Linebacker Terrell Manning was considered an all-around playmaker in college and when the Green Bay Packers drafted him in the fifth round, some people thought they got a steal.
There was some thought that he’d eventually contend for a starting spot at inside linebacker and at the very least, was likely to be a special teams contributor this season.
Well, it looks like there’s a reason Manning slipped to the fifth round, at least if his performance in camp thus far tells us anything.
Manning hasn’t made an impact to say the least. Bob McGinn calls him invisible and Manning admits he’s not playing fast enough.
“If you ask any coach that’s here they would say he’s just not playing as fast as he can,” Manning said. “I show flashes here and there. But until you know exactly what you’re doing you’re not playing fast.”
So he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
Great.
With a crowded group at inside linebacker — A.J. Hawk, D.J. Smith, Jamari Lattimore and Robert Francois all have legitimate shots to make the roster — Manning better get his shit together or he’s going to end up on the street.
Have the Packers cut a fifth-round pick the year he was drafted? Yes — they axed tackle Jamon Meredith in 2009. Meredith ended up on the practice squad and was claimed by the Buffalo Bills that season. He’s bounced around the NFL since.
Manning obviously has some talent, so he’ll probably end up on an active roster somewhere this season, but there’s no guarantee it will be with the Packers.
This whole class of rookies really needs someone to pick it up. The fact that none of these guys are making an impact on this shitty defense is concerning.
Everybody has to calm down we are barely into the second preseason game the rookies are still learning the playbook. By the way what happened to Vic So’to.
Exactly, So’oto’s done squat with his opportuntities.
Man oh Man I hate being right about everything…Jerron and dis dude–nothing more than special teams depth at best. Even that Iowa guy Daniels is ‘too small’ and needs more strength and conditioning by all accounts, though he’s got the motor.
EVERY YEAR the draft offers players who become studs, it should be the GMs job to ID those studs and make moves to grab them –at any cost. I said Melvin Ingram was my #1 priority…watch him turn out a DROY perfromance–mark it down! I should be the effin GM!
Vijay, it’s good that you are confident in your scouting skills. And thanks for giving us the job description of a GM. We weren’t aware that GMs were supposed to draft studs. I would also argue that you don’t draft studs at all costs. I’d put money on TT’s method vs. Atlanta and Ditka w/ the Saints technique of trading an entire draft to get that one stud (Julio Jones and Ricky Williams). I would argue that the goal is to draft several good players and hopefully get a Clay Matthews and Aaron Rodgers here and there.
If I had a quarter for every time I was on this website, and read your comment, and thought it was the dumbest thing I have ever read, I would be a rich man.
I knew Adrian Peterson would be a stud. See, I’m a genius and I should be GM.
VJ is awfully excited about a guy’s performance in one preseason game against back ups. BTW, Ingram had the same number of sacks in that game as Nick Perry did- 1.