Obviously, the release of three-time Pro Bowl left guard Josh Sitton leads the list, but we’re going to quickly get past that. Everyone was surprised by Sitton’s release including, it seems, Sitton.
The Green Bay Packers supposedly tried to trade Sitton, failed and then just released him. Instead of letting Sitton play out the final year of his contract, letting him leave as a free agent and getting a compensatory pick, the Packers just said…
We have no idea what they said. The move is out and out buffoonery. That right there leads our list.
- The stupidity the Packers showed in getting nothing for Sitton. For a guy who loves those compensatory picks, Ted Thompson really shit the bed right here. All he has to show for losing Sitton now is some salary cap space and a hole at left guard. Smooth move, Ex-Lax!
- The release of inside linebacker Sam Barrington was unexpected. We had Barrington pegged — along with Blake Martinez — as a starter on the inside. The Packers will apparently go with Jake Ryan and Martinez.
- The lack of depth at inside linebacker is also head scratching. The Packers were left with only three inside backers after Saturday’s carnage — Ryan, Martinez and Joe Thomas. Certainly, we were somewhat surprised when Carl Bradford got cut, but he does have practice squad eligibility. The numbers are more puzzling, unless Clay Matthews will be stepping into the middle from time to time…
- Makinton Dorleant — who saw this guy sticking around? We all had Josh Hawkins sticking at cornerback, but Dorleant? He’s an undrafted rookie corner from Norther Iowa who got the call over Robertson Daniel, a guy who had a pretty decent preseason.
- The Packers have no long snapper. If we gave a shit about long snappers, this might be higher on the list. However, we hate wasting roster spots on something like a long snapper. Can’t one of the damn centers just be the long snapper? Anyway, the Packers released Rick Lovato and they’ll probably be bringing in someone else to fill that slot. That means someone who was on the roster Saturday won’t be there long.
- Running back Brandon Burks managed to stick around as the No. 3 back. He didn’t have a good final preseason game and his night ended after a late fumble. That surely seemed like the nail in his coffin. It wasn’t.
- The Packers kept six safeties, which is at least one more than the norm. The bottom half of that group is Chris Banjo, Kentrell Brice and Marwin Evans. As a great special teamer, Banjo seemed like a given. Brice played so well he couldn’t be denied. Logically, it seemed Evans would be the odd man out in a numbers game.
- The Packers kept seven receivers, something we predicted way back in May. While we’re not entirely surprised about the number, we will note this. When we made that prediction, it was based on a depth argument — look at all these good receivers! We don’t see it that way anymore. We think the Packers have three good receivers — Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb and Jared Abbrederis — and four bums. We’re not sure they know which of those four bums are better than the other. They didn’t know who to keep, so they just kept them all.
- And what now can only be described as a mild surprise, Joe Callahan. The undrafted rookie played well enough, so this move is only surprising when you consider the Packers prefer to go with just two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster.
- This is a record year for undrafted rookies making the team. The Packers kept six. They are Hawkins, Brice, Callahan, Dorleant, Burks and Evans.