GREEN BAY — Matt Brown knew the odds were against him. The undrafted rookie free agent knew even while participating in organized team activity practices and the mandatory minicamp that the Green Bay Packers could cut him before he even got to training camp.
"If I get through training camp, it's going to be one of those things where I'm going to be remarkably better than Day 1," the ex-Illinois State quarterback said during OTAs. "I'm going to try to get markedly better each day. So far, that's what I'm doing. Today was a lot better than yesterday as far as understanding everything. As long as I get better every day, it's going to be a good thing."
Alas, it wasn't good enough.
The Packers announced Tuesday evening that they'd cut Brown, two days before the team reports to St. Norbert College in De Pere for the start of training camp on Thursday. The first practice is Friday at 8:20 a.m., and barring the signing of another quarterback, they'll go to camp with starter Aaron Rodgers, backup Graham Harrell and third-stringer B.J. Coleman.
Brown wasn't the only undrafted rookie quarterback to be released just before camp, as Rodgers' younger brother Jordan was released by the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday.
At the rookie orientation camp in May, McCarthy didn't commit to bringing four quarterbacks to camp, but it did sound somewhat likely.
"I'd definitely like to. Not that Aaron is getting old, but we do a lot of fundamental work in camp, so you see the stress on Aaron," McCarthy said. "We want as much competition as you possibly can throughout the quarterback position. It's the most important position, we feel, the way we train the quarterback here. We do a good job of that. I've always liked taking a young quarterback. You like to take one every year, frankly. So, yeah, definitely."
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Brown had signed with the Packers on May 10. His release leaves the Packers with 86 players under contract, with first-round pick Datone Jones not yet signed. That leaves the team room to add three more players.
Jason Wilde  wrote: