Alex Green sits atop the Green Bay Packers depth chart at running back at the moment. That may come as a surprise considering the team drafted two running backs, but it probably shouldn’t.
Green is healthy for the first time in over a year and says he can finally make cuts without experiencing pain.
“That was the frustrating part,” Green said. “I’d go back, see a play and say, ‘I know I can make that cut’ or ‘I know I can break that tackle. I know I can explode.’ But physically, not being able to do it was frustrating. I knew that wasn’t the kind of player I am. That’s finally behind me. That’s finally behind me.”
“Being able to cut without going, ‘Ahhh!’ and knowing in my head that it hurts terribly,” Green said. “So just being able to cut and not feel any pain and not think about it.”
That’s great, but much like the competition going on at most other positions, guys are going to have to earn starting jobs this season. The Packers aren’t handing anything to Eddie Lacy, even though they picked him in the second round.
Lacy and fourth-round pick Johnathan Franklin certainly have a ways to go to get as comfortable with the playbook as Green and the rest of the holdovers, too.
We should also point out that the Packers haven’t had a practice with pads on yet, either. Proving yourself in minicamp and OTAs is entirely different than doing so in training camp.
So, yeah, Green will open camp as the Packers No. 1 back, but will he be able to keep that role? There are four other guys who will have something to say about it when the pads go on.
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Good for him… I don’t care who starts just want a kick ass running game
yea, me too. competition is good, hopefully one back will stand out above the rest. can’t help but think we’ll be better with Lacy & Franklin on the team.
Alex is a big guy who runs hard. His issues aren’t apparent until the games start. He was a shotgun back at Hawaii and is used to having huge gaps to run through. That means his instincts when running from the offset and the single back are lacking. Desean Harris was the better back at finding and exploiting holes.
Harris’ surgery is the only reason Green is sitting in the #1 spot.
Ah Alex Green. I’ve said it many times, this guy will be awesome
What did he avg. when healthy? Yeah, thought so. If he was “special” he would’ve shown something, anything to back that up.
Another wasted Ted Thompson pick (REACH)!! Yeah, let’s keep him and get rid of Desmond Bishop…yeah, that makes sense.