I mentioned it in another thread, but it deserves its own. I think this is the most interesting development to come out of training camp so far: Brandon Chillar played OLB on the right side in practice on Thursday, with Brad Jones backing him up. Clay Matthews played on the left side, with Poppinga backing him up. This could just be a temporary thing, to give the players experience on each side, but what makes it really interesting is that Chillar did great. Here's what Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press Gazette had to say about it:

http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100805/PKR01/308060091/Insider-Chillar-looks-good-but-punters-don-t 

Those who wanted to pooh-pooh Brandon Chillars switch to outside linebacker as just a stop-gap move while starter Brad Jones was out because of a back injury look a bit silly now.

Jones was full go for practice on Thursday after injuring his back in the first practice of camp, but he didnt have his starting job back. He worked with the second group.

Thats because the Packers have liked what theyve seen from the outside backer combination of Chillar on the right side and Clay Matthews on the left in both the base and nickel packages, and Chillar turned in a near dominant performance under the lights on Thursday evening.

It began during a blitz period in which Chillar recorded sacks (or near sacks because hitting the quarterback is not allowed) on three of the first six plays.

Chillar didnt take any one-on-one pass rushing reps, but in a combination blocking drill, he smoked rookie left tackle Bryan Bulaga on a stunt that would have yielded a sack or a pressure.

Then, during another team period he showed off his coverage skills by dropping and preventing Aaron Rodgers from throwing a deep cross to a tight end. That forced Rodgers to scramble.

Finally, during one of the last team periods of the night, Chillar, who was moving around and rushing from different sides, beat right tackle Mark Tauscher for a pressure of Rodgers, who had to get rid of the ball prematurely.

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At some point they had to get Chillar more involved and I think this is a great move. He's always been good at coverage and he's not half bad at the blitz as well. I think he and Brad Jones will have some healthy competition, Chillar obviously with the edge in experience. Perhaps this will see Bishop get more involved as well.

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I can't help but think of the play where Chillar leaped over I think Matt Forte for a sack. Awesome.

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I think Chillar presents an attractive option at OLB. I suppose if Barnett were to get injured, Chillar would move to ILB and Jones would take the OLB. I'd like to see where this goes. I thought Jones did OK last year, but if the coaches decide Chillar offers an improvement over last year's group, that's fantastic.

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It would be awesome if he could take over that starting OLB spot. Like Zero said, that play where he jumped over Matt Forte got me excited...

And if one of the ILB's got injured, we could have an option of putting Chillar back there, or letting Bishop play (which is what I would want to see happen).

I really hope that Chillar can show his skills enough in the preseason to where he can gain the starting spot (I just don't have that much trust in Brad Jones - he's too small IMO).

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Chillar is our best coverage ILB, and probabbly the best Blitzing ILB as well(maybe bishop?). This sounds a lot more like the role he played in St. louis(or was it somewhere else?) I was sort of surprised he didn't get more of a look at OLB last year.

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I definitely like the move. I've always liked Chillar and the athletism he brings. A little smallish but I don't see that being a problem for him handling the run. I'm hoping this happens.

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I'm glad you started its own thread. I was thinking about doing it and have been too busy today to get around to it.

I am intrigued by Chillar at OLB. I sort of wish they had prepared him earlier for it (OTAs) but I don't think the preparation time is as bad as some people (those lowly JS Online blog comment writers) make it out to be. What it would mean would be, in the base package, we would have 3 "quality" players at ILB (Barnett, Hawk, Bishop) and 3 "quality" players at OLB (Matthews, Jones, Chillar). I like the depth.

I'm a little concerned about it for some reason though. Maybe I'm just scared that Jones turns into the Jeremy Thompson of the 2010 season. I realize that's not a completely rational fear.

Our linebacker battles will be FUN to watch this preseason. I'm not going to have time for any more than a cursory glance at Underwood, Lee, Burnett, Blackmon, Neal, etc.

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Pretty interesting thing going on here ... my comments are these

- WTF pack ... so they act like they are all happy with jones the whole draft etc and first chance they get jones is with the 2s and chillar whom has never played OLB is with the 1s ... makes you kind of wonder was all the pack BS about how they are soooo happy with jones that they dont need to even draft a OLB in ANY round.
ya right huh ...

ok thats me bitching ...

- as I said in previous posts ... I dont give a F whose playing LB besides mattews - I just want pressure from both sides

- I always thought chillar was pretty good; wondering if hes a bit light thou for OLB ... maybe not huh? ... I bet he is having fun.

- oh I wonder if matthews can play left side as good as the right?

I love the idea of Chillar at OLB. I think he should of been there the whole time. It add depth to the OLB and Chillar can still go back inside if he has too.

Also it gives Bishop a better shot at competing with the #1s ILBers and show why he's the back-up and not the starter. The kid can make a ton of plays but he gives up just as many up if not more to the offense which you can't allow.

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