GREEN BAY — The Lambeau Field faithful will be able to scream Kuuuuuuuuuhn! at the top of their lungs for at least another year.
The veteran fullback and folk hero re-signed with the Green Bay Packers on Thursday, coming to terms on a one-year deal with the club, agent Kevin Gold told ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky and the Green Bay Press-Gazette's Wes Hodkiewics.
The deal is reportedly expected to be worth more than $1 million.
Kuhn, who turns 32 in September, joined the Packers in 2007, when he was claimed off waivers from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's played in 107 career regular-season games during his time in Green Bay, where he's become a fan favorite for his working-man's approach to the game. He's also one of quarterback Aaron Rodgers' closest friends on the team.
"Great player, great teammate," Rodgers said at the end of the season. "(There's) nobody I trust more on the field than John. He's an exceptional guy, I love playing with him, and I'd be really sad if we weren't able to walk out of that tunnel together as we do [when we] come out of the locker room for pregame warmups. John and I have walked together for the last six, seven years, and he's always been somebody I could really count on the field and just a great football player."
This was the second time Kuhn hit the open market. After the Packers won the Super Bowl XLV title in 2010, Kuhn was among the free agents who were impacted by the offseason lockout that followed. When an agreement between the league and the NFL Players Association was finally reached and free agency finally began a few days before training camps were set to open, Kuhn was only on the market briefly before signing a three-year, $7.5 million deal to return to Green Bay.
In 2013, Kuhn carried just 10 times for 38 yards (with one touchdown) and caught only 13 passes for 81 yards in regular-season play. For his eight-year NFL career — Kuhn carried twice for 18 yards in nine games in 2006 for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who then waived him — Kuhn has only 165 carries for 506 yards and 12 TDs.
Kuhn's biggest play last season came in the regular-season finale, when he dove to knock Chicago's Julius Peppers — now his Packers teammate — off course so Rodgers could buy enough time to throw his game-winning, playoff berth-clinching touchdown pass to Randall Cobb in the final minute of the fourth quarter. That TD and victory sent the Packers to their third straight NFC North title and a playoff berth.
Jason Wilde wrote: