Packers Annual Checkup: John Kuhn

By foxsports
Published

John Kuhn, fullback

FOX Sports Wisconsin's Paul Imig gives an in-depth statistical analysis and film study of every Packers player in his annual offseason checkup. You can find every report here.

Season stats (playoffs included): 18 games, four starts (249 offensive snaps; 20.5 percent of total offensive snaps), 27 rushing attempts, 92 yards, one touchdown, zero fumbles; six receptions, 33 yards, one dropped pass

ProFootballFocus.com season rating: 1.8 (ranked No. 9 out of 24 Packers offensive players; ranked No. 10 out of 23 among NFL fullbacks); minus-2.5 special teams rating

Best game: Week 10 win over Chicago (played 20 of 67 offensive snaps); five rushing attempts for 20 yards; 2.2 PFF rating

Worst game: Week 17 win over Detroit (played 23 of 68 offensive snaps); three carries for six yards; minus-1.4 PFF rating

Expectations at the start of the season: Medium

Expectations were ... Met

Looking live: Based on ProFootballFocus rating alone, John Kuhn's 2013 season was his best since 2008. That was despite Kuhn's 38 rushing yards being his fewest in five years. Fans might happen to recall a certain well-timed pass block in Week 17 that season on Julius Peppers that gave Aaron Rodgers the extra second needed to find Randall Cobb for a division-winning, playoff-spot-clinching touchdown.

Where he excelled in 2013 was as a run-blocker in front of then-rookie Eddie Lacy, with Kuhn playing more snaps in run-blocking situations than in any other area. While the typical offseason conversation surrounding Kuhn had previously been about whether the Packers should retain him, it had turned to be more about his value -- with the assumption that of course Green Bay would bring him back.

Kuhn re-signed with the Packers leading into the 2014 season on a one-year, $1 million deal. However, it was fair to wonder at the time just how big Kuhn's role would be as a 32-year-old who's playing a position that's being somewhat fazed out in the NFL.

As a player in his eighth season in Green Bay, Kuhn was as steady in training camp as most would expect. At that point in most player's careers, they are what they are. And Kuhn is a dependable veteran who was always consistent with his approach and a good representative of all things Packers to his younger teammates.

Kuhn spent a lot of time in training camp working with the No. 1 kickoff return, kickoff coverage and punt-coverage units.

Upon further review: The midseason bye-week change that Green Bay made that got the most attention was Clay Matthews adding inside linebacker to his job responsibilities. It was a big story for obvious reasons. But that wasn't the only notable switch that Mike McCarthy instituted at that time. The difference between Kuhn's role in Weeks 1-8 compared to the second half of the season was significant.

Kuhn played 58 snaps in the first eight games, a measly average of 7.25 snaps per game. When the Packers came back from the bye week, McCarthy immediately found ways to get Kuhn more involved. Kuhn's role continued to increase the rest of the way, to the point where he was on the field for 44 percent of the offensive snaps in the playoff game against Dallas.

The vast majority of Kuhn's time on the field was spent blocking for running backs. Rather than the two-tight-end offensive sets like was more commonplace earlier in the season, McCarthy put Kuhn in front of Lacy and let them run. If anyone wants to jump to a conclusion that Kuhn's usage increased because Green Bay needed him for pass protection, that was not the case. Kuhn pass-blocked a total of only 23 times all season, which is barely more than once per game. Sixty percent of Kuhn's 249 snaps in 2014 were as a run-blocker.

The end result of the year's work for Kuhn was being a Pro Bowl selection for the second time in his career (the first time was 2011 when the Packers went 15-1) and getting named as a first-team All-Pro (which was a first for him). It can easily be argued that any player who's on the field for just 249 snaps in a season shouldn't be in the same sentence with Rodgers, J.J. Watt and Rob Gronkowski as first-team All-Pros. After all, should Jordy Nelson have been a second-team All-Pro but Kuhn a first-team All-Pro? Probably not. But none of that changes Kuhn's spot on the list, and it shows how respected his contributions have become across the league.

Overall 2014 grade: C-plus

Status for 2015: Seventy percent chance of being on Green Bay's active roster to begin the 2015 regular season. Just like last offseason, Kuhn is an unrestricted free agent once again. He'll turn 33 years old leading into Week 2 of next season, and at some point the time will come that McCarthy decides to move in a different direction. But with Lacy running strong and Kuhn unlikely to command much money, there are worse ways for a Super Bowl-caliber team to spend $1 million and one roster spot.

Next: Running back Eddie Lacy

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