Ladarius Gunter Getting First Team Reps

LaDarius Gunter, cornerback, Green Bay Packers.

That’s who LaDarius Gunter is.

Gunter was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Miami, this year. And with the Packers having drafted cornerbacks with their first and second-round picks, Gunter clearly has no shot of making the roster.

Right?

Not according to cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt.

With Casey Hayward sidelined and Micah Hyde, for some reason, playing only safety, the Packers have been giving plenty of work to their young cornerbacks through OTAs and minicamp. Whitt says three of them have stood out — the two guys you’d expect to stand out and Gunter.

“That group in particular,” Whitt said, “has sort of separated themselves from the group of eight young guys. Now, one of those three got to separate themselves from those three guys, which who that’ll be, I don’t know. They all have talent.

“(Damarious Randall) is probably the most talented of those three, but (Quinten Rollins) has great instincts. He’s probably the most instinctual, and (Gunter) probably has the most technique right now, but they all have a long ways to go.”

Gunter played two pretty nondescript seasons at Miami, where his career totals were 55 tackles and three interceptions. While he has the size (6-2, 202) that no other cornerback on the Packers roster has, Gunter was hurt by a dreadfully slow (for a cornerback) 4.69 40 time at the combine.

That appears to be the primary reason he wasn’t drafted. Some talent evaluators had him pegged as a possible fourth-round pick.

Now, we don’t legitimately think Gunter could be a starting corner for the Packers this season, but he’s already making a case for a roster spot.

“He’s shown to me that he deserves an opportunity to be in the conversation with those other two guys with how he’s played. So he’s going to be given that opportunity,” Whitt said. “… He hasn’t been giving up completions. He’s just done a nice job. He has a long ways to go, too.”

Who knows.

Maybe we’re looking at the next Sam Shields here.

On the flip side, this is not good news for Demetri Goodson.


(totoalpackers.com)