Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley's 2011 season looked good on paper -- 767 yards and eight scores -- but felt like a disappointment.
He dropped 13 passes, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. He was a distant third in the team's passing-game pecking order behind Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings. In a league where tight ends dominated, Finley's numbers weren't that impressive considering he was playing with the NFL's Most Valuable Player.
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Finley hoped to erase last season by getting more time on the practice field with Aaron Rodgers, but the tight end has missed much of training camp with a concussion and a thigh injury. Finley has yet to play in the preseason. Meanwhile, another tight end is challenging Finley for snaps. D.J. Williams is going to be a factor for this Packers team.
Williams can line up in even more spots than Finley, including the backfield. Tom Silverstein writes that Williams has enjoyed one of the best camps of any player on the team.
"Not taking nothing away from D.J., but camp is camp," Finley said. "San Francisco has a great defense. It ain't going to be nothing like camp, I guarantee you. Like I said, we can talk about this and that, but once you get out there on the grass it's a whole other thing. We've been going against the third, fourth team (in practice). We haven't been going against the first team consistently."
Finley sounds dismissive of the challenge Williams could present. But Packers coach Mike McCarthy has made a concerted effort to develop the other tight ends on the roster.
"We kind of made a mistake the Super Bowl year," McCarthy said. "We probably had too much for Jermichael because then we lost him and we had to really shift gears there in-season and we kind of sputtered.
"So I'm very conscientious of that. My point is there's plenty in there for Jermichael and plenty for the rest of those guys. So that's not an issue at all."
For Rodgers, this is a good problem. (Unlike, say, a pie in the face.) The Packers' quarterback almost has too many weapons in the passing game when you throw in Randall Cobb, James Jones and Donald Driver.
For Finley, all that depth may be an obstacle to a resurgent season.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
