Fighting your own demons is tough enough as it is, but when you’re a member of either a Division I college football team or an NFL franchise, that task can seem downright impossible.
That is the quest that stands before Green Bay Packers rookie tight end Colt Lyerla.
If you aren’t already aware, Lyerla has quite the backstory. He came from a broken home and moved from house to house as a child. It became clear in high school he was a freak athlete and signed on at the University of Oregon where he was once touted as a potential first round NFL draft pick.
Unfortunately for Lyerla, he never could quite stay out of trouble. He was suspended during the 2013 season from Oregon and later quit the team, a move Lyerla later said he regretted. Lyerla soon after was arrested for cocaine possession. He also in the past tweeted about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary being a government conspiracy.
Thanks to these incidents, Lyerla went undrafted in this spring’s NFL Draft. In the modern NFL, talent on the field is useless if you can’t stay out of trouble off of it.
After the draft, the Packers offered Lyerla a tryout and soon after he was signed to a contract. For all their talk about “Packer People,” general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy seemingly rolled the dice with Lyerla.
Had the Packers sold their soul in order to win or are they simply trying to give a talented but troubled player a shot at redemption in a structured organization with a strong and tight-knit locker room?
The money should be on the latter. The fact that the Packers brought back Johnny Jolly last year and previously signed a troubled Koren Robinson says the Packers believe they have what it takes to help troubled players and turn them into not just good players but upstanding citizen as well.
All of us make mistakes. Even this writer a few weeks ago had Colin Kaepernick nailed to the wall because he allegedly smoked some pot in Miami. I took to Twitter and proceeded to make a total fool of myself. I have since apologized and acknowledged I was dead wrong in that situation. I was uneducated on the matter and leapt foolishly to a conclusion. It was my fault.
While that is small compared to what Lyerla has been through, if someone makes a genuine apology and true to rectify a bad situation they should be given another chance. Thompson must have thought Lyerla was sincere because he wouldn’t have signed him to a contract if he believed otherwise, even one that undoubtedly contains little-to-no guaranteed money.
If Lyerla acts up, he will be cut and the Packers can move on. The Green Bay locker room can handle that happening. In fact, this team might be the best thing for Lyerla. A veteran locker room with down to earth players might be just the thing he needs to get his life on track.
This won’t be Thompson’s worst decision ever. In fact, it could turn out to be one of his finest hours if Lyerla pans out. It’d be a stroke of genius.
Lyerla has a long road to go but it’d be one of the great stories in the league if he can keep clean and like up to his once promising potential.
That’s a story Packer Nation could be proud of.
——————Kris Burke is a sports writer covering the Green Bay Packers for AllGreenBayPackers.com and WTMJ in Milwaukee. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) and his work has been linked to by sites such as National Football Post and CBSSports.com. Follow @KrisLBurke
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Not going to read this article.
Will never support this a$$h*le.
It’s a disgrace that he’s wearing green and gold.
I never read your comments.
Nor am I going to support you being a tool.
It’s a disgrace that you call yourself a Packers fan.
IF this is how you view your entire life I feel sorry for you.
Gee Cow42, what’s it like to be perfect so you can stand in judgment of anyone?
Dweeb.
I’m not even close to perfect.
But I have NEVER said anything as remotely insensitive and despicable as…
“The parents of the kids that supposedly died in the sandy hook situation are liars,”
Kris you are right – this is the best thing for both a talented young player and a strong veteran led team in the most rural location in all of professional sports.
You can find trouble in GB. But it’s a helluva lot harder than finding it in NY, CHI, NO, HOU (etc) or any major college campus in the NCAA.
He’s become the “Holy Cow” over this Lyerla situation.
Where does any of the hate stem from? He didn’t enslave dogs to kill each other. He hasn’t been accused of rape or assault. He did some drugs (you’re kidding me if that’s what this is about) He quit the team (why would be quit the only team giving him a chance to turn his life around) and he said one stupid thing on Twitter. If tweets and drugs are a reason to never have a player on your team you can kiss 3/4 of this league goodbye.
“The parents of the kids that supposedly died in the sandy hook situation are liars,”
It’s not hate.
It’s disgust.
What a pig.
If he wasn’t good at playing football, every one of you would agree with me.
But the Packers need a TE… and this turd is fast… so LET’S JUST GIVE THE GUY A CHANCE!
Whatever.
Cow I normally don’t respond to you as I think everyone deserves to have an opinion.
But, you are so hung up on this…..
You need to take your anger out elsewhere… It’s close to a mental sickness on your part.
As I posted before; IF Lyerla really truly believed the Sandy Hook tragedy was a hoax, and that the parents were in on it, then what he said wasn’t meant to poor salt into their wounds. He probably thought he was doing the public a service by exposing all this. It speaks more to him being gullible, on drugs or stupid, but not necessarily a cruel jackass.
Apparently there are a lot of people who subscribe to weird theories all the time(Yeties, spaceships, Nessie, Area 51, govt. conspiracies here, govt. conspiracies there, the Vikings are an NFL caliber team). Just because Lyerla may have doesn’t, by itself, make him a bad person. It just makes him stupid.
