Here's my early attempt at our 53 man roster. I thought it would be worth doing so I know which camp battles are going to be the most important.

Now the 80 man roster is still to be formed, a couple more undrafted free agents are still to be signed and there could well be a veteran pick up or trade not to mention injuries. It obviously depends on training camp and pre season performances and so far we know very little about the recent additions. Below is some explanation of my selections.

Offense - 24

Quarterbacks (2): Aaron Rodgers, Matt Flynn.

Halfbacks (3): Ryan Grant, Brandon Jackson, James Starks.

Fullbacks (2): , John Kuhn, Quinn Johnson. (toughest cut: Korey Hall)

Receivers (4): Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson, James Jones. (toughest cut: Brett Swain).

Tight ends (3): Jermichael Finley, Jason Quarless, Spencer Havner. (toughest cut: Donald Lee)

Offensive Tackles (5): Chad Clifton, Bryan Bulaga, Mark Tauscher, T.J. Lang, Breno Giacomini,
Interior linemen (5): Josh Sitton, Daryn Colledge, Jason Spitz, Scott Wells, Marshall Newhouse. (toughest cut: Evan Dietrich-Smith)

Defense - 26

Defensive linemen (7): Ryan Pickett, B.J. Raji, Cullen Jenkins, Mike Neal, Johnny Jolly, Jarius Wynn, AJ Wilson. (toughest cut: Justin Harrell)

Inside linebackers (4) : A.J. Hawk, Nick Barnett, Brandon Chillar, Desmond Bishop,
Outside linebackers (5): Clay Matthews, Brad Jones, Cyril Obiozor, Brady Poppinga, Tim Knicky.

Cornerbacks (6): Charles Woodson, Al Harris, Tramon Williams, Pat Lee, Will Blackmon, Brandon Underwood, (toughest cut: Jarrett Bush).

Safeties (4): Nick Collins, Morgan Burnett, Atari Bigby, Derrick Martin,

Specialists (3): Mason Crosby, Chris Bryan, Brett Goode.


OLB: This seems to me the softest spot on the roster. With the loss of Kampman and Jeremy Thompson we have some space. I like Brad Jones and Clay Matthews to start but the depth is either raw (Obiozor, Knicky) or unsuited to the 3-4 (Poppinga). From my roster I'd be happy to lose either Poppinga or Knicky, but there doesn't currently seem to be any better options on our roster. I went with Knicky but it could be any of the undrafted free agents.

DL: I love the depth along the DL and if Justin Harrell makes a full recovery, a big if, he would be a tough cut considering we've kept him around for so long without any return. But I can't justify 8 defensive linemen and the odds seem to be against Harrell shaking off his back injury.

DBs: I actually think we're reasonably well stocked here. With Derrick Martin being a better special teams gunner he gets the nod over Jarrett Bush. I just don't see Bush making the roster as an 11th DB.

FB: With quality in other areas I think we have to sacrifice one of our FBs. I keep QJ for upside and it's a toss up between Kuhn and Hall but with us going with only two I take the guy who's been less injury prone.

WR: I go with only four WRs due to Finley and Quarless being solid receivers. I'd like a 5th WR but it comes down to keeping a better player elsewhere on the roster.

TE: I'm really not sure who goes between Donald Lee and Spencer Havner. The tie breaker proves to be Lee's $2m contract and Havner being able to moonlight at linebacker and on special teams.

OL: Our depth at OT is good with Bulaga and Lang behind the two vets. Inside Sitton has RG and we should be able to find two starters from Wells, Spitz and Colledge. Newhouse provides young depth at both G and T. The 10th spot was a close call between Giacomini and the promising EDS. I go with Giacomini because tackles are harder to find than interior linemen and EDS might make our PS.

Specialists: I'd love to fit in undrafted CB Sam Shields but unless he lights up the pre season I don't see a space for him due to his apparent weakness at CB. Arena league WR Charles Dillon may squeeze in as the 5th WR/KR. I thought about adding Shields in place of Giacomini but that makes the Offense/Defense split 23 to 27.

A few candidates for the Practice Squad:
QB Chris Pizzotti
LB Frank Zombo
CB/KR Sam Shields
C/G Evan Dietrich-Smith (been on the full roster for a year but not active for 9 games I don't think)
OT Chris Campbell
DE Ronald Talley
RB Quinn Porter
OLB John Russell
WE Charles Dillon

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ahh man - you going to make me think about the 53 dudes that will be left after the cuts ...

I agree with you on the FB situation; last year was a luxury and even thou both hall and kuhn are good STers. I have a feeling hall will get the axe also.

Im not sure if they will only keep 4 WRs; to be honest I kind of doubt it. They usually keep 5 dont they?

I do agree on the donald Lee thing ... he drops too many passes; supposedly thou hes a good blocking TE. Maybe the new guy can take his place. I wouldnt mind it if Lee was knocked off. Too bad humphrey wasnt still around - liked his catching style and was decent.

I wasnt impressed with how wynn did as a 3-4 DE this past season. Might keep him for depth thou. Harrell wtfk

linebackers ya pretty much agree with you - although our last OLB could be anyone ...

Im not sure on the CB situation - do we usually only carry 6?

ya agree with the safety thing ...

OL no idea ...

Last year we carried six cornerbacks, one of which was Jarrett Bush and another was a 6th round pick rookie in Underwood.

Now we have Pat Lee back replacing Bush and Underwood has a year of experience and playing time under his belt.

That's quite an upgrade on paper.

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Good write up, British. Hard to argue though. My only thing is the 4 WRs (with bad memories of '05), but where do you take a roster spot from for the 5th WR and there is a drop off after Jordy.

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Finley really is like a fifth receiver. I highly doubt we would fine someone out here who we would rather have on the field for the "Big 5" package.

I mean who would you rather have out there, Finley or Swain??? It seems like a nobrainer to me.

I'm good with four receivers especially if we keep the Penn St. tight end. We can always carry one on the practice squad. What I don't want to see is three fullbacks again. Now, 4 running backs might be all right. I really enjoyed watching Ahman Green attack the LOS last year. Hope he is brought back to TC this year.

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a no brainer for me and you but then again we arent Ted Thompson or MM ... and they can do anything they want.

BUT ... here is to hoping that with the drafting of 'supposedly' a good TE. Perhaps we will be using a TE much more as a receiver instead of having a 5th WR on our team. Be cool seeing a 2 TE set with 3 wideouts - wouldnt know who is blocking and who is going to go for the catch ...

or even 2 TEs and 2 WRs and then a RB or a FB in the backfield

Nice post! I was considering doing something like this but haven't had the time.

No matter how thin we are at OLB, I don't think Knicky will be even close to ready to make the 53 man roster.

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That's true, but if Swain makes the roster, he'll do it on his STs abilities. He looked very good last year, untill he got hurt.

Next to that, a team that uses 5 WR packages could use a back-up. I recall that we never had all 5 WRs available in 2008, so we kept on running 4 WR packages with Donald Lee at TE.

Great post, great thread.

I'm not going to comment except to highlight the players I would hope we could "do better than" among your 53. I'm not saying we're going to find better. Only highlighting where I wish we had more/better.

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