The Packers remain tight-lipped about the status of running back Johnathan Franklin, their fourth-round pick in 2013 from UCLA. Franklin had a breakout game against Cincinnati with 103 yards on 13 carries, but he suffered a neck injury late in the year and was put on injured reserve.
Coach Mike McCarthy was evasive when asked about Franklin at the NFL owners meetings in March and there has been no word how much Franklin is doing in the off-season conditioning program.
The Packers hosted a number of smaller backs similar to Franklin on pre-draft visits and signed three free agents after the draft was over. Perkins is one and the other two are Tennessee's Rajion Neal and Kansas' James Sims.
Neal, a 5-11, 220-pounder who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.58 and had a 38-inch vertical jump, is bigger than Franklin (5-10, 205) and doesn't run as fast (4.46), but both are quick change-of-direction backs.
The 5-10, 207-pound Sims is almost identical in size to Franklin and had back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons for the Jayhawks.
It's possible that Franklin's injury isn't serious and he'll be ready for the start of training camp, but adding three backs certainly raises some questions. In addition to Franklin, the running back position includes Lacy, James Starks, DuJuan Harris, Michael Hill and John Kuhn.
JSOnline wrote: