Well, now we have some actual confirmation. The Green Bay Packers will work out running back and returner Joe McKnight on Saturday and they threw another curveball at us by working out kicker Havard Rugland today.
ESPN confirmed the McKnight workout, but a workout doesn’t necessarily mean a guy is getting signed. McKnight sent this tweet from his unverified Twitter account earlier today.
Headed to GREEN BAY TOMORROW #freshstart
— JOE MCKNIGHT (@Joejetlife) August 30, 2013
That could mean bad news for James Starks, Alex Green or even Jeremy Ross, the guy who was supposed to be the return man this year. Ross hasn’t grabbed the role and the Packers have experimented with Green and Johnathan Franklin on kickoffs and Micah Hyde on punt returns.
Randall Cobb could always resume those jobs, but with an expanded role on offense it’s probably best for the Packers to use someone who isn’t going to be a Pro Bowl receiver on returns.
So, Havard Rugland.
This dude was in camp with the Detroit Lions and lost a kicking competition with veteran David Akers, even though he made all three of his field goal tries in game action.
What’s more interesting is he’s from Norway and has the nickname Kickalicious. He’s also YouTube famous for making this video.
We pretty much figured the Packers had decided to go with Mason Crosby for another season when they released both Giorgio Tavecchio and Zach Ramirez earlier this week.
Crosby even restructured his contract, taking a pay cut and essentially playing for roster and performance bonuses.
As of this moment, the Packers haven’t made any cuts or signings and they probably won’t until tomorrow, so we’ve all got plenty of time to speculate.