--The Packers started their post-draft workout schedule with a rookie orientation camp May 2-4 for the second straight year.

In a change from the past, however, third-year head coach Mike McCarthy moved the voluntary organized team activities ahead of the mandatory minicamp for the full squad.

The OTAs will be spread out over four weeks, beginning May 19.

The minicamp, which had been a staple in mid- to late May, will conclude the offseason slate June 17-19.

"I just felt it would be better to do that at the end and give the chance to the rookies and the younger players to build up to that camp, instead of having the camp first and then having the OTAs," McCarthy said.

The league mandates that the Packers' rookie class be off for two weeks following the orientation camp. Consequently, those players won't return to Green Bay and be with the veterans for the first time until May 18.

McCarthy said none of the rookies would be affected by academic schedules at their former schools, which in previous years has kept a few players from participating in minicamps or portions of OTAs.

--Some of the team's newcomers were awestruck stepping for the first time inside the Lambeau Field locker room, which still has the nameplate "Favre" above the locker cubicle that belonged to retired quarterback Brett Favre.

"Who do you want me to put in there?" McCarthy responded when asked at the start of the rookie camp why the team is maintaining Favre's locker for the here and now.

Favre, who announced in early March his retirement after 16 years as the team's starting quarterback, has made subtle suggestions in recent weeks that a comeback isn't out of the question.

McCarthy, though, isn't expecting Favre to reconsider and indicated that the team is interested in preserving Favre's locker space as a shrine of some sorts.

"I think it's more than a locker, and there's some plans for the locker that will be addressed in the future," McCarthy said. "But, there's nothing else to it.

"I wouldn't want his locker, especially after his hygiene -- my goodness," a joking McCarthy added. "It's a locker of a very special player in the history of our organization."

--The Packers bolstered their rookie class with the signing of 14 undrafted free agents.

Eleven of the signees were under contract for the rookie camp: running back Kregg Lumpkin of Georgia; receivers Taj Smith of Syracuse, Jake Allen of Mississippi College and Rod Harper of Murray State; tight ends Mike Peterson of Northwest Missouri State and Joey Haynos of Maryland; center Brennen Carvalho of Portland State; linebackers Marcus Riley of Fresno State and Danny Lansanah of Connecticut; punter Ken DeBauche of Wisconsin; and long snapper J.J. Jansen of Notre Dame.

The team had 19 undrafted players in for the rookie camp on a tryout basis. The Packers subsequently signed three of them: offensive tackle Ryan Considine of Louisiana Tech and cornerbacks Condrew Allen of Portland State and Kyle Ward of Louisiana-Lafayette.

The Packers have 89 players on their offseason roster -- nine more than the league maximum -- but their nine draft picks and running back Ryan Grant have yet to sign contracts and don't count against the roster limit. Grant is an exclusive-rights free agent and isn't signing the tender from the team as he tries to get a long-term contract after his productive 2007 season.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I think things will settle some more once we're around the vets, working out with them (later in the month). Right now, it's just good seeing the building (Lambeau Field) and trying to get familiarized with everyone and everything that goes on on a day-to-day basis here." -- Receiver Jordy Nelson, a second-round draft pick this year, on breaking in as an NFL player at the Packers' rookie orientation camp May 2-4.

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