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The Green Bay Packers’ 2007 first-round draft choice is well aware of how he’s failed to live up to the expectations of being the 16th overall pick.
Nevertheless, Harrell has heard from more than a few dissatisfied customers during training camp, and Monday’s news — that he will undergo another surgical procedure on his injured back and begin the regular season on the physically unable to perform list — isn’t going to go over well, either.
“You get a couple of smart comments when you pass by. I’ve heard it all,” said Harrell, who was in Charlotte, N.C., Monday seeking a second opinion on the ruptured disc in his back and expecting to be operated on later in the day. “I haven’t been practicing, so if I was in their situation, I might say the same thing.
“That’s extra motivation, people saying stuff — to go out and prove to people that I was worthy of a No. 1 pick and why the Packers brought me in. It’s nothing I’ve never been through before. The same thing happened in Tennessee, where people were doubting me, like the situation I’m in right now. I just need to get healthy.”
The problem for Harrell is that he can’t get healthy.
He entered the league having played just three games for the Volunteers during his final college season because of a ruptured biceps muscle, then was a spectator for the Packers’ entire offseason program. He finally saw action in nine games (including two in the playoffs) last season, but had it not been for injuries to Johnny Jolly and Colin Cole, he might have been inactive all year.
Expected to compete for a starting job this year following Corey Williams’ trade to Cleveland, Harrell injured his back lifting weights in spring, underwent surgery in April, then aggravated the injury before camp in late July. He was working with the rehabilitation group since camp opened July 28, but never showed enough progress to be cleared to practice.
Instead, by being placed on the PUP list, Harrell will miss the Packers’ first six regular-season games.
He’s eligible to start practicing the week of the Oct. 19 game against Indianapolis, and the team will have a three-week window during which it can evaluate him in practice and decide whether to activate him or place him on season-ending injured reserve.
General manager Ted Thompson said that while Harrell has “gotten himself in remarkable shape,” he had “plateaued” in his rehab and doctors thought surgery would “hurry things along.”
“It’s too bad. He’s worked very hard, and I know being a high-profile pick, a No. 1 pick, there’s a lot of pressure put on that and expectations of fans,” said Thompson, who was booed on draft day for taking Harrell. “It’s not his fault, and he’s trying his best to get back, and we’re still counting on him to help us this year.”
Thompson said the surgery is “a little bit different” than the April procedure, but wouldn’t elaborate.
Asked how good Harrell could be since Packers fans have yet to see much from him, Thompson said, “I don’t know. Eventually we hope that he’s the good player we think he is.
“We don’t think there’s anything fundamentally wrong with him. We don’t think it’s a lack of toughness. We just think he’s just had some bad luck.”
Despite watching Harrell and Ryan Pickett (hamstring) miss every practice of camp and Johnny Jolly (hip flexor) and Daniel Muir (groin) hobble in and out of the lineup, Thompson said he didn’t feel the need to add defensive line help.
“We feel pretty good about our defensive tackles,” Thompson said. “We think we have a fair number that are going to make this team and be a pretty solid group.”
For his part, Harrell intends to be among that group once he’s activated from the PUP.
“Moping ain’t going to change anything. You just have to deal with it. I’m just trying to do what I can to get myself well,” Harrell said. “The response the Packers got when they drafted me shows people don’t know a lot about me. But I haven’t done my part to show them. That’s my goal — to show people why the Packers did pick me.”
