Over the summer Donald Driver was at the popularity pinnacle of his career after winning the Mirrored Ball Trophy on dancing with the stars.  Driver came back to the Packers to the delight of fans everywhere and raised eyebrows with his incredible training camp.  It seemed that Double D was in prime position to show the world “The old man still has it”. 

Then came the regular season.  After 14 games, Driver has seen his playing time all but eliminated; participating in only 12 games and catching a total of 8 passes on the season.

Driver so badly wanted to come back to the team that drafted him and the Packers certainly didn’t want to part ways with yet another extremely popular figure so they agreed on a contract that would extend Drivers stay in the city that loves him. 

But was it the right move?

Most of us, including Driver, felt that if and when a receiver went down due to injury, Driver’s playing time would increase.  Jennings went down in the first game and has been on again, off again for 8 weeks.  Jordy Nelson has been battling a hamstring and hasn’t played in 4 of the last 5 games yet Driver’s playing time hasn’t increased one bit.

Driver says that he felt “blindsided” by the circumstances.

On one hand Driver is getting a paycheck to remain with the team he loves and he is still introduced as a starter so he gets to run out of the tunnel to the roaring cheers of those who adore him.

But as a competitor that believes he still has something left to give to the game, you have to wonder if he made a mistake in coming back to the Packers when he could be a slot receiver and contributor for a team that might have needed his services. 

Either way, it wasn’t going to be fairy tale ending. 

If we’ve learned anything it’s that in the NFL when your future usefulness runs out, you can’t hang on to the happy memories of the past.