Packers Give Sander the Boot

The Green Bay Packers announced today that they have given former third round draft pick, punter B.J. Sander of Ohio State, the boot...something he was not able to do for the Packers since being drafted in 2004.

Sander is just another in a long list of former GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman's personnel disasters that have haunted the Pack for the last several years. The general reaction when Sherman spent a third round pick on Sander, not only among Packer fans but NFL observers in general, was, "What the...". OK, he won the Ray Guy award and was the nation's leading punter. But still...a third round pick on a punter? Even fantasy league GMs know enough not to do that.

So, despite some speculation in news reports today that the other punter in camp, Jon Ryan, might have hurt his chances with the team with his bobbled snap in the end zone during Saturday night's game, here we have yet another example of the new regime making a decision to move on with new talent. Will Ryan be the punter from here on out, or will they bring in another punter? My guess, given the general modus operandi of this coaching staff, is that they want to settle on players as soon as possible and give them as many reps as possible to get ready for the season. Having said that, as noted in an earlier posting relating to Dave Rayner being named the kicker, this could just be "for now"...it's always just "for now" with kickers and punters. Perform and you keep your job. Don't, and you don't.

Jon Ryan has a strong leg and it is apparently on that strength the Packers have decided to go into the season. For now.