Some might say the relevance of this column is past, and that may be so. It also might be long overdue.

Based upon roster cuts and personnel decisions made by the coaching staff, it's obvious that the Green Bay Packers don't care about preseason football games. How else can one explain the apathy toward perhaps the three best individual performances of the '09 preseason.

Take Tyrell Sutton for example (yes, I'm beating a horse that's not only dead, it's rotten and decaying as well). He was the Packers leading rusher during the preseason, gaining nearly 100 more yards than the next closest player. He also had a 4.8 yard average per carry, best on the team among running backs.

Fans know the story by now. Sutton is cut and eventually signed by the Carolina Panthers. Meanwhile, the Packers have an ineffective running game, are injury-riddled at the position and have just signed an aging Ahman Green whose best years are behind him.

I'm not naive enough to think that Sutton was the cure for all that ails the Packer defense. But I think even the most ardent supporters of the Mike McCarthy/Ted Thompson regime would rather have seen a rookie with potential and fresh legs like Sutton rather than a veteran past his prime like Green.

Sutton is far from the only case study. Also released on the final day of roster cutdowns was safety Anthony Smith at another position where the Packers have had their fair share of troubles.

Given the injury to Atari Bigby, hindsight is 20/20. But combined with the release of Aaron Rouse, Smith would have proven to be a more capable backup at safety than either Derrick Martin or Matt Giordano, both of whom have had to learn the Packers' defense after training camp.

Smith was the only free agent of any significance signed this offseason and could have figured into the Packers' equation on defense. Considering the contract status of Nick Collins, the injury situation regarding Bigby and the below average histories of Jarrett Bush, Martin and Giordano, Smith could have lent at least a modicum of stability at safety.

He, too, performed well during the preseason. One of only two players on the team with at least two interceptions during preseason play, Smith also tallied a sack on a safety blitz and also led the team in passes defensed to boot.

And finally for the player still on the Packers' roster but with no more than a special teams role, Desmond Bishop. Despite a lack of impact plays from the inside linebacker position, Bishop still rusts away on the bench.

He was the team's leading tackler in the preseason but also tallied a sack, two interceptions, a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and two passes defended. With those kinds of stats Bishop probably had the best overall preseason of any single player on the Packers' roster.

Now in Bishop's third season as a pro, it's unclear whether the coaching staff is holding him back due to deficiencies from seasons past or problems seen during practice. Either way, Bishop did everything in his power to prove himself on the field of play.

Shouldn't performance during game situations be the number one evaluation tool? If not, shouldn't it at least rank near the top? In regards to the Packers, it appears not.