Ryan Grant: How Much Does His Loss Hurt Packers' Super Bowl Chances?

The Green Bay Packers' high octane offense was surely dealt a blow today with news surfacing that starting running back Ryan Grant will miss the rest of the 2010 season.

Grant will need surgery on his ankle to repair ligament damage suffered in last Sunday's win over the Philadelphia Eagles, and was placed on season-ending injured reserve. 

The owner of back-to-back 1,200 yard seasons with Green Bay, Grant was undoubtedly the work horse of the Packers' backfield. In fact, Grant has carried the ball 594 times in the past two seasons, or over 68 percent of the Packers total carries during that time.

While the news certainly hurts the Packers offense, is Grant's injury a death sentence for the Packers' promising 2010 season? Absolutely not.

First of all, we must remember where Ryan Grant came from and how he got his start with the Packers.

Grant was a cast-off, fourth string running back when Green Bay acquired him from the New York Giants in 2007.

Throughout the first part of the 2007 season, the Packers running attack was almost non-existent and He Who Shall Not Be Named basically carried Green Bay's offense. When Grant was inserted into the starting lineup in week eight, however, he proceeded to rush for 100 yards in five of the remaining ten games and significantly helped balance the Packers' offense.

Starting out as such an unknown commodity, Grant turned out to be the missing piece in the Packers' run to the NFC Championship game that year.

Why would it be so unbelievable that the Packers could find another version of Ryan Grant? Grant is far from a physical specimen, and doesn't have blazing speed, so he has a replaceable skill set.

Theoretically then, why couldn't Brandon Jackson or some other Packer have that same kind of impact once he's been given the chance?

Which leads me to my next reason why Packers' fans shouldn't waver from their expectations for this season. Running back is arguably the easiest position to replace on an offense.

Let's be honest, this isn't an injury to Aaron Rodgers or one of our offensive tackles. Those are positions that you can't just plug someone in and expect everything to still run smoothly.

Running back is, however. For example, take a look at Arian Foster in Houston. Foster was undrafted, and for the majority of last season was on the Texans' practice squad. Houston gave him a shot in week one of this season, and they were rewarded with a franchise record 231 yards and three touchdowns.

Am I saying Jackson or Jon Kuhn or newly acquired Dmitri Nance is going to rush for 231 yards next week? Of course not. But running back is one position where, given an opportunity, stars can be made seemingly overnight.

If you need further proof, look back to the Packers' immortal Samkon Gado.

An aspiring medical student from powerhouse Liberty University, Gado was handed the Packers' running back duties after Ahman Green was injured. These days, you'd think his number 35 jersey was retired in Green Bay because of the impact he had in one season when given the opportunity.

And lets not forget, rookie James Starks comes off the PUP list after week six. Most people in Packers' camp (and me) were high on Starks before he got hurt and missed considerable time.

So lets say, hypothetically, the Packers' running attack is struggling heading into week seven or eight, and Starks has had a couple solid weeks of practice. Insert him into the starting lineup, and you just never know, Starks could have the same impact on this Packers team as Grant did on the '07 team.

Don't get me wrong, losing Ryan Grant hurts the Packers offense right now. You typically don't cake walk into 1,200 yard seasons in the NFL (although you could argue he made it awfully painful in '08 with a 3.9 yard per carry), and Grant has done it twice.

But with injury comes opportunity, and it's time to see what we have in Brandon Jackson, James Starks, and Dmitri Nance.

So before you jump off the Packers' bandwagon, I invite you to take a wait-and-see approach. The next Packers starting running back may just be handed the opportunity he needed this season.