GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Someone might've been having a little fun when he assigned uniform No. 68 to rookie tackle Fabbians Ebbele.
Or perhaps it's just a coincidence that his number perfectly describes, at least in terms of his height, the undrafted free agent. At 6-foot-8, he's the tallest player on the Green Bay Packers' training camp roster.
Ebbele (pronounced UH-belly) stands a full three inches taller than the next tallest offensive lineman in camp. Among all Packers, only linebacker Julius Peppers, at 6-7, even comes close.
"Yeah, he's a tall one," Packers offensive line coach James Campen said.
That's not necessarily a bonus for an offensive tackle, whose success often depends on his ability to stay low and keep his pad level down.
"That's the tough part," said Ebbele, a Chicago native who started 51 career college games at Arizona. "You've got to play low, but you're so tall. And they're like, 'Bend.’ And I feel like I'm bending. I just try to use my length to keep people off me."
The hardest part for Ebbele is the new "chute" drill the Packers started in camp this year. The apparatus helps players stay low while in their stance, but it doesn't do Ebbele any favors.
"It's the worst thing in the world," he said. "It's like, can we let the chute up just one more notch? But it works. It really stresses the point of playing low, staying low."
No one ever told Ebbele that he's too tall for football. But at Simeon High School in Chicago, people did ask him, "Why aren't you playing basketball?"
"That was the most common question," he said.
At this point, Ebbele looks like a project. He's not among the Packers' top eight or nine linemen, which means he has little shot to make the roster. He had a hard time adjusting to the speed of NFL pass-rushers at first, but lately he has made strides. His record in the one-on-one pass blocking drill is just 13-5, a middling mark for an offensive lineman.
But for all the challenges his height presents, there are advantages.
"He has tremendous length," Campen said. "If he were standing in front of you, he could pick-pocket you. He's learning how to use that length and play with low leverage. He's getting better every day, working his trade and using his length to his advantage. Once you get there, then you really have an advantage."
Campen, a former NFL center who has coached offensive linemen in Green Bay for more than a decade, hasn't had many players as tall as Ebbele. But he did recall one: Brennan Curtin, a sixth-round draft pick in 2003, who stood 6-9. Like Ebbele, Curtin was a tackle. He was believed to be the tallest player in team history although he never actually played in a regular-season game.
And then Campen remembered what number Curtin wore.
"He was number 69," he said. "I never even thought of that. He was 6-9 and wore 69. And this kid's 6-8, and he wears 68. Who assigns the numbers?"
