Packers’ middle linebacker Desmond Bishop went down with a hamstring and knee injury in their 1st preseason game and the Packers are fearing the worst. Though the knee appears to be fine, the hamstring injury sounds like it’s pretty serious, as the Green Bay Press-Gazette reports that the Packers fear Bishop will miss “a good portion, if not all” of the upcoming season with this injury, which means the hamstring likely ruptured.
Bishop has emerged as an above average middle linebacker in the last 2 seasons, replacing Nick Barnett early in 2010 after he went down with an injury. Bishop was a key part of their Super Bowl winning team and played well enough to get the veteran Barnett cut last offseason. Fortunately, the Packers have DJ Smith, a promising young linebacker who played well in limited action last season.
Smith could take over for Bishop and establish himself as a starter just like Bishop did when Barnett got hurt. The 2011 6th round pick was reportedly pushing AJ Hawk for a starting job at middle linebacker and might have beat him out if it wasn’t for Hawk’s salary. Now he’ll have the opportunity to at least make a good number of starts, so there’s a possibility they won’t miss Bishop too much.
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