Will Packers Keep Ryan Grant

Fresh off their Super Bowl Championship it’s time for the Green Bay Packers to start thinking about their quest to repeat. Like most teams but more so with championship teams, they’ll have to decide on who to keep and who really deserves a raise as we all know every player who just won thinks he is deserving. More importantly for the Packers thou will be to decide which of the eleven players on injured reserve should be released. Some believe one of those candidates is Ryan Grant.

The thought of Grant being released isn’t that far off base either. The Packers have two legitimate reasons for not bringing him back, one of which is the emergence of James Starks. The other is well ummm money.

• Starks was seldomly used in the regular season only participating in three games, with 29 rushes for 101 yards but during the playoffs he became the teams workhorse. During the playoffs he ran the ball 81 times for 319 yards, including an impressive 52 yards on just 11 carries in the Super Bowl.
• More importantly, then Starks emergence thou is the money. Grant is due a lot of it in 2011, his base salary alone is $3.5 million. That figure in itself isn’t too bad as he did run for back to back 1,200 yard seasons in 2008 and 2009. What is alarming, is the $1.75 million roster bonus in March, $250,000 workout bonus and the additional $250,000 bonus he’s due to receive later this off season. Will the Packers want to pay the roster bonus without a guarantee that he’ll play at a high level again?

The money question makes total sense but if I was the Packers I’d take the chance.

Starks was impressive during the stretch run but can he handle a full seasons worth of carries? If Grant were to come back healthy, they’d form one hell of a 1-2 punch, in fact Grant is healthy enough that he will be participating fully in off season workouts (if they occur).

Jason Wilde of ESPN Milwaukee thinks the same thing but takes it even one step further, mentioning the play calling possibilities it gives the offense.

At running back, Ryan Grant, who had back-to-back 1,200-yard seasons before his season-ending ankle injury in the opener Sept. 12, should be back in full healthy and hungrier than ever and could form a formidable 1-2 punch with James Starks, who showed immense potential as a rookie. In a league where having two starting-caliber running backs has become standard operating procedure, marrying a potentially devastating running game with Rodgers’ passing ability would give coach Mike McCarthy all kinds of play-calling options.

He’s right in his thoughts about the potential of that offense, it could literally be downright scary. I think the Packers will pony up and pay Grant, he deserves the money and you know what he’s still one of the most talented backs in the league. Why give that up when you want to repeat?

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Tags: Green Bay Packers, James Starks, NFL, Ryan Grant