If and when training camp begins, the stage will be set for a high-profile battle between Ryan Grant and James Starks for the starting running back job. Grants recovery from last years season-ending ankle injury and Starks late-season emergence as a featured runner give the Packers a feeling of security at the running back position, but overall numbers would seem to be lacking.
Behind Grant and Starks are Brandon Jackson, an accomplished pass-blocker who contributes in the run and pass games, utility back John Kuhn and Dimitri Nance, who was signed off the Falcons practice squad last Sept. following Grants injury.
Quality? Yes. Depth. Not exactly, and thats why the Packers can be expected to add to their stable of running backs in either the draft, undrafted free agency or both.
Lets start with the quality.
Grant was coming off his best season as a pro when he was lost for the season in the opener in Philadelphia last year. Grant had put together consecutive 1,200-yard rushing seasons and was the perfect complement to an Aaron Rodgers-led offense that clearly wants to lean on the pass and use the run to establish balance.
Will he have made a full recovery from ankle surgery? Can he hold off Starks? Those are the two questions Grant will have to answer in 2011.
Starks came out of nowhere late in the season to emerge as a force in the offense. He had a breakout game in the playoff win in Philadelphia.
A sixth-round pick out of Buffalo last year, Starks has the size and speed to suggest he has a future as a featured runner. Hes a player to watch in the Packers future.
Jackson is an offensive-minded coachs dream. You can trust him to make all of the blitz pickups and find a way to drift into the flat and offer the quarterback a safety valve.
Kuhn became somewhat of a Mike McCarthy invention and developed a cult following last season. Kuhn can play running back or fullback. Hes a block-a-lot, run-and-catch-a-little player who fits into a specific role. Hes one of the brushes with which McCarthy paints.
Korey Hall and Quinn Johnson are pure fullbacks and are being groomed for their roles as blockers. Hall is also one of the Packers top special teams players. Johnson is pure power. Hes a road-grading blocker who offers the same type of power as a short-yardage and goal-line runner.
Jackson and Kuhn are scheduled to become free agents; under the old rules they would become unrestricted free agents and thats where the guessing game begins. What are the Packers plans for retaining one or both of those players? Will those plans depend on what the Packers do in the draft?
The latter question is what makes running back an intriguing position in this years draft. The crop of running backs in this draft isnt star-studded, but it has some depth to it and the top of the class seems to fit nicely with where the Packers are picking in the first two rounds.
"Vic Ketchman" wrote: