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Taylor turns heads at linebacker
By Pete Dougherty
PackersNews.com
No one wins a job for a wide-open starting position in the NFL in offseason practices.
But players can stake themselves to early leads, and little-known newcomer Ben Taylor has done that at the strong side of the Green Bay Packers’ revamped linebackers corps.
Taylor has worked most of the minicamps and organized team activities as the starter on the strong side, ahead of second-year pro Roy Manning. Manning knew the defense after starting two games at that position last year, yet former Cleveland Browns starter Taylor surpassed him.
Maybe Manning will beat out Taylor when the pads go on, or perhaps third-round draft pick Abdul Hodge will play so well in training camp that the Packers will move him from the backup at middle linebacker to compete for the strong-side job. Even Brady Poppinga lingers in the background as a possible starter, though that hinges on him bucking the odds and coming back from knee-reconstruction surgery in time to practice during training camp.
That leaves Taylor, signed as a security blanket because of his 26 starts in four NFL seasons with the Browns, the front-runner when training camp opens in July.
“Although he has his limitations, he’s a football player,” said Reggie McKenzie, the Packers’ director of pro personnel.
“That’s what we liked. We felt like he was a football player, and once we got him in and got to know him in person, he plays like he is: a tough guy, smart, a football guy.”
The Packers signed Taylor to one-year deal that included $80,280 in signing and workout bonuses hoping, but not knowing, whether he’d be a starter in their re-made linebacker corps.
Packer LBs update...
Packer LBs update...
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