Kellen Winslow Jr. reportedly will work out for the Packers
Back in March, 33-year-old former NFL tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. told FOXSports.com that he was attempting a comeback.
This weekend, he’ll reportedly finally get a team to take a look at how it’s going.
Green Bay – a franchise that was starved for playmaking ability at tight end last season – is as good of a place for Winslow to get a chance as any. The Packers already have signed former Rams tight end Jared Cook as the down-the-seam threat they were missing last year, but he’s been missing practices with a foot injury. That leaves the somewhat slow-footed Richard Rodgers, last year’s starter, as the only legitimate target on the roster.
Winslow was the sixth overall pick by the Cleveland Browns in the 2004 draft and suffered a severely broken leg during his rookie season that altered the course of his career. He missed most of 2004 and all of 2005 before getting back on track with 89 catches in 2006 and 82 catches for a career-high 1,106 yards in 2007, when he made his only Pro Bowl. In 2009, he was traded from the Browns to the Bucs for a second-round pick, and a trade from Tampa Bay to Seattle in 2012 sent his career into a downward spiral that saw him play for three teams (Seahawks, Patriots, Jets) in his final two seasons in the league.
His outspoken personality sometimes wore on coaches, and he hasn’t been on an NFL roster since 2013. But Winslow said in March that he’d lost 25 pounds on a rigorous bicycling regimen and is back to his playing weight of 240. More important, he said he’s matured:
"We make mistakes in life. It's all about reflecting upon yourself, looking at yourself in the mirror and coming out a better person in the end. That's what I am now.
"I've worked my butt off, especially these past couple years. I was cycling like 250 miles a week, sometimes 350. That's the most I ever did. It gave me time to think and reflect and decide what I wanted to do."
This is interesting… FA TE Kellen Winslow II is working out for the #Packers tomorrow, sources say. His first since attempting a comeback
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 6, 2016
