Back in February, the Packers announced the signing of 9 players to reserve/futures contracts. The news understandably got buried under the still-ongoing Super Bowl championship euphoria. So with the lockout dominating football news now, I thought we’d take a quick look at these players, who are all now officially Green Bay Packers.
Adrian Battles, G, 6’3″, 318lbs, Minnesota State. Battles, who grew up in Milwaukee, was signed by the Vikings as a UDFA before the 2010 Season. He was released during the final roster cuts and was out of football until the Packers signed him to the practice squad in December. Battles told Mankato Daily Free Press reporter Chad Courrier, “When you get released, that’s a lot of adversity,” he said. “But I have a lot of people, my mom and friends, who believed in me and kept my spirits up. It made me work hard; I started working out twice a day instead of once. I wanted to make sure that if I got another opportunity, I would be ready. When the call finally came from the Packers, it was like a dream come true, because they had always been my favorite team growing up. I live 100 miles from this place and it was unbelievable. When I got this call, it was a dream come true and I came here just ready to work.”
Michael Greco, S, 6’3″, 224lbs, Central Florida. Greco was signed an an UDFA by the Giants before the 2010 season. He was cut during preseason and landed on the Packers’ practice squad in October. He was released by the Packers Nov. 9th, spent a few weeks on the Colts practice squad and was then re-signed by the Packers in December. Greco ran a 4.40 40 yard dash at his Pro day and had an amazing vertical jump of 41.5 inches. He was rated 24th out of 75 safeties entering the 2010 draft by NFLDraftScout.com. Greco has possible elite athleticism but his main problem is inexperience – he has only played safety for one year. Up until his senior season in college, Greco had been strictly a quarterback.
Cardia Jackson, ILB, 6’1″, 236lbs, Louisiana-Monroe. Jackson. Jackson was signed by the Rams an an UDFA by the Giants before the 2010 season. He was released during the final roster cuts and was out of football until the Packers signed him to the practice squad in late December. Jackson was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2009 after leading the league with 117 tackles. He is currently the Conference’s all-time tackles leader. Jackson ran a 4.89 40 yard dash at his Pro day and was rated 50th out of 125 inside linebackers entering the 2010 draft by NFLDraftScout.com.
(The last two photos were taken by Corey Behnke from CheeseheadTV.com)
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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.
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Being on the Packers’ Practice Squad is as good as being a starter on another team (without the pay of a starter, unfortunately.) Good luck to all of them!
Ryan Braun just found his identical twin that was seperated at birth and his name is Michael Greco.
Ya, no question! When will the reunion take place?
Thanks for the information on the lesser known of our beloved Packers. There is no such thing as too much Packer stuff. I love it. And thanks for included the local guy and lineman at the apex of your article.
Over the next two days let’s hope the Owners and Players get a collective brain and negotiate a reasonable settlement.
Wow, you weren’t kidding, Al. I actually had heard of Battles and Jackson, but had no idea what position they played. And I had never heard of Michael Greco. I am ashamed of myself…
This was great. It would be be neat to see more on these practice squad players. The better they are, the better the team plays.
There will be more. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3…