Much to the surprise of no one around here, the Green Bay Packers will not be getting cornerback Sam Shields back on the field this week. Shields was ruled out of his sixth consecutive game because of lingering symptoms of a concussion, on Tuesday. Then the Packers followed that up by placing him on injured reserve.
That’s bad news for Shields, but it’s worse news for the Packers.
Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins are also sidelined at the moment. Both players have groin injuries and neither practiced on Tuesday. Randall played against Dallas last week only to leave after 18 snaps. Rollins didn’t play and the word on Monday was he won’t be playing this week either.
The likely scenario for the Packers is the one they ended up playing most of the Dallas game in. LaDarius Gunter starts on one side, Demetri Goodson starts on the other and Micah Hyde is your nickel back. Then the Packers will either use safety Morgan Burnett as their dime cornerback, a role he filled against Dallas, or they’ll actually play the other cornerback on the roster, rookie Josh Hawkins.
As for Shields, he said he hopes to return in eight weeks, which means the Packers would use their one return from injured reserve designation on their top corner.
Interestingly, this also solves the mystery of the Knile Davis roster spot. The Packers had to make a move after acquiring Davis from the Chiefs. We know they were loathe to release anyone currently on the active roster, so the Shields’ move eliminates that problem.
You only have to wonder if it should have been made sooner.
Hard to tell with concussions. You can’t just say he wouldn’t be back for three months when it first happened. Fucking great journalism.
I think it is very likely shields played his last down of football
Well, the season wasn’t a complete loss. at least he got a game in and made 3 tackles for 9.7 million.
So playing the if game. If he’s able and wants to return and play next season. Do the Packers roll the dice and pay him his 9 million next season, or cut him?
I think it was prudent for the team to wait until after the bye to make a decision on Shields. Shields will only be back if Shields is healthy, the Pack have a chance to make the playoffs, and need a corner. If the team activates Shields for a playoff chance you can guarantee Shields will never play the 2017 season with the Packers. Shields will be cut prior to receiving a $500,000 workout bonus in the spring of 2017.
Playoffs? Lets see if we can beat the 1-5 bears at home 1st…lol
Well fuck me, Erin Coscarelli…