Spriggs adds some beef needed for right tackle
GREEN BAY - Green Bay Packers right tackle Jason Spriggs ran the 40yard dash faster than any offensive lineman at the 2016 college scouting combine.
After putting on close to 20 pounds over the last seven months, the 4.94 seconds he ran in Indianapolis is a pipe dream.
“Luckily, I don’t have to run the 40 ever again,” Spriggs said with a laugh.
Spriggs was a rare specimen in the NFL; he was so fit that he didn’t have a gut on him. At 6-foot-6 and 301 pounds he looked more like a power forward than a tackle. He had the potential to grow into a left tackle’s body, but the Packers need him competing for time at right tackle and so that’s where he has played during organized team activities and the first day of mandatory minicamp Tuesday.
When he did play over the past two seasons, he was usually plugged in at right tackle for injured Bryan Bulaga.
To play that position, a lineman must be able to drive a 290-pound end off his spot.
At 301 pounds, Spriggs had trouble doing it.
After dislocating his kneecap against Minnesota in his fifth start of the 2017 season Dec. 23, Spriggs used his time on injured reserve to start the process of building up his body. His priority was rehabbing his knee, but nutritionist Adam Korzun drew up a plan for him to put on weight.
It required persistence. Spriggs would wake up before the sun came up and eat a meal, then go back to sleep, wake up and eat breakfast. There would be mid-morning, mid-day and evening snacks to go with his regular three meals. When he was at work, he was in the weight room, training room and classroom, trying to get his career on track.
“You can see in his body he’s made strong gains in his size and strength,” offensive line coach James Campen said. “He’s a kid going into his third year and wants to make sure he’s going to give everything he has. He’s in a lot better physical shape and mindset than he’s been the last two years.”
The medical staff cleared Spriggs for practice last week and Campen put him back at right tackle, although he will train as a backup to left tackle David
Bakhtiari in training camp. Spriggs said other than tiring a little sooner, he didn’t have any trouble handling the extra weight.
When training camp starts, Spriggs should be competing with Bulaga, who is still recovering from a torn ACL, and third-year tackle Kyle Murphy for the starting right tackle job. Based on his performance his first two years, he isn’t a lock for any position.
His added bulk withstanding, Spriggs has a lot of growing to do to become a reliable pass and run blocker. He recognizes the opportunity but doesn’t spend much time dwelling on it.
“I’m not thinking about it just because I don’t want to put extra pressure on myself,” Spriggs said of becoming the starter. “I know what I have to do. I know what’s at stake. I need to be the best right tackle I can be.”
Brice progressing: When the Packers hosted the Chicago Bears last September, safety Kentrell Brice rolled his right ankle. A Bears player simultaneously stepped on his ankle, Brice said. It hurt a lot, but Brice kept playing.
For four more weeks.
“It’s football,” he said. “You’re going to have pain. So you just have to deal with it.”
Playing hurt is part of football, but playing injured can be problematic. Brice, who has fought for every snap after going undrafted in 2016, needed something worse than a sore ankle to stay on the sideline.
Or so he thought.
A week after Chicago, Brice only played 28 snaps (37.8%) against the Dallas Cowboys. He then played 75 snaps (97.4%) against the Vikings and 73 snaps (96.1%) against the New Orleans Saints. During the ensuing bye week, Brice was finally placed on injured reserve.
That’s when Brice said he learned his ankle injury wasn’t merely a mild sprain, but a torn deltoid ligament. He needed surgery, which he described Tuesday as “ankle reconstruction,” to repair the deltoid (a band of major ligaments in the ankle) and scope bone fragments. Brice said Packers team doctor Robert Anderson did the surgery in late November, almost two months after the initial injury.
Brice said his ankle is still sore, but he’s already back at practice. He participated in team reps Tuesday. By training camp, Brice said he expects no limitations.
His return to practice is ahead of schedule, Brice said. It wasn’t easy to get back to the field so quickly. After last season ended, it took a few weeks before Brice could put weight on his ankle. Shortly after, Brice said, he began a rehab schedule that included four hours of working out each day, five days each week.
“Everybody told me to be patient,” Brice said, “but I’m a headstrong person. So I try to attack it head on. Sometimes, I’m my own worst enemy. So I had to force myself to be patient some- times when they told me to. So that was a hard time for me, because I like to go full go with everything I do.”
He doesn’t believe his ankle will prevent him from returning to a significant role.
“I’m coming back,” Brice said, “and I’m fighting as hard as I can. I feel like I’m playing better than ever, honestly.”
Veterans excused: Adhering to recent tradition, coach Mike McCarthy excused a group of veterans from the three-day minicamp. It marked the third straight year he has done so.
Sixteen veterans, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers, are exempt from camp and have started their summers early.
“Well, the format for this camp is similar to the last couple of years and we have a vet-select opportunity,” McCarthy said. “Sixteen veterans that have been excused from the camp and that’s really twofold: They deserve it, where they are particularly in their career, and as we all know, the second part is there’s only so many reps that you can accomplish throughout the offseason.
“So really focused on the veterans there through the (organized team activities) and now the focus will … be exclusively for our young players. So this is a huge opportunity and it’s really the same message I gave the players this morning and last Thursday is we’ve got to take a jump as a football team. You see it every year, young guys start to figure it out.”
The other 15 veterans who have the required experience (entering their sixth season or more) to skip the otherwise mandatory minicamp are receiver
Randall Cobb, tight ends Jimmy Graham, Marcedes Lewis and Lance Kendricks, offensive linemen Bakhtiari, Bulaga, Lane Taylor and Byron Bell,
defensive linemen Mike Daniels and Muhammad Wilkerson, linebackers
Clay Matthews and Nick Perry, cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Davon House and kicker Mason Crosby.
Back in the fold: General manager
Brian Gutekunst has added another executive to the top shelf of his personnel department.
The Packers announced the hiring of
Lee Gissendaner as a personnel executive in a move that brings a familiar face back to Green Bay. Gissendaner worked for the Packers for 17 years in the 1990s and 2000s before accepting a job as a national scout for the New York Jets. While in Green Bay, Gissendaner served as the team’s representative to the National Scouting Service before being promoted to area scout in 2001, a position he held through his departure in 2015.
As a personnel executive, Gissendaner enters the top tier of Gutekunst’s front office. He joins co-directors of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan and John Wojciechowski, plus director of college scouting Matt Malaspina, as the most trusted advisors to the GM.
Gissendaner, 46, spoke to the Journal Sentinel earlier this year for a profile on Sullivan, his former colleague. He said the relationships formed during his first stint in Green Bay developed into lasting friendships that undoubtedly influenced his opinion to return.