The question is, if Tauscher is indeed healthy by then, will he be with a team?

"There's no doubt that I'll have a job somewhere next (season)," Tauscher said May 13 at his charity golf outing in Sheboygan Falls, Wis.

Tauscher, however, doesn't know whether he will be re-signed by the Packers, for whom he has been a starter since his rookie season in 2000.

General manager Ted Thompson has made it clear that he won't consider bringing back Tauscher until the team has assurances that Tauscher is fully recovered from ACL knee surgery he underwent in January.

Team president Mark Murphy told the Green Bay Press-Gazette at the start of the Packers Tailgate Tour on May 11 that doctors informed Tauscher that he could need until mid-October before he plays again.

Tauscher is confident he is ahead of schedule with his rehab work and reported no swelling in the left knee, which has been surgically repaired twice in his pro tenure.

Although Tauscher is a free agent, he has been treated as still being a Packer this offseason. He spent the first few months of his rehab program at the team's Lambeau Field facilities. His nameplate hasn't been removed from his locker-room cubicle. He remains on the team roster.

Without Tauscher, the Packers have a bevy of young candidates to take over at right tackle: Tony Moll, Breno Giacomini, Allen Barbre and drafted rookie T.J. Lang.

--Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre's quarterback heir in Green Bay, chimed in about the recent hullabaloo generated by the apparent courtship of the retired Favre by the Minnesota Vikings.

While playing in free-agent Packers right tackle Mark Tauscher's charity golf outing May 13, Rodgers was asked by ESPN radio in Milwaukee how would it feel to see Favre in an archrival Vikings uniform wearing his familiar No. 4.

"It would be different," Rodgers said. "It would be a different feeling to look across the field and see him wearing -- I'm assuming (Vikings backup QB) John David Booty would give him No. 4 -- a purple 4 jersey, for sure."

--Rodgers acknowledged in the radio interview that this offseason for him has been low-key, in sharp contrast to the commotion he endured last year. After he was anointed Green Bay's starting quarterback following Favre's retirement, Rodgers was caught in the middle of a soap opera that played out early in training camp when Favre unretired before the Packers traded him to the New York Jets.

"Last summer kind of put me on the map, more than maybe I expected," Rodgers said of the resulting notoriety. "I'm a little more recognizable, even when I leave Green Bay, go to San Diego (his offseason home) or travel to the places that I've traveled, which is fun."

--Linebacker Brady Poppinga told reporters during the Packers Tailgate Tour, a four-day excursion by bus through Wisconsin for a few players and team officials, that he was happy the team traded up to take Southern California linebacker Clay Matthews with the second of two first-round draft picks last month.

The selection didn't bode well for Poppinga's hold on a starting spot. Matthews is expected to start at right outside linebacker, ahead of Poppinga, in the Packers' new 3-4 scheme.

Poppinga isn't balking, however, saying he is being trained in offseason workouts at outside linebacker on both the right side and the left side, where Pro Bowl defensive end Aaron Kampman was moved.

--Organized team activities will be May 26 to June 18, followed by the minicamp June 22-24.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We're not really trying to worry about what Brett's doing right now. Hopefully, he stays retired, but if he wants to come back, that's up to him. But, hopefully, he stays in Mississippi." -- Packers safety Nick Collins on the speculation that quarterback Brett Favre, a former teammate with Green Bay, will come out of retirement and sign with the NFC North rival Minnesota Vikings.