Great comment here from loyal Packergeeks reader Joe:
“Just sign him. It is one spot out of 80. Take a chance and earn some good PR; the kid has some skills that justify a signing and the fans will eat it up (including me). This just makes good business sense and it ain’t bad football either.”
I couldn’t agree more. I really do think it would be a good PR/business move. Listen, a few months ago, Green Bay fans received the devastating news that Favre was calling it quits. Die-hard Packer fans, no matter how tough, are dealing with the emotional scars of seeing perhaps the most popular Packer ever, retire. While signing Justin Beaver won’t bring Favre back or heal Favre-retirement wounds, it might help infuse some extra excitement for the team at a time we could really use it. Think about how excited we all were when we’d read stories about Donald Driver and how this 7th round pick might make the team. Then he made the team and elevated his game to Pro Bowl level. We love stories like that here and the timing of this story could help Packer Nation move forward.
As far as a football move, as I wrote previously, I think it makes football sense to have a guy like Beaver not only on the 80-man roster, but on the 53-man roster. I know during training camp time, it can become the norm for sportswriters and bloggers to end up lobbying for a bunch of players like this with great stories to make the team, but this is one guy in whom I really believe. He is fast, very quick (“quick as a hiccup” according to McCarthy), very strong, young, hard-working, devoted – and he’s somewhat versatile in that he can return kicks and compete at RB. When I compare his obvious skills to someone like Noah Herron, I can’t help but think there is way more upside with someone like Beaver. I could understand NOT giving Beaver a shot if the backfield had other major talent besides Grant, but it doesn’t. And, while Tramon Williams and Will Blackmon both showed skills as return guys last year and Brett Swain or Jordy Nelson may yet prove to be good in this capacity, why not give a hard-working guy who would do anything for the team a chance to prove himself.
packergeeks 
May 7, 2008 at 11:11 am |
[…] Andy’s proposal, prompted by a Packer Geek reader named Joe, is for Ted Thompson to sign UW Whitewater running back Justin Beaver, who had a try out with the Packers during this past weekends rookie orientation camp. The reason this needs to happen? I really do think it would be a good PR/business move. Listen, a few months ago, Green Bay fans received the devastating news that Favre was calling it quits. Die-hard Packer fans, no matter how tough, are dealing with the emotional scars of seeing perhaps the most popular Packer ever, retire. While signing Justin Beaver won’t bring Favre back or heal Favre-retirement wounds, it might help infuse some extra excitement for the team at a time we could really use it. […]
May 7, 2008 at 2:17 pm |
[…] TV – anti-Beaver Read Cheesehead TV’s response to my recent post lobbying for the Packers to keep RB Justin Beaver on the roster. Fairly strong reaction I’d […]