Ok, being that Zero has told me in the past that he would prefer if I could summarize all my responses in one post, but that I'm too lazy to quote you all specifically and respond to each specific quote, I'll just summarize some of the important points here.
1: It is neither Nance's 2.7 yards per carry from last year (when he was trying to learn the playbook on short notice) NOR is it the 7 yards per carry he got last week against scrubs that make him a threat to Grant's roster spot. It is his third down blocking. Well that, and his superior vision, receiving ability, not having to stop to change direction, special teams contributions, etc.
2: Where does anyone get the idea that Grant is faster than Starks? They do have similar 40 times, but for some reason Starks can actually get around the corner on a consistent basis, not so with Grant. Grant's speed may be close to Stark's speed, but only in straight line running. Similarly with Green. Both Starks and Green are quicker and faster than Grant. They have also not spent that past 4 years cutting away from wide open holes in order to run up the backs of their own blockers.
3: Wanna see what these faster, younger, shiftier RBs look like on screens? This offense is gonna be unstoppable.
4: Yeah, Starks missed a year with an injury. If he had that same injury in the last game of the season, would that make him any less injury prone? No. If you want a RB with a significant injury history, look no farther than Ryan Grant. His college career with riddled with injuries, which supposedly kept him from being great. Then with the Giants, he drunkenly fell into a glass coffee table and very nearly severed all the nerves in his arm. Oh yeah, he also "has been out of football for a year." Which is what all the Starks haters were saying about him last year.
5: Moving Sherrod to G has messed with his technique. Yes, it is important to have a guy who can slide around on the OL and back up more than one position. However, now I don't have real confidence in Sherrod at any position. My point was that, if you want to talk about players who are "injury prone," why do you only talk about the young players who've really only had one injury suffered at an inopportune time, rather than the aging veterans whose bodies are breaking down and as a result have MAYBE only one good year left in them? IF they stay healthy? Would Sherrod have beaten out Cliffy? Maybe, maybe not. I think he's pretty good. How'd it work out with another tall, lanky guy at G last year, Marshall Newhouse? As Thomas Edison would say, it's not a waste of time if you've found one way that DOESN'T work. At least you've eliminated that possibility.
6: Oh yeah, Grant's new contract. LOL. Do you REALLY believe it was advantageous to Grant to take LESS money? If that was the case, why didn't Grant's agent use the Favre fiasco to blackmail Ted Thompson into LESS money? Yeah, it's guaranteed. This means that if Grant is cut, then picked up by another team, the Packers will only have to pay the difference between what they are paying him and the 2.5. That's negligible. It prevents the possibility of Grant having to play for the NFL minimum, and that's pretty much it. Grant and his agent KNOW he is on the bubble. Why he doesn't try to develop his 3rd down pass pro skills, I do not know. Vision, speed, quickness and cutting ability are sort of inherent. I don't think that stuff can be learned as much. But damn, you'd think he'd at least put himself in the 3rd down conversation.
“Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all the time thing. You don't do things right once in a while…you do them right all the time.”