Maybe you remember cornerback Jumal Rolle.
He played balls out last preseason. Made plays left and right. Totally made the Green Bay Packers roster.
Except that he didn’t.
Despite clearly earning a roster spot and being one of the surprises of the preseason, Ted Thompson decided Rolle would not be getting a roster spot. Instead, he gave Rolle’s roster spot to sixth-round pick Demetri Goodson, who literally made no impact during the preseason and was injured at the time.
The thinking was that the Packers had to keep Goodson on the active roster. If they released him while he was injured, they’d have to give him an injury settlement and wouldn’t have been able to re-sign him for six weeks. So Goodson stayed and Rolle was relegated to the practice squad.
The Packers were bound and determined to bend this kid over and make him take the high, hard one repeatedly though. As such, the injustice and stupidity didn’t end at that time.
No, it continued into the season. Linebacker Andy Mulumba went on injured reserve on Sept. 19. The Packers sat around with an open roster spot for two full weeks.
Promote the most deserving guy from the practice squad, right? That’s the obvious solution and one that would have righted an obvious wrong.
Nope.
Ted just kept pounding Rolle right in the ass.
Eventually, Rolle got a call from the Houston Texans. They offered him a roster spot and he took it.
Rolle played in 10 games for the Texans in 2014, recording 19 tackles and three picks. That’s as many picks as anyone on the Packers had in 16 games.
And now the Packers are thin at cornerback. And now Big Ted is real sorry he boned that whole situation.
“There’s always some regret,” Thompson said. “I’m a hoarder of players. I like to keep them all. He’s one of those guys we would have liked to have kept, as well.”
Ah, great.
So why the hell didn’t you keep him?
Did he screw your mother?
That’s the only explanation we can fathom.