With fellow cornerbacks Casey Hayward and Tramon Williams on the sideline nursing injuries, Packers cornerback Davon House stepped up during Wednesday morning’s practice at Ray Nitschke Field.
It’s risky business comparing an unproven player to an established veteran. In fact, comparing any two players is like playing with fire. Some comparisons carry some stereotypes–racial or otherwise. After all, who is Jordy Nelson compared to other than Ed McCaffrey?
But throughout practice, House made play after play. And after a strip of an unsuspecting Jarrett Boykin during a team drill, I thought of Bears cornerback Peanut Tillman. Now, Tillman is likely the best in the business at stripping (or punching) the football from the ball carrier, and House’s 11 career game appearances are dwarfed by Tillman’s 33 interceptions and 39 forced fumbles.
So needless to say, House isn’t in Tillman’s league as things currently stand. But from a physical standpoint, Tillman isn’t a bad comparison for House.
Tillman stands slightly over 6’1″, slightly taller than the 6’0″ House, but both players weigh in at just under 200 pounds and have (slightly) above-average straight-line speed.
Since House wears No. 31 and has dreadlocks hanging out the back of his helmet, he’s often likened to former Pro Bowl cornerback Al Harris. That’s not a bad comparison either, but I think House is naturally more physical than Harris at the point of attack. Harris was a physical corner, no doubt, but House likes sticking his nose in there in the running game.
And now that the team’s best turnover maker, Charles Woodson–owner of 38 interceptions and 15 forced fumbles in seven seasons in Green Bay–is playing with the Oakland Raiders, the Packers will need someone to step up and fill that void.
Last season, Hayward stepped up and picked off a team-high six interceptions. This season, House could be the secondary’s breakout player.
During Thursday morning’s practice, House provided blanket coverage on the perimeter. On one play, Jordy Nelson had a step on House on a deep post route, but House recovered and punched the ball out of Nelson’s hands, breaking up what would have been about a 40-yard gain.
Back in May, I took a stab at five potential breakout players for 2013, and House came in at No. 2, behind only Morgan Burnett.
House was a training-camp standout last summer before injuring his shoulder in the preseason opener at San Diego. And with Williams and Hayward currently out of the lineup, the coaching staff will get a closer look at House and Sam Shields with the No. 1 defense; the two players competing against one another for a “starting” spot.
The best throw of the day came from Graham Harrell, on a deep ball to James Jones, who bot behind rookie Micah Hyde. The play surely would have resulted in a touchdown, as Harrell hit Jones in stride right between the 8 and the 9. Overall, it was a solid day from Harrell.
So what do you think? Davon House is the next Charles Tillman, and Graham Harrell is poised to unseat Aaron Rodgers?
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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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This is GREAT news!
IF House can stay healthy and IF Hyde continues to look good, I wonder if TT and company would consider shopping Tramon for a pick or perhaps a young guy? I doubt Tramon’s contract will be movable. But hey, it’d be sweet.
Regardless, I don’t think Tramon is in GB past this year. Injuries have derailed his once bright future.
Lot of IF’s Bearmeat! Let’s let them win the starting spots and let Tramon back them up. We need a deep DB group to run deep into the playoff’s.
Yeah, I know. Probably not going to happen. But hey, I can dream right.
Tramon for a 1. Finley for a 1. Hawk for a 4.
Package them into next year’s #1 overall David Clowney! lol.
Why would we trade all that for a little used WR in Carolina, that the Packers drafted and released before even making the roster?
Or did you mean this guy?
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/players/playerpage/1852852/jadeveon-clowney
Yeah. That guy.
Haha. Sorry. I don’t keep up with guys that GB has no chance to draft..
Yeah there’s no chance that kid would drop to 32. 🙂
I had joked in January it would be nice if Teo would fall to GB. Careful what you wish for?
It would also take more than Finley, Williams, and Hawk in a trade. This kia (Clowney) is going to be something for years to come.
IF Williams & Haywood can get back soon, we look to have our deepest group of corners in memory.
Haywood who?
Haywood Jablomi?
Any way u look at it, our corners look good for years to come. Was thinking about the weaknesses on the team and other than ILB and maybe safety, we look pretty good. Is it too early for a rough prediction as to what our need areas will be after this season? Probably but I would love to see us take a ILB high next year and really field a top defense…. That is if the d line continues to improve and one of the safeties step up
TT has positioned us well, that’s for sure.
Of course, that’s assuming that Perry develops and at least a couple of House/McMillan/Jones/EDS/whatever RT we start continues to improve.
It’s not likely that all of them pan out, but some will.
http://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/young-depth-spawns-confidence-for-packers-inside-linebackers
Theres a lot to like at ILB too. Maybe unproven but a lot to like. Thompson and McCarthy don’t seem worried or they could have kept Bishop or Smith to ease their minds.
You can Like or Dislike, say This or That, when it comes right down to it the GB Packers are Better then last year, by the way how did the Pack do last year?
From what I read so favre everything sounds good but what about the kicking game! Michael Barnard I think would be a good fit. GM Ted Thompson is also willing to bring him into camp. We had the last spot in the NFL last year with so many missed field goals.