INDIANAPOLIS — Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy expressed optimism Friday that unrestricted free-agent tight end Jermichael Finley will be able to resume his NFL career and hope that the team would be able to re-sign the tight end.

The 26-year-old Finley, who suffered a bruised spinal cord in an Oct. 20 against the Cleveland Browns at Lambeau Field and underwent single fusion cervical spine surgery in November, is set to become a free agent on March 11. He has not yet been cleared by the doctor who performed the surgery, Pittsburgh Steelers doctor Joseph Maroon, but McCarthy indicated in an interview Friday that the Packers' team doctor, Patrick McKenzie, is encouraged by Finley's prognosis.

Unlike three-time Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins, who like Finley underwent a fusion of the C3/C4 vertebrae in 2011 and has not resumed his NFL career, Finley evidently has a brighter outlook, according to McCarthy.

"Pat (McKenzie) doesn't feel the same way about Jermichael as he felt about Nick," McCarthy said in an interview at his hotel in downtown Indianapolis during a break in the annual NFL Scouting Combine. "So I'm very open and optimistic about Jermichael coming back. I think the specifics of their injuries are different."

Finley recently allowed writer Jenny Vrentas of theMMQB.com (the Peter King-led football website from Sports Illustrated) to observe and chronicle his rehabilitation for a story that debuted on the site Wednesday . Finley also penned a first-person column for the MMQB.com in the wake of his injury  and had his comeback chronicled in a long-form piece by ESPN's Josina Anderson  in December, also worked Radio Row at Super Bowl XLVIII in New York earlier this month, saying that he definitely wants to play again.

"Maybe [I should] take my X-rays to the combine now that I'm a free agent," Finley told Vrentas in advance of the NFL Scouting Combine, which kicked off Wednesday. "That's me being real."

Earlier this week, Finley posted to his Twitter account that he is weighing in at 260 pounds with only 10 percent body fat .

Finley, who signed only a two-year, $14 million deal the last time he was on the verge of free agency in February 2012, had caught 25 passes for 300 yards and three touchdowns at the time of his injury.

Jason Wilde  wrote:

damn it, he's going to continue to tease me and the organization. He's Jadeveon Clowney. You don't want to be the team to pass him up, but you also don't want to be the team that wasted a pick ( or in Finley's case, $) on him.

Originally Posted by: musccy 

Fact is, Finley's just not that great. He will want more than he's worth. He may have shut his pie hole (finally) but he's still got the ego. Meanwhile, he's lost the skills he had in that '09 season. There are superior options available.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 

But you know if he goes to another team, he'd have an 80 catch, 14 td type of season and EXCEED '09 form. Of course if he stayed with the Packers, he'll lead the league in drops, have 37 catches, bitch and complain the whole time, and cost us 6 mil/season.

Originally Posted by: musccy 

If signed, Finley better only be getting an incentive heavy/very low guaranteed contract, something similar to the contract Maurice Clarrett signed with the Broncos years ago.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 

ya start a thread, ya don't add comments?

Originally Posted by: packerfanoutwest 

Dude, you need a new Avatar. I'm starting to read your posts instead of being distracted. Please update the ho to a redhead.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT