honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted at 11:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 23, 2008

NFL: Packers talking with Daunte Culpepper

By Tom Silverstein
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Before the weekend is out, the Green Bay Packers will have a quarterback other than Aaron Rodgers, Jerry Baab and Dalton Bell on their roster.

It may just be veteran free agent Daunte Culpepper.

After having the former Oakland, Miami and Minnesota quarterback in for a visit Wednesday, the Packers are seriously considering adding him to their roster. Culpepper is the only free agent left on the market with the talent to be a starter and the Packers, unsure of what the draft this weekend will provide, decided to call him.

According to someone familiar with the NFL transaction wire, Culpepper's official visit showed up at the end of the day. He's the third free agent quarterback to visit Green Bay, joining Quinn Gray and Gus Frerotte. Gray signed with Houston and Frerotte with Minnesota.

Culpepper's numbers weren't very good last year with Oakland, but the Packers and some others around the league thought he showed some of the athletic ability he possessed before tearing three ligaments in his knee during the 2005 season. Playing for a talent-deprived Raiders offense, he completed 58.1 percent of his passes for 1,331 yards and five touchdowns with five interceptions last year.

The Packers aren't the only team that has shown some interest in Culpepper, but they are the only team to bring him in. Culpepper represents himself and handled all of the business aspects that usually follow a get-to-know-you session with coaches and personnel people.

If the Packers sign Culpepper before the draft it's because they feel their hopes for trading for another team's backup or deposed starter aren't that great. Someone will be out of a job after rookies Matt Ryan, Brian Brohm, Chad Henne and Joe Flacco join their new teams, but there are no guarantees it will be anyone with the talent of Houston's Sage Rosenfels, the New York Jets' Chad Pennington or Seattle's Seneca Wallace.

If the Packers sign Culpepper, it probably won't be for much. The 31-year-old veteran has been on the market for 56 days and chances of him pulling anything more than a one-year, incentive-laden contract aren't very good.

The possibility exists that the Packers are using this visit as a way of trying to get everyone else in the NFL to think they're not as hot for a quarterback in the draft as they might think. But they'll have a hard time getting anyone to believe that because regardless of whether they sign Culpepper, they'll either draft a quarterback or sign one after the draft.

Perhaps the biggest question mark with Culpepper is whether he can function in a West Coast offense. Some Packers defensive players who competed against Culpepper when he was with Minnesota often talked about how easy it was to bait him into throwing to a covered receiver and that most of the time he let receiver Randy Moss bail him out.

For his career, Culpepper has completed an impressive 63.8 percent of his passes for 22,422 yards and 142 touchdown with 94 interceptions (89.9 passer rating). But since being separated from Moss, Culpepper has thrown 13 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.

If Culpepper doesn't sign, the Packers still have the option of bringing back Craig Nall, who finished the season as the No. 3 and is still looking for work.

Camp dates set: Mike McCarthy's third training camp with the Packers will get off to a late start because of the Monday night start to the exhibition season.

The club announced its May to July schedule Wednesday, and the first training camp practice of the official start of the season won't be until Monday, July 28. The Packers are going to lose two days of training camp because the collective bargaining agreement dictates that a team can't open camp more than 15 days before its first exhibition game.

Because the Packers open against Cincinnati on Monday, Aug. 11, they will not be able to practice the weekend of July 26-27. In previous years, the Packers have started on Saturday or Sunday.

The new schedule made it unworkable for McCarthy to hold joint practices with the St. Louis Rams, who may be training in southeastern Wisconsin this year. The Packers would only have a handful of practices together before the Rams came in sometime around the weekend of Aug. 4 for joint practices and a scrimmage.

The other camps are as follows: Rookie Orientation Camp (Don Hutson Center) May 2-4, OTA sessions (Ray Nitschke Field), May 19-June 12; mandatory minicamp (Ray Nitschke Field, weather permitting), June 17-19.

Grant hopeful: Running back Ryan Grant still hasn't signed his $370,000 exclusive rights free agent qualifying offer, but said he does not envision a scenario in which he would hold out of training camp.

"No, I don't see it at that point, but right now that has nothing to do with where we're at," Grant said.

As to where things stand on the new contract Grant is seeking, not much has been done but Grant is optimistic.

"I'm not really pressed about anything right now," he said. "I just know at some point it will get done. I'm excited about it and I'm excited for the organization."