The writing was on the wall. The Green Bay Packers weren’t going to re-sign running back [intlink id=”77″ type=”category”]Brandon Jackson[/intlink] or offensive lineman [intlink id=”91″ type=”category”]Jason Spitz[/intlink].
Thursday, both players signed elsewhere — Jackson with the Cleveland Browns and Spitz with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Jackson got a two-year, $4.5 million deal with the Browns, where he’ll serve as the team’s third-down back and play behind Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty.
Terms of Spitz’s deal are unknown, but it is known that he wanted a chance to start and wasn’t going to get that in Green Bay, where he went from a valuable starter three seasons ago to a liability last season.
The Packers are well prepared for both players’ departure.
They drafted running back [intlink id=”1618″ type=”category”]Alex Green[/intlink] in the third round of this year’s draft. Even if he fails to develop, the Packers are loaded at the position with [intlink id=”64″ type=”category”]Ryan Grant[/intlink] and [intlink id=”1038″ type=”category”]James Starks[/intlink].
As for the offensive line, the Packers only lose a backup who didn’t look capable of being a starter in limited action last season. The team has younger prospects they want to develop like Nick McDonald and [intlink id=”1037″ type=”category”]Marshall Newhouse[/intlink]. They also added guard [intlink id=”1625″ type=”category”]Caleb Schlauderaff[/intlink] in the draft.
The short of it is, it doesn’t look like either player will be missed.
I like Brandon Jackson.
You will be missed BJacks…you never really got a chance to shine and you did what you were able to do in a limited role. MM never gave you the ball enough for us to know if you were capable of carrying the load but you did us proud all last season.
Thanks for being a great Packer and have fun in Cleveland. Congrats on the new deal.
I wouldnt call them loaded at RB that’s for sure.
B Jack will be missed though his role is likely a very replaceable one. He was great on 3rd down conversions and blitz pick ups…something A. Green will have to prove he can mimic. I’m confident Green can catch in open space but he’s got to prove his worth blocking for A Rodge as well.
Dude the Packers have more at running back than the majority of teams in the NFL do!! The team knows Starks has a future and we got Ryan who has plenty of tread left on those tires! and now add a second day draft pick, come on!
they absolutely have to go for future potential over a peghole player such as brandon jackson—-this team is near stacked
I agree. Never thought it was a bad move to let him go…I just like the guy and think he deserves props for being a good Packer.
Atlanta was pretty high on Nance when we plucked him off their practice squad, he could develope as another option & make a solid contributer to the offence & special teams.
Why are we cutting but not signing anyone? Is ted planning on making a move? We weren’t that far over the cap but now we have cut harrel, poppinga, chillar, jackson, spitz, and propbably jones and jenkins…
We have to sign our rookies yet. Plus, we may be planning on redoing Jennings’ contract, which is up after next season.
BJ was the kind of glue player that every championship team needs. He was great in blitz pick up and made numerous big catches out of the backfield for us. The Browns did not over pay for him. So, apparently, we just believe that we have better options waiting behind him. That remains to be seen.
Kind of cool that our defense will get a chance to hit BJ during our first preseason game. Looking forward to it.