My friend Sean calls him half zombie, half Rambo. I suppose that probably makes him all man… or something.
Whatever the hell he is, undrafted rookie Frank Zombo is now the Green Bay Packers starting outside linebacker.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy announced Zombo would replace Brad Jones, on Wednesday.
Jones missed Monday’s game with a knee injury and was limited in practice on Wednesday, as well. McCarthy said the change will remain in effect until Jones is able to practice fully all week, but that seems like McCarthy’s typical double speak.
Left tackle Chad Clifton hasn’t practiced fully all season long, but has still managed to retain his starting spot, despite being outplayed by rookie Bryan Bulaga and pretty much everyone else on the field.
“I’m not sure if (Jones) is healthy enough to play Sunday, so we’re going to play the prepared players,” McCarthy said. “We’re going to play the (game-plan) experienced players. I felt as a staff, particularly the last two weeks, that we have been way too up-and-down during the course of the week of trying to prepare players based on their health situation, and waiting on a certain number of individuals to get healthy by the end of the week.”
Typically, starters will be given until Friday to practice before being ruled out or demoted, so this is clearly a move that could be long term.
If Zombo does his job against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, there’s no reason for the coaching staff to make a change, even when Jones is healthy. One of the irritating things about McCarthy, other than being a total moron, is he won’t just come out and say these things.
In one start, Zombo has three tackles and two sacks. In two starts, Jones has six tackles and no sacks.
Interestingly, sixth-year man Brady Poppinga, whom the Packers actually put in competition with Jones during the preseason, is nowhere in this conversation. Poppinga has four tackles and no sacks in three games. General manager Ted Thompson signed Poppinga to a four-year contract extension worth more than $16 million in 2008.
Good investment.
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