However, IF it’s discovered that he said those things just to add to the torment those people at Sandy Hook were feeling, then I definitely back what Cow has said and don’t want him anywhere near GB. Making those type of statements, just to be a jag, is unbelievable cruel.
I don’t understand why he is getting crucified because he stated his opinion on Sandy Hook. The media can do some amazing tricks in reporting. Now as far as Cocaine and dogging it in practice, go for it. He could be the best thing since sliced bread or he could be a cancer. Time will tell my friends…
Agreed. The Sandy Hook tweet was insensitive, but it’s really not that big of a deal. I have a couple very successful friends who watched some movie on Youtube and now believe 9/11 was a conspiracy. I think they’re crazy, but they have a right to believe what they want.
“The Sandy Hook tweet was insensitive, but it’s really not that big of a deal.”
Wow.
I do not understand where you guys are coming from.
“I do not understand where you guys are coming from.”
Probably becuz you have shit for brains CowTurd.
Come on Stroh. Cow is not an unintelligent guy at all. He’s just a pessimist to the Nth degree. While his predictions almost never come true, mostly I just feel sorry for him. He’s been around for 2-3 years and hasn’t changed his M.O. one little bit.
Either he is the world’s best (and most patient) troll, or you’ve got to assume this is a pathological problem in his life at this point and that he needs some help.
My guess is the latter.
You really do almost feel sorry for Cow. He either is a troll with nothing better to do than constantly vomit negativity on multiple Packer sites, or he actually believes the outlandish things he says. Regardless of which one he is, to have devoted so much time to his quest to stir the pot tells me he doesn’t have a lot of joy in his life, he is really just saying ” Someone look at me, pay attention” it’s almost a cry for help. It must be a sad life.
Stroh, this is poor class of you to insult like that. You’ve lowered yourself constantly on this site to such childishness. My kindergartner has more maturity that the trail of your evidence.
I can appreciate people who have hard time excusing Lyerla’s comment. I don’t excuse Lyerla for what he said. He better own up and apologize, or I don’t want him on team either. The other mistakes, seems he’s apologized for…and for that, I grant him a willing pass. But saying stupid things, at times, is no small thing.
When Stroh gets in a disagreement with someone who won’t back down, he frequently resorts to identifying his antagonist as a whatever flavor 4 letter word he fancies that day.
This isn’t a new problem. And he won’t change. The best thing to do is just point out his own poor behavior so as many as possible take notice.
When someone can prove me wrong I’ll admit it, and I’ve done that on occasion. Otherwise its all opinions so no I don’t back down from my strongly held opinion.
The thing w/ Cow goes back a long way and to another site, which I think your aware of. Either way it would seem to me that more than a few hold the same opinion of cow. I’m just willing to say what others won’t sometimes.
The sandy hook tweet really is awful. I agree with you. Insensitivity toward that kind of tragedy is really disgusting. To someone else’s point, I hope it was the action of a coke-filled mind and not his true feeling. I am guessing that’s the case. Dumb, insensitive things, however, are uttered daily in this country. His stature as a “football player” is the only reason someone paid attention to it. Kind of a sad commentary on our country in that regard. Hopefully he turns it around. GoPack!
Didn’t we already beat this dead horse/colt?
Yes Marpag, I think that we did but we’re also beating the dead Finley horse again today in another article. It’s a slow time in the NFL. Go Pack! Thanks, Since ’61
Everyone seems impressed with his athleticism, calling him a “beast”. And, he would be a real dangerous addition to the offense. I would love for this to happen and for Colt to get a shot at improving his life. He apparently has the talent to play at the next level. But, he is a long shot to turn his life around and silence his demons. Being emotionally damaged is not easy to overcome. Add some fame and money makes it doubly difficult. He will need focus and discipline to make an NFL career happen. Problem is that he has never consistently applied himself in the past at a less level. No reason to believe that this will change because he is a Packer. All you can do is hope. Good luck to the young man.
Razer – I agree with you, I wish Lyerla well and hope that he makes it. And I would prefer that he didn’t come with the baggage he has, but as I mentioned in a previous post about Lyerla, Nitschke also had a troubled childhood, although nothing with drugs or Tweets, but he got into trouble fighting etc… and we all know how he turned out. So it is possible for a young man to turn around their life. Whether Lyerla has the mental toughness to commit himself to cleaning up his act and becoming a Pro remains to be seen. I am proud of the Packers for giving him a shot. AS for those who don’t want to give him a chance because of his previous transgressions I paraphrase, “let those without any transgressions or mistakes in their own lives throw the first stone”. Go Pack! Thanks, Since ’61
I think in a few years the Packers will have one of the best TE in the NFL. He’s a amazing talent at that made a few mistakes when he was young. Trouble can find you anywhere, Green Bay or anywhere else. This is the world we live in today, not everyone is squeaky clean. These people that are just filled with hate and disgust need to check your own back yard and worry about yourself. Unless you’re walking on water who are you to judge?
Ultimate dream fantasy… Finley is perfectly healthy and re-signs, Lyerla cleans up and turns into a stud, Packers go heavy on two tight end sets with Nelson and Cobb out wide, Lacy the single back, and ARod under center.
*shudder*
A dream? Yeah, probably. But still a nice one…
Follow that one up with Perry and Sherrod developing, and Collins and Bishop getting back to where they were in 2010.