Packers 2022 Thread

The people in charge of printing Green Bay Packers practice jerseys are having a busy training camp eve.

One day before the Packers hit the practice field for the first time in camp, they signed cornerback Donte Vaughn and made official the signing of receiver Osirus Mitchell as well as the addition of center Ty Clary.

To make room on the roster, they released three undrafted rookies: defensive tackle Hauati Pututau, safety Tre Sterling and cornerback Raleigh Texada. Pututau was injured for the second half of the offseason practices, newly signed safety Dallin Leavitt essentially replaces Sterling and Vaughn essentially replaces Texada as the young cornerback on the bottom of the depth chart.

Vaughn (6-2, 211), a first-year player out of Notre Dame, was signed by the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2020. After spending his rookie season on their practice squad, he was released following training camp last summer.

Vaughn played four seasons for the Fighting Irish, appearing in 41 games with eight starts. As a senior in 2019, he started three games and broke up five passes. Injuries were a major theme to his career but he didn’t quit. A big game against USC star Michael Pittman helped turn around his career.

“My purpose on this earth is my family,” Vaughn told The South Bend Tribune. “I’ve been blessed with all these abilities and talents. God gave me these for a reason, and that was to maximize everything that I have around me in order to lead my family to a better place when it’s all said and done.”


Because of COVID, Vaughn didn’t get a chance to show his talents at pro day. So, he and some other Notre Dame players filmed a workout and sent it to scouts.

“It feels like I’m a high school player telling a coach to check out my Hudl (highlights),” Vaughn said. “It’s a crazy process, but we’ve all been sticking together and working through this. It’s not only affecting one person. It’s affecting all of us.”

While his NFL dream has been renewed, others might have died.

At Utah, Pututau, who like seven-year pro Kenny Clark is 26, redshirted in 2016 and made his first starts in 2019 (one) and 2020 (three). In 2021, he took advantage of the NCAA’s COVID year. He played in 14 games with eight starts, tallying three sacks and 4.5 tackles for losses among 18 tackles.

At Oklahoma State, Sterling as a sophomore in 2019 and junior in 2020 recorded 144 tackles, including 20 for losses. He led the Cowboys with 12 tackles for losses in 2020 but torn ligaments in his wrist, an injury that required surgery, limited him to only five games in 2021.

At Baylor, Texada was a three-year starter who finished his career with three interceptions, 15 passes defensed and 6.5 tackles for losses. He started eight times in 2021 and intercepted one pass.
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Per Tom Pelissero 3 2nd round picks get guaranteed money in year 4 of contracts

33. Logan Hall got $225,000 from TB
34. Christian Watson got $150,000 from GB
35. Roger McCreary got $35,000 from TN
 
And this …

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said LT David Bakhtiari had another procedure on his knee this offseason, which helps explain why he’s been out all offseason and is on PUP to start camp.

He called the initial injury “much more than an ACL” but maintained Bakhtiari will play again.
 
Those non contact knee injuries seem to be the worst. Probably blew out the whole knee like Teddy Bridgewater did.

Bakhtiari isn't a natural at his size, he seems like he has a naturally tall and slim body type. I wonder if he'll ever really be able to play again with the knee recovery on a forced body type. I'm not a doc but I think all that stuff goes together, if your body isn't equipped to handle a lot of extra weight it makes knee and joint recovery much tougher.
 
rpiotr01 said:
Those non contact knee injuries seem to be the worst. Probably blew out the whole knee like Teddy Bridgewater did.

Bakhtiari isn't a natural at his size, he seems like he has a naturally tall and slim body type. I wonder if he'll ever really be able to play again with the knee recovery on a forced body type. I'm not a doc but I think all that stuff goes together, if your body isn't equipped to handle a lot of extra weight it makes knee and joint recovery much tougher.
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Good points. I can't remember off the top of my head, it's been years, but a lot of knee docs will tell you the amount of pressure per square inch, even a 10 pound loss of weight, will have on a knee joint. Added weight is a real factor and the knees bear a large brunt of the weight gain.
 
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