Remember when the Green Bay Packers waived injured rookie tight end Colt Lyerla and then re-signed him the next day and put him on injured reserve? Well, they were just fucking around that time.
On Tuesday, the Packers decided to waive Lyerla again because, well, why the hell not?!
No, seriously, there’s possibly a perfectly good reason for the reversal. The Packers apparently don’t want Lyerla to spend another whole year not playing football, which is what he’d have to do on injured reserve.
Reasoning for #Packers waiving Lyerla: if they IR'd him, that'd mean another full year without playing football. This way he has a chance.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 26, 2014
So Lyerla was waived with an injury settlement, but that settlement extends only so far into the season. So, in theory, the Packers could bring Lyerla back and he could play football later in the year.
Obviously, there’s some concern that if Lyerla doesn’t play (or practice) at some point this year, he’s going to forget how to play the game. Remember, he left his Oregon team last September, so he would basically be out of the game for two full seasons if he spent this year on IR.
This is all hypothetical though. I mean, let’s be honest here. We were probably all pulling for Lyerla, but it looks like the Packers have plenty of good tight ends. Do they really need to work on developing this guy at this point?
You’ve already got another rookie, Richard Rodgers, who looks legit; a veteran who’s been a starter before in Andrew Quarless; and Brandon Bostick, who’s probably better than both of those guys.
In other words, we’re not holding our breath that Lyerla will be back.