraded to limited on Thursday.

There is good news - Finley was released from the hospital today, according to ESPN's Ed Werder - but it didn't affect the players on the field. Also remaining out were three players on the PUP list: JC Tretter, Jerel Worthy, and Sean Richardson, who apparently has received the go-ahead from medical staff to begin practicing and is now waiting on the coaches to put him out there.

As for the players on the field, there is one in particular who has struggled mightily of late and whose starting job is in jeopardy. Some of the drills that were open to the media only added fuel to the fire burning under right tackle Don Barclay, as it sounds like his primary competition, Marshall Newhouse and Derek Sherrod, are getting a shot to take the job away:

I know it was just Oline/Dline drills but Don Barclay not taking snaps. First it was Newhouse then Sherrod

— Pat Mayo-ABC (@patmayo) October 24, 2013

The Packers' offensive line has featured the same five starters for all six games this season (knock on wood), but Barclay has been the weak link over the last couple weeks. As such, it should not be a big surprise to see the team looking at the veteran Newhouse and the unknown quantity in Sherrod to see what they could do at that spot.

Head coach Mike McCarthy would not comment much on Sherrod's return to the roster in his media session, however, only saying that the chances of that happening look "promising" and that the tackle needs work in individual and team drills before he will be ready to come back. Despite the report above, it does not appear that Sherrod will be challenging for that starting right tackle job for another few weeks yet, but he may be thrown into the mix if the right tackle position continues to be a problem.

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