Green Bay - Even if Justin Harrell can overcome the back injury that has plagued him for almost a year, there's a good chance he won't be playing defensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers next season.
Harrell, who had two back surgeries last year and was put on injured reserve late in the season after the pain flared up again, fits the mold of a defensive end in the new 3-4 defense. At 6 feet 4 inches and 320 pounds, he doesn't quite have the size and low center of gravity of a 3-4 nose tackle.
"I'm going to have to watch more of him," defensive line coach Mike Trgovac said Tuesday during a meet-and-greet with the new defensive staff. "Now I know New England has (Vince) Wilfork and Pittsburgh has (Casey) Hampton. Those are bigger guys in there.
"So you'd probably look at him - again, it's early on it now - but you'd probably look at him as an end-type person."
According to coach Mike McCarthy, Harrell is in town working out and rehabilitating his back.
Just for kicks: Special teams coach Shawn Slocum remains high on kicker Mason Crosby even though he hit 79.4% of his field goal attempts and missed two winning attempts.
But asked if he thought Crosby should have some competition in training camp, Slocum seemed to be in favor of it.
"That will be up to Ted and Mike, how they want to approach that," Slocum said, referring to general manager Ted Thompson and McCarthy.
Injury list: Linebacker Nick Barnett is doing well in his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery Nov. 20.
"Nick's doing very well and is ahead of schedule," McCarthy said. "He went out to Arizona and is working with some people out there."
Safety Atari Bigby, who had ankle surgery Dec. 26, is doing his rehabilitation in Miami and is on schedule, according to McCarthy.
Bob McGinn of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Copyright 2009, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)
