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Cheese Curds, 6/25: Packers’ 2017 draft class eyes big sophomore season

After a multitude of injuries struck the group as rookies, 2018 is shaping up to be a great year for last year’s draft picks.

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NFL: Green Bay Packers-Practice Green Bay Press Gazette-USA TODAY NETWORK

Injuries were a defining characteristic for the Green Bay Packers’ draft picks in 2017. Nearly every player in last year’s draft class who made the 53-man roster dealt with some sort of injury during the season, some missing significant time with their physical ailments.

Let’s look at the number of games played by each of these players:

  • CB Kevin King: 9
  • S Josh Jones: 16
  • DT Montravius Adams: 7
  • OLB Vince Biegel: 9
  • RB Jamaal Williams: 16
  • RB Aaron Jones: 12
  • RB Devante Mays: 8

As you can see, only two of these players suited up for every game, and even Williams lost out on a big chance for playing time early on. After Ty Montgomery was injured against the Bears, Williams was next up but was knocked him out of the game himself, leading to Jones taking on the primary role in the backfield. Then a knee injury to Jones led to Williams taking over the lead back role for the remainder of the season.

Meanwhile, Adams and Biegel dealt with injuries early on before coming on a bit late in the year, but those injuries forced them to get a slower start to their NFL careers than they had hoped.

A bounce-back year for some of these players seems both inevitable and a necessity for the Packers to return to the ranks of Super Bowl contenders. Let’s start off today’s curds by looking at how last year’s first pick is working towards his 2018 campaign.

Kevin King welcomes tough duty | Packers.com
Even though King’s season was cut short, he showed tremendous promise when matching up with elite wide receivers like Julio Jones and A.J. Green. A healthy King with an offseason in Green Bay should continue to ascend. (Oh, and his push-up regimen can’t hurt, either.)

Mike Daniels explains why he picked on Packers rookie RBs | Packers Wire
Daniels was apparently very hard on last year’s rookies, but he had a purpose: to toughen them up as teammates so they wouldn’t be intimidated or worried about what they’d get from opposing players.

Don Majkowski has Packers Hall of Fame ring stolen in Baltimore | JSOnline.com
The Majik Man’s ring was taken from his hotel room on Friday — we wish him the best of luck in tracking it down and getting it back.

Gene Steratore retires from NFL - SBNation.com
Steratore has been at the center of several defining NFL plays. He was the head referee for the Calvin Johnson play in 2010, which really sparked much of the debate about what is or isn’t a catch. He worked the 2014 playoff game between the Cowboys and Packers - the “Dez didn’t catch it” game. And he also had the index card situation last year.

Free agent Tre Boston: Safety market is ‘kinda rough’ - NFL.com
That’s an understatement. I fully expect Boston, Kenny Vaccaro, and Eric Reid to sign with somebody when injuries strike in training camp.

World's Ugliest Dog contest: Zsa Zsa the English bulldog takes out the 2018 prize - ABC News
Poor Zsa Zsa - those Chinese Crested dogs look far uglier than she does, in my opinion.