No playoff team needed a bye week more than the Green Bay Packers. As is the case for many of their competitors, they can only go as far as their starting quarterback can take them. The sky's the limit with Aaron Rodgers at the controls. However, a calf injury knocked the MVP frontrunner out for a chunk of the Packers' season finale. How much it heals could very well determine if Green Bay moves on to the conference championship.
Aaron Rodgers is getting healthy, Washington’s GM hire draws criticism for lack of diversity and other NFL news
Meanwhile, Maurice Jones-Drew wants to return to Raiders in 2015.
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Fortunately for the Packers, it appears Rodgers has made significant progress during the off week. According to head coach Mike McCarthy, the quarterback could return to practice tomorrow.
McCarthy declared that he plans on “Aaron playing Sunday,” no surprise considering the stakes. Even at less than 100 percent, Rodgers presents a significant challenge to opposing defenses. If the Packers’ offensive line can keep him mostly untouched the way they did against Detroit two weeks ago, the calf injury won’t play as significant a role as some expect.
Fritz Pollard Alliance attacks Scot McCloughan hire
Over the past decade, few teams have been mired in mediocrity as severely as Washington. The team has struggled to find a franchise quarterback despite investing a bevy of draft picks to acquire Robert Griffin III. Instability has also infected the head coach position with Mike Shanahan and Jay Gruden struggling to control the locker room. And, of course, there's the very public battle over the name of the franchise that seems to drag everything down.
But the franchise took a step in the right direction by hiring Scot McCloughan, one of the league’s premier talent evaluators, as the team’s first GM since Vinny Cerrato. Yet in typical Washington fashion, there’s drama surrounding the move. The Fritz Pollard Alliance has filed a complaint over the hiring process, according to The Washington Post.
The Fritz Pollard Alliance is a diversity group that works to help minority coaches and executives get a fair shake in the unfair world of the NFL. According to the Alliance, Washington did not request permission to interview minority candidate Rod Graves before hiring McCloughan. The NFL has stated that it does not believe the team violated tampering rules. However, this is a bad look for an organization that seems to finally be moving in the right direction.
Colin Kaepernick to train with Kurt Warner
In most statistical areas, 2014 was the worst season of Colin Kaepernick's career as a starter. He set career lows in yards per attempt (7.05), touchdown-to-interception ratio (19:10), and passer rating (86.4). Though he's not solely to blame, the San Francisco 49ers missed the playoffs for the first time since he replaced Alex Smith under center. To Kaepernick's credit, he recognizes that some changes need to be made. Accordingly, he will train with Kurt Warmer this offseason, per the Sacramento Bee.
Warner is a former MVP who led the St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowls and the Arizona Cardinals to a third. He's widely believed to be a future Hall of Famer. However, those credentials don't necessarily make him a capable coach. Still, his team should view the fact that Kaepernick is willing to work on his flaws positively. Whether Warner fixes him, this is a sign of maturity from a young quarterback.
Maurice Jones-Drew wishes to return to Oakland in 2015
One of the biggest names the Oakland Raiders signed last offseason was former Jacksonville Jaguars tailback Maurice Jones-Drew. The former rushing crown holder was coming off his worst season as a pro, finishing with 803 yards at a 3.4 clip. The Raiders wanted to find out if he had anything left, and they were rewarded with an even worse 2.2 yards per carry average. That figure would suggest that Jones-Drew has reached the end as an NFL player, but the running back wants to return to Oakland next season, per Pro Football Talk.
While Jones-Drew is under contract for next season for an affordable $2.5 million, that figure is completely unguaranteed. Given the Raiders have younger, more productive options like Latavius Murray, it seems highly unlikely the soon-to-be 30 year old MJD will return in 2015.
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