GREEN BAY, Wis. -- John Crockett joined the Green Bay Packers' travel party last week not because they planned to activate him for Thursday’s game at the Detroit Lions but because he and tight end Mitchell Henry were the practice squad players of the week.
That honor earned them the right to go on the road.
Three hours before the game, the rookie running back from North Dakota State realized how quickly things can change in the NFL.
When the Packers decided to cut fellow rookie running back Alonzo Harris after he and Eddie Lacy missed curfew Wednesday night, Crockett was signed to the active roster shortly before he left the team hotel to head over to Ford Field.
“Things happen,” Crockett said, “and I fell into the right place.”
There’s no telling what the Packers would have done had Crockett been back in Green Bay with the rest of the non-traveling practice squad players.
Crockett played just seven snaps against the Lions, but as offensive coordinator Edgar Bennett always says, he made the most of his opportunities. The three-time 1,000-yard rusher at North Dakota State whose original contract with the Packers contained just a $5,000 signing bonus carried five times for 22 yards in his first NFL regular-season action.
The 6-foot, 217-pound Crockett opened the second half as the starting running back. After he was stuffed for no gain on his first carry, he then had runs of four and 12 yards to help the Packers finally get on the board with their first score of the game.
“It was nothing that I did,” Crockett said. “At the end of the day, it’s all the offensive line. Those guys were great up front. They were able to make holes for me. My job was just to figure out a way to get through them.”
Two possessions later, he ran for 10 yards before getting stuffed for minus-4 on his final carry. Throw out his first and last carry, and he gained 26 yards on three rushes.
“It just puts a smile on my face when I think of Crockett,” Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said. “You come off the field here at Lambeau (Field), he’s the first guy in the tunnel, greets the team. He’s got unbelievable energy. He puts a lot of time in. He’s got his nose in his playbook, the way it should be. So there’s just a lot there that’s been going on for really since training camp. That decision could’ve went either way, in my opinion, between Alonzo and Crockett. It was time to give the young man an opportunity.”
McCarthy’s comments might be as much an endorsement of Crockett as they are an indictment of Harris. It’s doubtful McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson would’ve dumped Harris -- and decided not to bring him back to the practice squad -- had it been a first-time transgression.
However, from the start, Crockett was viewed as a high-energy, positive personality, and he led the Packers in rushing this preseason.
“I thought Crockett came in and gave us some good runs,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “I was really impressed by him. Being a practice-squad guy and then next thing you know he’s on the active roster, getting some carries, he’s making the most of his opportunities. So I’m happy for him.”
