Green Bay Packers’ defensive end Johnny Jolly signed his tender yesterday, according to the Journal Sentinel’s Greg Bedard.
It’s unclear whether the Packers’ other two remaining unsigned restricted free agents — Tramon Williams and Atari Bigby — signed theirs. The Packers notified all three players they would reduce the tenders to 110 percent of their 2009 salaries if they didn’t sign by June 15.
Jolly, who has the least bit of leverage of the three players, is now scheduled to make $2.521 million in 2010. Had he not signed, the Packers could have reduced their offer to him to $589,501.
Jolly is currently awaiting trial in a federal drug case and could end up spending a substantial amount of time in prison, if found guilty. The Packers, meanwhile, have taken some obvious steps to replace him — moving Ryan Pickett to his defensive end spot and drafting Mike Neal in the second round of this year’s draft.
Personally, I don’t see a lot of people who give two shits if Jolly is even on the team in 2010, so it’s curious why he took so long to sign.
Then again, Johnny Jolly isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.
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Pretty nuts that this site breaks stories before the Press-Gazette does. The post-Pelissero scene around there ain’t pretty.
Jolly is actually a pretty good talent when not getting flagged for 15 yard personal foul penalties. Unfortunately for him, signing that tender may prove a worthless effort pending his sentencing.