Tom Silverstein said what we’ve all been thinking. There’s very little chance the Green Bay Packers will clear Jermichael Finley to play next season. That means they’re looking for his replacement and some think Brandon Bostick may be that guy.
Finley, who suffered a herniated disc in his neck earlier this season, had spinal fusion surgery a couple weeks ago. Although he’s adamant that he’ll play again, it seems like the writing is on the wall. Safety Nick Collins had the same surgery a couple years ago and the Packers wouldn’t clear him to resume his football career for fear of greater injury.
Looking at the current roster, there’s no clear-cut replacement for Finley. Andrew Quarless and Ryan Taylor are both good blockers, but don’t offer the type of dynamic pass-catching ability Finley does. Bostick, on the other hand, has shown flashes of that ability. Of course, the former small-school college receiver still has some work to do in the blocking department.
If he continues to improve there, the Packers might just have their guy.
“He has a lot of potential,” offensive coordinator Tom Clements said. “He’s gotten better. He has a lot of physical tools to work with. He’s doing well; he can do better.”
Bostick has just four catches for 68 yards and a touchdown this season, but we’ve all seen flashes when he’s gotten the ball. Against Philadelphia, he trucked a guy en route to a 22-yard touchdown. He also had a nice 26-yard catch and run against the Giants.
And as we all know, this is typical of the Packers. Let’s go find a guy no one has ever heard of and then develop him for several years instead of using a high draft pick or signing a free agent.
Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn’t — you can look no further than the safety position, with M.D. Jennings and Chris Banjo, two undrafted free agents, and Jerron McMilliam, a fourth-round pick from Maine. The Packers haven’t been able to develop any of those guys into an NFL-caliber starting safety. Although in fairness to Banjo, this is his first season.
If they’re going to stand pat at tight end, hopefully Bostick will fare a little better and turn into a true NFL-caliber starter.
Is Stoneburner in this discussion as well?
Wish we would have kept Crabtree instead of Quarless…..
Nah, Quarless is ambetter blocker and security blanket than Crabtree is, CT just got lucky that he was considered such a non-entity in the passing game that he was uncovered twice last year, and then there was the insane MM 4-26 fake punt call that not even the Precogs saw coming.. GG has been great in the running game and solid in the passing game.
and I’m hoping to win the lottery (even though I never buy a ticket)
I watched Bostick during training camp. Dude can catch. I saw him make a nice falling down one handed TD catch in traffic. I’m surprised he hadn’t played much before Finley got hurt. His blocking must be what is holding him back.
No! MM plays favorites!
Kid’s flashed… Kid’s flashed, yo.
because of the injuries, why not 2 or 3 TE’s and use BB as a receiver?