Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy insisted DuJuan Harris was the team’s starting running back even as he remained on the physically unable to perform list.
However, those plans had to be altered when Harris re-injured his knee last Friday against the Seattle Seahawks and had to be placed on injured reserve.
McCarthy spoke Wednesday to just how much of a blow the loss of Harris will be for the Packers.
“Every offseason, you go through evaluations of your offense, you do offseason studies, you project how you envision your offense looking and then you kind of confirm things after the draft,” McCarthy said, via Jason Wilde of ESPNMiwaukee.com. “You have a vision, packages in place on how you’re going to start the season. I’ll just tell you this: DuJuan was a big part of particularly my individual focus for this season.”
Harris played in just four games for the Packers last season and carried 34 times for 157 yards and two touchdowns. Apparently McCarthy saw enough to believe Harris could improve a lackluster rushing game. Now the Packers will have to get by with a combination of rookies Eddie Lacy and Jonathan Franklin and veterans James Starks and Alex Green.