It’s pretty apparent that the Green Bay Packers are content to move forward without fullback John Kuhn.
John Kuhn isn’t quite ready to give up on the idea of playing football in 2016, though. Kuhn is working out and sitting around waiting for his phone to ring.
“I’m not done,” Kuhn said. “I work out four or five times a week and I’m putting in what I have to on the front end, expecting somebody to make my phone ring here at some point in time. If not this week, if not next week, sometime in August, somebody’s going to have a need for somebody who’s willing to come in, work hard, do some of the dirty work that not everybody does anymore.
“That’s what I’m preparing myself for. I can’t predict the future. I don’t know which team is finally going to make my phone ring. Of course I’d love it to be the Packers, but they’ve got 90 [players] on their roster right now. So they have visions of where they’re going to go. But things change sometimes. I can only control myself, and I’ve been doing the best I can to make that happen.”
It’s somewhat strange that Kuhn lives in Green Bay and the Packers start training camp this week without him. That could make for an awkward run-in at the grocery store.
For the Packers, the direction is pretty clear. They’ll hand over the fullback position to second-year player Aaron Ripkowski.
For Kuhn, the direction isn’t clear at all.
The fullback position is becoming extinct in the NFL. Most teams only carry one fullback and some teams don’t have one at all. That doesn’t make for a lot of job openings. No one should be surprised that Kuhn doesn’t currently have a team.
If he does find one, it will probably be due to injury. Much like how James Jones (another unemployed former Packer) landed back in Green Bay last year.
Short of that, Kuhn might find that he’s played his last down of football.