Ty'Ron Hopper was famously a virtually invisible man for his first two years in Green Bay.
You've heard the numbers, but permit me to recount them again. Over his first two seasons with the Packers, Hopper lined up for just 144 snaps on defense. He played more on special teams, but considering how many of his reps came on kickoff coverage and return, a good number of those snaps involved him doing literally nothing as the ball sailed into the end zone for a touchback. Prior to injuries to Edgerrin Cooper and Zaire Franklin, there were 21 games in Hopper's career where he was active but never appeared on defense. In 15 games, he recorded zero tackles — despite being in uniform and on the field, he had the same measurable impact on the game that you or I did.
But with those aforementioned injuries clearing the way, Hopper has blossomed. Thursday night he had a remarkable statistical performance, recording multiple passes defensed, an interception, and a sack, an outing only duplicated in recent Packers history by Charles Woodson, which is pretty excellent company to keep.
None of this, for what it's worth, is evidence that Hopper is about to become a core part of the Packers defense. Anybody can have a good game or two; putting together consistently good performances is what separates the metaphorical men from the boys. But this is far more than we've seen from Hopper to this point, and, if nothing else, it should be evidence that he can do good things for the defense when he's on the field.
Considering how little he's been on the field so far, that's a huge step forward.
Ty'Ron Hopper, Packers defense justifies draft and develop philosophy | Packers Wire
Whatever patience the Packers had with Hopper is paying off.
Ty'Ron Hopper, other Packers subs step up in win over Panthers | Packers News ($)
Hopper had the game of his life, and he appears to be rounding into form at an opportune time.
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They've got the cloud of dust part down pat, I'll give them that.
I have no idea what Brian Gutekunst is going to do at the trade deadline, but nothing about this season would surprise me anymore.
Judging overreactions to NFL Week 8: Days numbered for Schottenheimer, Jackson? | ESPN
Week 8 was about as wild a week of NFL football as you're going to see. Almost nothing feels like an overreaction.
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We're just past Halloween, but it looks like Thing from the Addams Family is still sticking around.
I don't know if John Williams is the future at center, but he's been remarkably solid in two games so far. Considering that he'd never played the spot in an actual game before, that's pretty amazing!
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