Correction: The Roster Is Not Yet Set » Brats & Beer

September 2, 2008
posted under: roster moves, Ted Thompson

Hopefully this is not an apt Wisconsin metaphor for our defensive line

Well, it looks like we made it through one day without some head-scratching personnel move — Jay Feely in for Mason Crosby, anyone? — but I’m a little disappointed, puzzled, and concerned there wasn’t some kind of news about a possible transaction. Despite what you might have been reading the past couple days in the papers and around the web, I don’t believe the Packers roster is even close to being “set” or “finalized.” At least I hope it isn’t.

The Green Bay lineup as it currently stands leaves me with a feeling of dread in regards to where the defensive line stands. How does the personnel department think the team will be successful with just three true interior linemen? Ryan Pickett is a great run stuffer, yes, and Johnny Jolly is a gamer when healthy, but there needs to be more talent in reserve to keep them fresh through an entire game, not to mention during the 16-week season.

I’m not without hope that things will change over the next couple weeks, however. If the talent was out there for the taking, I’m sure TT would be going after it, so what might be happening is that the Packers are using the first game or two to fully evaluate what they have — at least this is what I’m telling myself so I can sleep easy at night. The Vikings offensive line already looked shaky in the pre-season before Bryant McKinnie received his four-game suspension, so our current interior front might fare okay on opening night. Week 2 is against the Lions and, well, it’s the Lions.

With film on those games, as well as intel on possible trade candidates, I think then we’ll see Ted and his staff make some kind of move to shore things up. They had better, because the Cowboys come calling in Week 3, followed shortly after with a trip to Seattle and a home game against Indianapolis.

Of course the defensive line isn’t the only area of concern, especially now with Scott Wells re-aggravating his “trunk” injury. No one is saying yet how serious it is or how long he’ll be out of the lineup, but it certainly doesn’t look good that he can’t go two practices in a row. The starting line on Sept. 8 will likely be Jason Spitz at center with Tony Moll and Daryn Colledge playing the inside, leaving Breno Giacomini and Allen Barbre the only backups. Is this situation workable for two or three weeks? Does adding Josh Sitton to the mix in a month improve the depth chart significantly?

Something tells me there might be an addition to this group as well before the trade deadline.