Brohm turns down Pack, signs w/ Bills

[Captain Erv]

Brohm turns down Packers, signs with Bills
By Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel
Nov. 18, 2009 11:01 p.m.

Green Bay – Brian Brohm is no longer a member of the Green Bay Packers’ organization.

And this time that was his choice.

On the practice squad since being cut by the Packers at the final roster cutdown before the regular season, Brohm was signed Wednesday night by the Buffalo Bills to their active roster, a source said.

The Packers had an open roster spot after waiving wide receiver Jake Allen and attempted to retain Brohm by offering the same two-year deal as the Bills did. But in the end, the Packers’ second-round pick in 2008 thought it best to go to a team searching for a quarterback, not stay on one that has its long-term answer at the position in Aaron Rodgers.

Brohm also gets a chance to be reunited with Eric Wood, Brohm’s center when the two were at the University of Louisville together. Wood was the Bill’s second first-round pick in the ’09 draft.

Brohm is the second recent Packers’ draft pick to be plucked from the Packers’ practice squad by the Bills. Jamon Meredith, fifth-round pick this year, was signed by the Bills in September and started three games at right tackle.

Brohm's struggles since being drafted have been well documented. But coach Mike McCarthy said on Nov. 4 that Brohm was making progress, and would the quarterback signed to the active roster should the Packers find themselves in need of another for injury reasons.

"We feel we have a quarterback in Brian's situation," McCarthy said. "I think Brian is really improving. We have repped him as far as opponent reps and even some of the offensive reps every single week. His reps are very similar to the number of reps he had last year, so he's having the opportunity to improve."

[El Duderino]

Meredith and now Brohm to the Bills. Meredith has been starting at RT for them, i wonder how he's doing? I sure as hell hope he's doing poorly because that would really suck if we lost a decent young tackle prospect all to keep three fullbacks or Bush instead.

[MadCityBucky]

The guy sucks, so no big loss except I guess having wasted a 2nd round pick. Matt Flynn is much better anyways.

[Thunder Muscle]

Never really saw much to think the guy was going to be a solid NFL starter. Maybe a fresh start will be good for him.

Gotta chalk it up as a high round bust for Ted though. I didn't hate the pick, but the fact is that he was a bust for a 2nd round pick. Thankfully Matt Flynn has developed into a servicable backup (so it seems).

[an_also]

cant really blame him

[ReasonablySober]

I loved the pick when it was made but this was one of the big draft blunders in recent memory for the Packers. You can't chalk it up to injuries, he just couldn't play.

Side note, Packers signed QB Mike Reilly to their practice squad. I've seen him play in person more than a few times and I thought he looked alright in the preseason. I could see him as the #3 next season.

[an_also]

How much would an average practice squad player make in salary?

[MickeyDavis]

They make a minimum of $5200 a week but a team can pay them more, up to their original contract if they wish.

[Ayt]

Meh. It sucks to have wasted a 2nd rounder on him, but it happens.

[MikeIsGood]

Meredith and now Brohm to the Bills. Meredith has been starting at RT for them, i wonder how he's doing? I sure as hell hope he's doing poorly because that would really suck if we lost a decent young tackle prospect all to keep three fullbacks or Bush instead.

He just went down with a knee sprain, but I've heard he was doing pretty well. The pass-blocking numbers seem to support that, also. I was less-than-pleased to see things happen with Meredith the way they did. No, I didn't feel like we lost a superstar or anything but I liked the pick and wanted to see him stick around. Our offensive line much of the year has played like ****, and we practice squaded a guy who went on to start and preform well on another team.

In his 3 starts for the Bills, he had 0 false start or holding penalties, and only allowed 0.5 sacks. Allen Barbre, for one, has 3 total penalties and 7 sacks allowed for 59 total yards in 7 starts. Clifton has 5 penalties and 2.5 sacks allowed in his 5 games. Sacks allowed is not a perfect stat by any means, but I think the meaning in that is apparent.

[Flames24Rulz]

There's a reason why the Bills suck.

[SteveScheffler]

mike reilly chopped my team in college. he is really good. I'm surprised we got him.

[ReasonablySober]

The only issue is he can't throw the ball across the street.

[El Duderino]

Meredith and now Brohm to the Bills. Meredith has been starting at RT for them, i wonder how he's doing? I sure as hell hope he's doing poorly because that would really suck if we lost a decent young tackle prospect all to keep three fullbacks or Bush instead.

He just went down with a knee sprain, but I've heard he was doing pretty well. The pass-blocking numbers seem to support that, also. I was less-than-pleased to see things happen with Meredith the way they did. No, I didn't feel like we lost a superstar or anything but I liked the pick and wanted to see him stick around. Our offensive line much of the year has played like ****, and we practice squaded a guy who went on to start and preform well on another team.

In his 3 starts for the Bills, he had 0 false start or holding penalties, and only allowed 0.5 sacks. Allen Barbre, for one, has 3 total penalties and 7 sacks allowed for 59 total yards in 7 starts. Clifton has 5 penalties and 2.5 sacks allowed in his 5 games. Sacks allowed is not a perfect stat by any means, but I think the meaning in that is apparent.

I wanted to hear Meredith did terrible and they had to bench him

That said, it's true that sack totals can be somewhat misleading. Take Colledge. McGinn after eight games did his half way report card and Colledge lead the team in pressures allowed with 27 1/2 and lead the line in bad runs responsibility with 9 so far. Granted some of those pressures came at LT, but it's still more pressures allowed than the human turnstile Allen Babre. I really hope Ted let's Colledge walk after this season, i want an upgrade at that LG spot.

[Wade-A-Holic]

Agreed. I'm tired of watching Colledge getting walked up field into Rodgers' lap 4 times a game. He doesn't consistently play with leverage, which is why he's a mediocre-at-best run blocker as well. I think we can do much better at that position.

[eagle13]

If college has ANOTHER bad game - then maybe Tausch at RT and Lang at LG for the rest of this season.

[Wade-A-Holic]

I doubt it. The coaching staff likes Colledge, and I'm not sure I'd even prefer Lang and Tauscher, given how bad Tauscher looked in Tampa Bay.

[Flames24Rulz]

I doubt it. The coaching staff likes Colledge, and I'm not sure I'd even prefer Lang and Tauscher, given how bad Tauscher looked in Tampa Bay.

Really? I thought Tauscher looked pretty good in the first half against Tampa. No sacks, the ground game was working...as soon as he was injured, that's when our line started to crap the bed.

[Rockmaninoff]

I think Lang and Sitton are two guards worth keeping. Maybe Spitz at center. The rest of the line can go to hell.

[Wade-A-Holic]

I think Lang and Sitton are two guards worth keeping. Maybe Spitz at center. The rest of the line can go to hell.

Yep. I'm still willing to try Lang at right tackle, am fine with Spitz or Wells at center (but nowhere else), and I still have hope that Giacomini can become a decent right tackle, but other than that, the cupboard is pretty bare. How much quality there is to be had along the offensive line is completely dependent on how many underclassmen declare for the draft. It's going to be slim pickings at tackle if it's left up to this year's senior class. The guy I really like is Charles Brown out of USC. I think he'll probably go somewhere in the range of where the Packers pick likely will be and he's going to be good.