Fans felt their hearts flutter when they heard the Packers made a trade with the Carolina Panthers. No, a blockbuster for Julius Peppers didn't go down. Rather, the Pack traded long snapper J.J. Jansen to the Panthers for a conditional draft pick, what is appearing to be a seventh round draft choice in 2011. This means that Jansen will have to meet crtain conditions in order for the Packers to receive the draft choice, for example making the roster or spending the entire season on the Panthers' roster. While not much, it's amazing that the Packers got anything. Bart Winkler of the Bucky Channel wonders if it's the first trade of a long snapper in NFL history. To my knowledge, I don't think a full-time long snapper has ever been drafted either. So receiving a draft choice, even a seventh rounder, is amazing. Brett Goode performed fine last year, and the Packers weren't about to keep two long snappers on their 80-man roster. In effect, the received something for nothing.

The Packers attended the workout of a guard from Duke University, and it's not the kind of guard that lines up next to the center. The workout was for Duke point guard Greg Paulus, who doesn't figure to have a career in professional basketball. Paulus was a high school All-American in football and has some talent. "A four-time all-state selection during his high-school career, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Paulus set six New York state passing records at Christian Brothers, including the record for passing yards (11,763)," writes Jason Wilde of the Wisconsin State Journal. "Christian Brothers was 42-3 with him at quarterback, and he started the U.S. Army All-American game. He finished his career with 152 career touchdown passes in 45 games and led his school to the NYSPHAA Class AA championship as a senior." There's nothing wrong with taking a peek even if he is a long shot. 

I disagree with Packergeeks when they say, "My concern lies in the fact that we have time to have Greg Paulus tryout but apparently little time to give a tryout to a legit veteran defensive player like Vonnie Holliday." First off, the Packers probably don't want Holliday. And even if that wasn't the case, he's older and will command more money than Paulus. There are legitimate reasons the Packers didn't work out Holliday.

Today is the release of the NFL schedule supposedly at 6 p.m. CST on the NFL Network. But no matter how things shake out, the Packers have the third easiest schedule in the entire league. The Bears and the Vikings have the easiest and second easiest schedule. So how did the NFC North get so lucky? They all have two games against last year's 0-16 Lions team. This is also your obligatory reminder to make hotel reservations NOW.

Mike Vandermause of the Green Bay Press-Gazette investigates whether first round draft picks are all that they're cracked up to be.

F. Gordon Union thinks the Packers will draft B.J. Raji.

Cheesehead TV think Aaron Rodgers has to improve the two minute drill portion of his game.

In their draft preview series, JSOnline looks at Knowshon Moreno while PackersNews.com looks at Michael Johnson. I think the odds of either one of them ending up in a Packers' uniform is slim to none.

Just an idea floating around my head: I'm liking the idea of trading down in the first round and taking a player like Mississippi's Peria Jerry to man one of the defensive end spots.

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