Saturdays preseason game could be the final opportunity for Durant Brooks and Jeremy Kapinos to show they deserve to stay in the Green Bay Packers punting competition.

The Packers worked out four free-agent punters on Wednesday, according to sources, so if either Brooks or Kapinos flops against Cleveland, the team could move quickly to bring in a fresh leg.

The list at the tryout included Ken Parrish, a former NCAA Division II standout who was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles on Saturday, and Tom Malone, who has spent parts of two seasons on the New England Patriots practice squad. Neither has punted in an NFL game. The names of the other two punters werent known, but there were strong indications the Packers remain focused on younger options over veteran retreads.

Sources said the Packers showed no interest in 34-year-old Dirk Johnson, who has been cut by three teams since December and signed with Tampa Bay on Thursday. Nor have the Packers shown interest in several other notable veterans available Ryan Plackemeier, Mitch Berger, Josh Miller, Sam Paulescu and Chad Stanley.

Plackemeier and Miller were among at least 10 punters the Packers worked out last season before replacing cutdown-day pickup Derrick Frost with Kapinos on Dec. 3. They signed Brooks to the practice squad 10 days later, setting up a duel for the job this offseason.

Brooks gets the ball off more quickly and has superior numbers in training camp not including one extended pooch-punt period, hes averaged 48.9 gross yards and 4.05 seconds of hang time to Kapinos 46.6 and 3.95. But the divide has shrunken steadily as Kapinos has displayed his power and Brooks has battled the shanks.

Coach Mike McCarthy indicated earlier this week that Brooks had been having trouble with a tight hip flexor. However, Brooks disputed that between practices on Thursday.

I dont know where that came from, said Brooks, who battled hip-flexor issues at Georgia Tech and during his truncated rookie season with the Washington Redskins.

I havent told that to (McCarthy) or anybody, including the trainers. Its totally fine. Theres nothing wrong with it.

Depending how the preseason pans out, the Packers also might be willing to wait out one of the few other punting competitions around the NFL. Perhaps the most intriguing battle is in Denver, where undrafted rookie Britton Colquitt is trying to unseat incumbent Brett Kern.

Special teams coach Shawn Slocum put his punters through the most fast-paced drill of training camp to date during Thursdays night practice, and one of them shined.

Jeremy Kapinos excelled in a wide variety of punts. On seven reps from varying distances and none from the same spot on consecutive kicks Kapinos averaged |45.7 yards and 4.19 seconds of hang time. Durant Brooks wasnt bad (45.2 yards, 3.81 seconds) on one fewer punt, but Kapinos stood out.

He had the best punt of camp so far. It came with the ball at the 20. He drilled a high, towering kick that hung in the air for 5.0 seconds and ended up with a gross of 60 yards. On his very next kick from his own 40, he booted a 51-yarder that hung for 4.34 seconds. Then, from the defenses 45, he forced a fair catch at the 15-yard line. He even did well while backed up in his own end zone. With the ball at the 3, he hit a 54-yarder with |4.34 seconds of hang time.

He did his best work from his own 20, where in addition to the 60-yard bomb he also had a |55-yarder with 4.94 seconds of hang time.

It was a significant step for Kapinos, whose camp-long numbers arent quite as good as Brooks but has been more consistent.

Spot on with Hentrich. Ron Wolf has said it was a mistake not paying out the money to keep him.

Desmond Howard left for playing time at WR. He was told by the Raiders he'd be on the field as WR and shelled out lots of money for him to play three roles. KR, PR and WR.

"Zero2Cool" wrote:

Well, on the good side, it can't get much worse than last year.

I hope that Kapinos has found his rythm or something. I just want the best guy to win, but I haven't heared about him shanking as much as Brooks. I'd rather have 2 yards avg less and a lot more consistency, than a punter like Frost, who booms it 55 yards one time and kicks it out of bounds after 15 yards the next.

"Rockmolder" wrote: