When will Davon House crack the starting lineup?

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Packers CB Davon House
Packers CB Davon House

For the first time in a while, cornerback may be the deepest position on the Green Bay Packers roster.

Tramon Williams is entering his eighth season with the Packers, Sam Shields is coming off his second impressive season in three years and Casey Hayward is fresh off a six-interception campaign in which he finished third in the voting for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Last season, the Packers have led the NFL in dime and nickel packages, so Williams, Shields and Hayward each played a considerable amount. But all three will face stiff competition this summer from third-year cornerback Davon House.

House suffered a left shoulder subluxation in the first week of the preseason, forcing him to play with a harness for the nine games he was able to suit up for. But prior to the injury, House looked like he was on his way to earning a starting job.

“It was mine to lose and I lost it because of injuries to me,” House said, per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “But later on in the season, Shields got hurt and it gave me an opportunity to step in there. I think it showed the coaches that I can play.”

House played 318 snaps in his second season, highlighted by a blocked punt in Week 8 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. But for House, 2013 is a new opportunity and another chance at earning (and keeping) a starting job.

“House is back here; he looks great,” McCarthy told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel‘s Tom Silverstein. “He had his surgery and I thought he had an excellent training camp. He’ll definitely be someone who’ll push for a starting position or definitely a big role in our defense.”

House will have his sights set on an expanded role with the base defense, but it won’t be easy. Williams, 30, has been a mainstay in the starting lineup for five years, while Shields and Hayward did nothing but impressive last season.

Opposing quarterbacks throwing in Hayward’s direction had a combined passer rating of 31.1 last season, and when Charles Woodson went down, Hayward’s role as the nickelback became increasingly important. The rookie proved capable of playing on the perimeter as well, but he enters training camp as the odds-on favorite to be (at the very least) the slot man in the nickel package.

The coaching staff has made it abundantly clear that all four players will compete for playing time throughout training camp. And according to House, each cornerback is a starting-caliber player.

“The best man is going to play day in and day out,” House said. “If it’s right corner, left corner, we all feel like we should all be on the field … We know for a fact that anyone from our cornerback group can go play on any other team and start. That’s the way we feel.”

But when House will crack his team’s starting lineup remains to be seen because, this season, playing time will come at a premium for the Packers’ cornerbacks. Whether it’s due to an impressive training camp or the result of an in-season injury, at some point, House will likely make himself at home in a starting spot.

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Marques is a Journalism student, serving as the Sports Editor of UW-Green Bay\'s campus newspaper The Fourth Estate and a Packers writer at Jersey Al\'s AllGBP.com. Follow Marques on Twitter @MJEversoll.

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21 thoughts on “When will Davon House crack the starting lineup?

  1. House deserves to play now. I know it won’t happen, but it would be awesome if TT would trade Tramon and a pick or two for a guy like Jarius Byrd in Buffalo. Great young player at a position of need who is unhappy with the Bills financial and team progress.

    1. Agree, Tramon has alot to prove to Packer fans after his performance vs. the Vikes. It is one thing to make physical and/or mental errors, but you can not have a defensive player on the field who runs away from contact. On “sound bites” the next week, the Vikes players on the sideline can be heard making fun of Williams, you just can’t have a player who the opposition knows is ducking contact.

  2. Huge Davon House fan. Even before we drafted him I was scouting him and projected him as a possible 2nd rd pick for the Pack. He fell to the 4th, but I still got the guy I wanted.

    It might be difficult to start this year IMO. I think Tramon and Shields will win that competition. And Hayward will have the slot CB role locked down.

    Most likely it’ll take one more year for House to crack the starting lineup. I think this will be Tramon’s last year in GB, so there’ll be an opening next year for House and Hayward to compete for. Hayward is no doubt the better slot/nickel CB. His skills are perfectly suited for that role. Personally, I think House’s skills are perfectly suited for a role as an outside CB. That being the case it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

    House will be a starter in’14 w/ Shields and Hayward will continue to be the nickel CB. For those who doubt House, he was rated the 7th CB by CBS in his draft and #56 overall, while Hayward was the #9 CB and 72nd overall by CBS. Shows how evenly matched they are. Just that they have very different skill sets.

    1. Be careful when comparing draft projections from two different drafts.

      1) They are projections, and even the pros will tell you they are wrong as often as they are right about players.

      2) Every draft is different. In one draft, it may be a very strong class in terms of NFL talent (in which case a guy ranked #100 overall may have been ranked #68 overall in a more “average” draft), or a particular draft may be very weak or strong at a position, in which case a player ranked as the 10th best at his position in one draft would have been ranked as the 23rd best at his position in the previous draft, or vice versa.

      Slippery slope.

      1. Thank you for reminding me they were different draft years. Its not like I needed it! Thank you for also reminding us that each draft is different. I never would have guessed!

        However, when you get that high into the top rounds, the grades generally end up being pretty similar. Especially when talking about the same position. Also like I said, their skill set are quite different, but its doubtful the grades very that substantially. I would be willing to bet that their respective grades are very similar.

        I think too many people are assuming Hayward is vastly better. I don’t see it that way at all. Al Harris never had more than 3 INT’s in a year w/ the Packers, yet he was widely considered on of the best CB during his time in GB. IMO House is very similar to Harris, except w/ better speed and ball skills. Don’t just assume that Hayward is better, that would be mistake and slippery slope!

          1. Just tired of him giving the most basic of info, and assuming I don’t know it… Kinda like when talking OL, I mentioned that Tretter is probably out for the full year and be lucky to play this year, and Oppy had to reply w/ Tretter has an ankle injury and will start on PUP. Well Duuuhh. Like I didn’t freaking know already!

            Same situation here… Hell I was already wondering if he would reply that way when I posted it. Hoped he would let it go, cuz he knows I’m smart enough to understand different draft. Its kinda insulting to me to act like he has to point out even the most obvious detail that is widely known!

            1. I’ve never found Oppy to be meanspirited or condescending… I guess to each his own though.

              1. Didn’t say you did. I just find it insulting that he feels I need to be told things like Tretter has an injury and is out most of the season, especially when I said that initially. I mean really does he really think we don’t know and need to be told that? I know I certainly don’t. Pretty much anything he says I’ve already thought.

              2. Just for the record,
                you didn’t say Tretter was out with injury.

                “EDS isn’t special, neither is Barclay and Tretter is unlikely to play much this year if at all….Tretter may eventually be the starting Center, but it won’t happen THIS year, and I doubt it happens next either. Center in the NFL is a very demanding position that almost always takes time to develop into, unless drafted in the 1st round w/ exceptional physical ability and Center experience.”

                In fact, since you placed the emphasis on experience and development. Perhaps you can see why I thought you may not know Tretter was injured. I’m sorry you take this as some sort of challenge to your knowledge, I meant it as a piece of information you may not have had.

                As far as your becoming chippy because you don’t need to be told that drafts are different, I beg your pardon, sir, but I wouldn’t expect someone to draw a direct talent comparison based on position ranking and overall ranking between two drafts in that case.

                Lastly, I’m quite glad that anything I say you’ve already thought.. How incredibly dismissive of you.

                Everything you post, you’ve already read somewhere else.. I attempt to discuss, you plainly regurgitate.

                Try that on for size. We’ll just agree to not communicate from here on out, since it’s such a painful undertaking for you. I will not subject you to it any more.

                Good day to you, sir.

              3. Your right I didn’t say he was out w/ an injury, and I never said anything about an injury. I just said he was out and unlikely to play. I gave you enough credit to understand that you knew he had an injury. I didn’t feel it was necessary since we are both well versed on the Packers situation. I assumed you would give me that same credit. Guess not… I doubt anyone else had any problems understanding what I was saying, other than you.

                Yeah little chippy, cuz again I didn’t feel it was necessary. Again I was giving you credit for being informed, would be nice to get the same. Unfortuntately, from now on I can’t assume that you would know what I’m talking. Hoped you gave me a little more credit than you seem I can comprehend!

                I try to give you respect for your knowledge would be nice to get same.

  3. I have never heard anyone other than Chiroquackters use the term “subluxation.”

  4. No doubt that Williams need to man up this year. Playing against AP twice, RG3, Vick, and Kapernick, our corners have to be able to tackle. I like House’s aggressiveness. I think he’ll get plenty of time on the field.

  5. I’m a big House guy, I think he has all the potential in the world but not sure he did anything last year to be deserving of starting talk.

    The general sentiment seems to be “Tramon isn’t performing” which I agree with but “House deserves to start because he does” isn’t exactly a compelling argument.

    That being said I think he’ll get a chance later this season.

    I’d love to do a screenshot breakdown of things good/bad I saw from the CBs last year but I don’t have the time to at the moment. If someone else doesn’t I can tentatively promise one prior to opening day.

    My guess is that Joe Whitt sees the flaws in Tramon’s game but knows that he’s the most battle tested of the bunch at the moment. That sort of thinking got Grandpa Woodson in the SF game so hopefully they reassess that mantra moving forward.

    Outside of Shields, Hayward, and Burnett it’s all a wash in my opinion.

    1. House didn’t perform exceedingly well last year, for obvious reasons. He was however, on the way to winning the starting CB job in training camp before the injury. Then be restricted a bit, but the harness he had to wear all season. Only thing he has done to this point is show the potential to be a very good CB and likely starter. He’ll be given the chance to compete to start, that all he deserved so far.

  6. Even last year I thought William should be the dime back. House and Shield outside, Hayward at the slot and Williams as the dime back. This would give the Packers the best secondary in the NFL.

  7. I would like to see another up-and-comer in our secondary. Shields has an asshole agent in Rosenhaus and will be iffy next year. Williams may be too expensive and afraid of contact – which may make him replaceable next year. Ultimately, we don’t have good sustainable depth at corner. We need one more promising guy like House.

  8. The whole avoiding to tackle Peterson thing IS embarrassing. The thing is, I didn’t see him actually improve in week 17 against the Vikings. He was still avoiding contact with Peterson. The thing about Williams is he can really cover on some Sundays then on others he gets eaten alive. How can a guy more less shut down Brandon Williams (8 catches for 80 yards and a TD) then get eaten alive by Michael Crabtree in the playoffs. If his shoulder presents that much of a problem then he should be limited to just obvious passing downs. I understand he makes a boatload of money but at the end of the day it’s about winning football games and having the best 11 on the field. I don’t know enough about House except the little I’ve seen of him. Like Stroh pointed out he was rated pretty high coming out playing on a horrible team. What I do like about House is he’ll get physical and in the receivers face that first 5 yards. Kinda reminds me of Al Harris with his ability to be physical. All I know is if Williams doesn’t show up this year and be close to 2010 form then House, Shields, and Hayward should be the 3 corners out there. Hell, trade him and see what you could get.

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