1) Introduction: As a second round pick in 2008, Pat Lee has been little more than a disappointment. Active as mostly a special teams player in his rookie season, he ended up only being active for five games and was eventually put on injured reserve (IR) due to a lingering knee injury. The 2009 season was a wash for Lee after a preseason knee injury against the Titans forced him again onto IR. Finally, in 2010, Lee was active for most of the season (15 games), though again mostly as a special teamer. He had just one start this season: Week 5 at Washington.
2) Profile:
Patrick Christopher Lee
Position: DB
Height: 5-11 Weight: 194 lbs.
Born: February 20, 1984 in Miami, FL
College: Auburn (school history) (Lee college stats)
Drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 2nd round (60th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft.
3) Expectations coming into the season: Coming into his third season, Pat Lee had already been injured for most of his short NFL career. Competing at cornerback with Charles Woodson, Tramon Williams, the rising Sam Shields, and even Brandon Underwood and Jarrett Bush, Lee was left with little hope at playing much in the position. By the time training camp was over and preseason games were under way, it was clear Lee had fallen to the bottom of the totem pole and in danger of maybe being cut. Most of his expectations for the season would be as a gunner for the special teams coverage units.
4) Highlights / Lowlights: It’s hard to find distinctive moments in a year full of mediocrity for Pat Lee. Perhaps his most important contribution of the year was filling in at cornerback during Super Bowl XLV. After losing Woodson and Shields to injury, the Packers were forced to play Bush and Lee in their stead. Neither played exceptionally well, though they did hold their own enough to help the defense in its task. As for Lee’s lowlights, you can probably just take the entire season as a whole.
5) Contributions to the overall team success: It’s tough to say that Pat Lee had any measurable amount of contributions to the team’s success this season. On special teams, he ranked 8th in total tackles (10) and 2nd in missed tackles (5). When he was given the opportunity to return kicks, Lee didn’t provide anything special. He also suffered some minor injuries throughout the season that made him less-than-reliable.
6) Contributions during the end-of-season 6-game run: As was mentioned above, Lee’s main contribution to the last stretch of games was his role in the Super Bowl. His performance as a backup-cornerback-turned-starter in that game might give him one more shot to make the team next year. Other than that, his contributions matched his performance for the season: fairly pedestrian.
Season Report Card:
(D) Level of expectations met during the season
(D-) Contributions to team’s overall success
(D) Contributions to team’s success during the playoff run (last 6 games)
Overall Grade for the Year: (D)
——————Chad Toporski, a Wisconsin native and current Pittsburgh resident, is a writer for AllGreenBayPackers.com. You can follow Chad on twitter at @ChadToporski
Follow @ChadToporski——————
Super Bowl saved his butt from a F season
Agreed.
Sure did.
I never understood why Pat Lee was such a high draft pick. Granted, I didn’t know Matthews was worth trading that much for to trade up either, admittedly. But Pat Lee was a head-scratcher for me right from the moment we too him.
Ted has never drafted a good CB for the Packers. His undrafted guys (Tramon & Shields) and his free agent addition (Woodson) have saved his drafting of CB’s.
Ironic, isn’t it?
In that 2008 draft, where the Packers didn’t take a 1st Round pick, the 2nd Round was Nelson, Brohm, and Lee (in that order).
Wished they would have hit at least two of the three.
I cannot remember seeing a QB with a weaker arm than Brohm. He looked like it took everything he had just to throw a ten yard out. Surprising that he survived his first training camp. I think everyone realized he was not going to be a pro after his first preseason game.
Lee was a need pick at the time, which is something TT rarely does, but I think he felt he had to take a corner. I remember that I liked Lee the best of the remaining CBs left in that draft, but it was pretty slim pickings at that point even in the second round. Pretty raw player at that time. He will never be more than a bit player special teams guy. He has shown nothing in his time in the pros to make me think otherwise. Even without the injury he does not look like he has starter potential.
Remember taht in 2008 we were playing a ‘bump-and-run’ system and would have prefered CBS who could physically take on receivers at the LOS. Lee had that physicality where a lot of college CBs don’t.
So it seems likely he was a bit overvalued comng out. Fortunately we run a more balanced defensive system now — but it isn’t one that Lee will feel natural in.
was just about to say the same thing…