GREEN BAY — Jeremy Ross remains in the mix for the Green Bay Packers' return jobs, but the coaches want to take a look at some of their other options since they know what Ross can do.

Of course, that also opens up the possibility that Ross, who has been up-and-down as a receiver in camp, might end up on the outside looking in when roster decisions are made.

The Packers saw enough from rookie cornerback Micah Hyde on his one punt return for 13 yards against St. Louis that he got the first rep in practice Tuesday and will again get a chance to return punts in Friday night's game against Seattle. Rookie running back Johnathan Franklin was first up on kickoff returns Tuesday and will get to return kickoffs again, too.

"Jeremy's a very solid returner. He's a strong runner with the football. He's a good catcher. He's very much in the plan," special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum said after practice. "Well, what we've done is we want to see some of these other guys in the most competitive situation we can, which is the games."

Hyde, who returned punts in college at Iowa as a junior and senior, had seen very limited action in practice but has now become a viable option. The Packers are looking to get No. 1 wide receiver Randall Cobb off returns if they can find a suitable replacement.

"He's smooth catching the ball. He's pretty sure handed. I thought his punt return the other night, he got off the spot really quickly," Slocum said of Hyde. "We looked at him right when he first got here after the draft and knew that he could catch punts. Things have a chance to change at all times, so it's part of the evolution of building our football team."

One thing appeared clear against the Rams: Franklin, who'd never returned punts before, just isn't ready for the job. He has been shaky catching the ball in practice and failed to make the "Peter" call to alert teammates to get away from the ball on a punt that hit cornerback Brandon Smith and was recovered by St. Louis.

"First of all, he should have fielded it," Slocum said of Franklin's failure to catch the ball. "He's got the right to field it and the gunner has to give him room so he doesn't interfere. At the point when the returner decides not to field it, then he's got to alert everybody else he's not going to. Our corner should have gotten off the field. That's unacceptable. We can't do that.

"Johnathan's learning a lot right now. He's in a growth period. That's part of the process of learning how to do it."

Jason Wilde  wrote:

If Hyde becomes the Packers punt returner, it will likely mean very few electric or big punt returns. I'm OK with that though. This offense doesn't really need a dynamic returner. All the returner needs to do is secure the catch, and get however many yards are available. I'm definitely OK with that, as opposed to the occasional exciting return, but also the occasional game changing fumble.

Originally Posted by: DoddPower 

I think if you watch, there are not that many "truly great" punt returners.

The Packers have one in Cobb, but I'm pretty sure most don't want to see him out there.

The difference in many returns, is the return team itself and the ability to execute a plan and give the returner some room to free himself.

Just might be me, but I think if you watch most of the big returns on punts you will see that the returner is barely touched because of good blocking.

The ability to make that 1st guy miss is the main objective of the returner, if Hyde shows he can do that, and most importantly just catch the ball, he may have found himself another reason to be on the final 53.

Originally Posted by: buckeyepackfan 

Why can't hide break long returns?

He seemed like a pretty north-south kind of guy to me.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann