Mike McCarthy Excuses 16 Veterans from Minicamp
A quick update on participation at Packers' minicamp.
By TimBackes
With the final "mandatory" minicamp practices of the summer underway, Packers coach Mike McCarthy announced he excused 16 veterans from participating.
This marks the third year in a row McCarthy has allowed some veterans to leave Green Bay early and enjoy a little extra off time before training camp starts in late July. This year, those players were as follows, per ESPN:
- QB Aaron Rodgers
- WR Randall Cobb
- TE Jimmy Graham
- TE Lance Kendricks
- TE Marcedes Lewis
- G Lane Taylor
- T David Bakhtiari
- T Byron Bell
- T Bryan Bulaga
- K Mason Crosby
- DT Mike Daniels
- DT Muhammad Wilkerson
- LB Clay Matthews
- LB Nick Perry
- CB Tramon Williams
- CB Davon House
All of these players participated in Green Bay's offseason program. The cutoff was players who were heading into their sixth season or more.
It makes sense for McCarthy to make this a tradition. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, there's only so much time the players have during the offseason to get snaps. Excusing some "known commodity" veterans allows McCarthy to give the young players more snaps and get the extra boost they need before training camp begins.
ESPN's Rob Demovsky also reported several new injuries at Packers minicamp so far, and at the time of writing this the severity of those injuries had yet to be reported. Those injuries were to S Josh Jones (ankle), LB Jake Ryan (hamstring), LB Kyler Fackrell (hamstring) and WR Geronimo Allison (ankle).
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Tim Backes is a lifelong Packer fan and a contributor to CheeseheadTV. Follow him on Twitter @timbackes for his Packer takes, random musings and Untappd beer check-ins.
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Comments (9)
PatrickGB
June 12, 2018 at 05:56 pm
HHCD also winked after he said that.
Chuck Farley
June 12, 2018 at 07:47 pm
Let's see, last year mother dying. Year before mother dying father very ill. Year before that mother and father dying and sister pregnant. Lol
Seriously wish him well. My condolences
4thand1
June 12, 2018 at 11:36 pm
Klinger, love M*A*s*H
Lare
June 12, 2018 at 06:15 pm
And so the hamstring injuries start for another season. One would think that decent strength and conditioning experts could come up with some way to reduce the number of them that Packers players experience every year.
jeremyjjbrown
June 12, 2018 at 07:03 pm
That's unpossible. I pulled a hammy just reading your comments. Just think about how bad it would be if I had moved my legs.
Donster
June 13, 2018 at 07:07 am
I don't understand why Lovat is still employed by the Packers as Strength and Conditioning Coordinator. He's been there for years and it is the same soft tissue injuries over and over with the players every year. This is his 20th season with the team. Ya think it might be time to make a change?
Since'61
June 12, 2018 at 06:47 pm
Tim - thanks for the update. Wake me up when TC begins. Since '61
Chuck Farley
June 12, 2018 at 07:50 pm
Did beluga trip over chalk line yet and injure his acl again?. Oh that's right he is still recovering for injury from last year. This is his last hurrah, cant trade him and contract ex is silly.
PAPackerbacker
June 13, 2018 at 03:30 am
All those excused have nothing to prove and will give the younger players more time to develop and learn the system. The strength and conditioning experts need to get a better program instilled to reduce all the injuries that seem to occur every year. Injuries will and do occur but the Packers seem to have an excessive amount of them every season.