Green Bay - Change is most definitely coming to the Green Bay Packers.
No, coach Mike McCarthy has not yet named his defensive coordinator for next season. But whether Bob Sanders is retained, assistant head coach/linebackers Winston Moss is promoted or someone else is brought in, things are going to change.
And it's going to start at one of the Packers' most stable positions: linebacker.
"Everybody is in play now," Moss said Monday.
And he means everyone.
The Packers have entered the past three training camps with a pretty good idea which player was going to be at each linebacker spot: Nick Barnett would man the middle; A.J. Hawk was on the weak side; and Brady Poppinga helped clog up running lanes on the strong side.
No more.
Everyone will be evaluated for a position change, according to Moss. Desmond Bishop will be given a legitimate shot to win a starting job. Brandon Chillar will be given every opportunity to be an every-down player as well.
"There's going to be a great offseason to evaluate and then put together a group that can get on the field," Moss said. "Whoever comes out of that group as a top three, I'm going to be very happy about that because I think we've got some guys that can truly rebound from this year and have a great year next year."
Moss - if he and the scheme are back next season - can only hope that's the case because his unit, in his words, was one of the most "disappointing" in the 6-10 campaign.
With Barnett coming off a near-Pro Bowl season, Hawk two years removed from being the fifth overall pick in the draft and Poppinga having survived a camp battle with Chillar, a lot was expected of Moss' group.
Didn't happen.
"I thought there were some adequate individual performances that we executed well," Moss said. "But as a group, going into the season, anticipating being impactful and being difference-makers on our defense, that didn't happen. So we're going to have to take a look at that this offseason and find out why and have some answers and come back in '09 with the resolve that if you're put in a position to make plays, let's get that done."
As for changes for next season, Barnett might be an automatic one because there is no guarantee he will rebound from the torn anteroior cruciate knee ligament he suffered on Nov. 9. Normal recovery time is seven to nine months. The optimistic date would have Barnett ready for the start of training camp in late July. But some players don't regain their original burst for some time after that. And Barnett is a player who relies on his speed.
"I think that's going to be very tough," Moss said. "He's not going to have an offseason from a football standpoint. By the time he truly gets into actually practicing, it's probably going to be very, very late into our development as far as the offseason is concerned. Hopefully we can get him enough reps wherever he is at and see how he does and just take it as a progression. It's going to be a process."
While Barnett is rehabilitating, Bishop will likely get a look in the middle. And Hawk, with six starts there to finish the season, has proved capable of moving full time to a position where some thought he should have been all along.
"I believe he can (be a starting middle linebacker) but we're still going to go through that process to find out long term if that going to be the best for our football team," Moss said. "That has not been determined right now. Haven't event talked about it."
The Packers will also determine where best to use Chillar, who quickly established himself as the team's best cover linebacker. He did struggle to find consistency but Moss said that was because of the many things the Packers asked the free-agent signee to do.
"We put a lot on his plate," Moss said. "He had to do sub (packages), base (package), switch positions (from strong to weak) and switch positions in certain situations. I think sometimes there was a little case of being overwhelmed. I take the blame for that."
Nevertheless, Moss expects Chillar to be a force in '09.
"He's going to be great next year, whatever capacity," Moss said.
And then there's Poppinga, who had 68 tackles after posting 70 and 76 the previous two seasons. Not only did Moss not back down from his earlier statement that Poppinga was in the midst of a "very good" season, he indicated that Poppinga was the unit's top performer.
"He's maxing himself out," Moss said. "Is there room to get better? I believe he can from a pass-rush standpoint, from an impact standpoint. I still think that he is always going to evolve and continue to get better as long as he's on that football field. But this year, I thought he was one of the bright spots in our unit."
That Moss thought that highly of Poppinga's season - which was solid overall but characterized by some crucial missed tackles - might illustrate just how poorly the linebackers performed.
Perhaps the determining factor in all the position battles will be which player can win his battle in crucial situations.
"I think we're going to have to be on top of winning those one-on-ones," Moss said. "We were disappointing as unit and what I mean is we lost those one-on-ones in critical situations where if we would have won those one-on-ones at the end of the game, I would have felt better about our situation at linebacker."