A Packer From My Past

I read this article about Kevin Barry today and had a flashback to the summer after my senior year. You see, I played against Barry in the Wisconsin Shriner's Game (an all-star high school football game). He played on the South team representing Racine Park High School. I remember hearing a lot about him before the game. After the contest was over, I remember shaking his hand and congratulating him. I recall thinking to myself, that is the biggest high school football player I have ever seen! And I had played against some big dudes. Little did we know that we were in the presence of a future Packer! Well, a future ex-Packer.



RACINE'S BARRY STUNG BY A CUT BLOCK

Team waives lineman more suited to the run

By LORI NICKEL

The Green Bay Packers have parted ways with offensive lineman and Racine native Kevin Barry.

Kevin Barry didn't fit into the zone-blocking scheme of head coach Mike McCarthy.

Barry, a five-year veteran, made the team in 2002 as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona and played 59 games, with a handful as a starting tackle.

But Barry was never a good fit for the Packers' zone-blocking scheme when the team changed over a year and a half ago, and he also spent last season out of football after rupturing his left thigh tendon in the May 2006 minicamp.

Barry was released at 4 p.m. Friday and his agent, Russell Wittman, said he immediately began fielding calls from other teams.

"As everybody knows, Kevin Barry is a run blocker, not a zone blocker," Wittman said. "It kind of worked out because Kevin will get a shot to play for a team that can utilize his strengths."

The Packers also announced that they had signed another draft pick, safety Aaron Rouse, and released offensive lineman Josh Bourke. General manager Ted Thompson could not be reached for comment.

Barry's injury was painful and his post-surgery rehabilitation required a lot of waiting while on crutches, and then in a brace, for a total of about eight months. But when he did return he committed himself to regaining his strength and watching his weight. Wittman said he was down to around 328 pounds.

After working out mostly in Arizona, Barry said three weeks ago that he had hoped to practice with the Packers in their current organized team activities.

"I can tell I am getting stronger," Barry said in his most recent minicamp interview. "After not using (my leg) for a certain amount of time, you start losing muscle strength. It took a little time to build that back up."

He also looked in shape and said he had lost some weight.

"It's a good weight; it is better than what I've come in at usually," he said.

But Barry never got on the field and never did the fit the zone-blocking system that the Packers installed when coach Mike McCarthy came on board. Listed by the team once at 332 pounds but probably weighing 10 to 15 pounds more during his playing days in Green Bay, the 6-foot-4 Barry is built more for the power blocking rather than the athletic cut-blocking.

It was hard to hear that he'd been cut, but Barry, who turns 28 in July, will search for a team where he could play to his strengths and maybe even finally land a permanent starting role. Wittman didn't want to disclose the teams interested in his client.