Remember Khyri Thornton?
The Green Bay Packers drafted him in the third round last year and we all said, “Who?”
The common thinking at the time was the Southern Miss defensive tackle was maybe a fifth-round prospect at best. Still, there the Packers were outsmarting everyone (including themselves) by choosing Thornton in the third round.
Predictably, Thornton did nothing during training camp. In fact, we heard “not ready for the NFL yet” bandied about more than once.
Had the Packers not just spent a third-round pick on Thornton, it was obvious he would have been released. But they did and a hamstring injury (which was not of the season-ending variety) allowed the Packers to put Thornton on injured reserve. So essentially, everyone quickly realized they had a guy who wasn’t capable of making the roster, but they needed to hang onto him somehow because he was a high draft pick. So let’s stash him on injured reserve.
Good job, all around.
So what can we expect from Khyri Thornton this year?
Well, right now we expect nothing, so if the guy gives the Packers anything at all, that’s just gravy.
Coach Mike McCarthy did point out one encouraging difference in Thornton this year, however. He’s maybe less lazy than he used to be.
“I think Thornton has really turned the corner in the weight and conditioning part of it,” McCarthy said.
You could, of course, look at that statement the other way too. The fact that it needs to be pointed out that this fat bastard has his weight under control is a sign that this fat bastard often lets his weight get out of control. In other words, he’s lazy.
Never a good sign for a defensive lineman.
But that’s the thing about workout warriors, which is what Thornton was.
Word is, the Packers drafted him in the third because of how impressed they were with his workouts. But you only need to get in shape once for pre-draft workouts. Once you’ve killed those, you can just go back to being a lazy SOB.
In our minds, Thornton has this year to prove he’s not really just a lazy SOB. If he doesn’t, there’s no reason to keep him around other than Ted’s ego.