2010 Green Bay Packers' March: In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

As Green Bay Packers fans might imagine, the month of March is “quiet time” at 1265 Lombardi Ave.

Office personnel are busy playing solitaire on their computers, and the water cooler continually plays host to bored employees looking to eat up some minutes.

The St. Patty’s Day office party, with Mike McCarthy dressed as a leprechaun, is always the highlight of the month.

Every day, Ted Thompson is seen entering the building in the morning and leaving at night, but little else is known of what he’s doing in his office.

Watching re-runs of Gomer Pyle? Playing waste-basket-ball? Who knows?

The marketing department probably has all-day brainstorming sessions on how to keep the Packers in the news. College interns secretly scour the news wires and keep track of other teams’ free agent signings, wishing they could have landed a gig with those organizations.

Of course, I’m just being facetious here, but this imaginary Lambeau office scene of previous months of March provides a stark contrast to how March 2010 started for the Packers.

This March, I can imagine employees struggling to keep up with the workload.

In 2009, the biggest March news was signing Anthony Smith and retaining Jarret Bush (groan). Looking back further, not since 2006 has there been such a flurry of March activity from our beloved Green Bay Packers.

Here’s a quick synopsis:

Packers sign: Marquand Manuel, Ryan Pickett, Tracy White, Billy Cundiff, Ben Taylor

Packers re-sign: Ahman Green, Aaron Kampman, William Henderson, Cullen Jenkins, Colin Cole, Najeh Davenport

Packers release: N’ail Diggs

Packers lose: Antonio Chatman, Mike Flanagan, Tony Fisher, Craig Nall, Ryan Longwell

Packers sign: Frank Walker

Packers re-sign: Tyson Walter, Noah Herron, Colin Cole, Tory Humphrey

Packers release: William Henderson, Kurt Campbell

Packers lose: David Martin

Packers sign: Brandon Chillar

Packers re-sign: John Kuhn, Tory Humphrey, Ruvell Martin, Atari Bigby

Packers lose: Frank Walker

Packers trade: Corey Williams

Brett Favre “retires”

Packers sign: Anthony Smith, Duke Preston

Packers re-sign: Jarret Bush, Mike Montgomery, Jason Hunter

Packers release: n/a

Packers lose: Colin Cole

Packers sign: Charles Dillon, Chris Bryan

Packers re-sign: Chad Clifton, Nick Collins, Ryan Pickett, Mark Tauscher

Packers release: Matt Giordano, Mike Montgomery, Jeremy Kapinos*

Packers lose: Aaron Kampman

*An interesting side note about Kapinos: Nowhere on the Packers' official website, Packers.com , is there a story about his release. No news story, no press release; just an entry on the transactions list.

DeShawn Wynn, who was also not tendered a contract, is still listed on the Packers roster. Kapinos is not. Obviously, the Packers are quite pissed about his comments and the ungraceful exit he made after his release.

So what does this flurry of March activity mean?

With the potential prospect of very turbulent waters between the NFLPA and the NFL in 2011, it seems logical for teams that think they are close to making a Super Bowl run to take their shot now.

For some teams, this means signing big name free agents (Chicago) or collecting Packers castoffs (Minnesota). For the Packers under Ted Thompson, it mostly means re-signing their own free agents and then taking a nap.

Forgive my sarcasm.

Of course the Packers are busy preparing for the NFL Draft, otherwise known as “the only hope Packers fans have of seeing Green Bay fill some of those holes we all know exist.”

Yes, the Packers’ March started out with a flurry of activity. The 10 transactions listed above all occurred from March 1 to March 16.

Since then…crickets.

What began as a loud roar for the Packers has turned into a quiet little whimper.

Hey, it’s what we all expect this time of year, anyway.

Yawn…

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Jersey Al Bracco is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com. You can find more of Jersey Al ’s articles on several sports websites: NFL Touchdown , Packers Lounge , Packer Chatters ,  and Bleacher Report .