GREEN BAY-- B.J. Coleman is going to get every chance to beat out Graham Harrell for the Green Bay Packers' No. 2 quarterback job.
Coleman, a seventh-round pick in 2012 who spent his entire rookie season on the practice squad after the team kept only two quarterbacks -- starter Aaron Rodgers and Harrell -- on the 53-man roster, shared snaps evenly with Harrell with the No. 2 and 3 offenses in the first practice of training camp Friday, and according to coach Mike McCarthy, that's the way it'll stay.
"B.J. Coleman and Graham will split right down the middle," McCarthy said after practice. "We want to make sure they both have an opportunity to compete for the job. There's things we're looking for from B.J., where he's coming from and as a younger player there's obviously things we're looking for from Graham to improve on."
Harrell certainly needs to be better than he was last preseason. In the first three exhibition games last summer, he completed just 32 of 63 passes for 261 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for a passer rating of 53.7. He did rise to the occasion in the preseason finale against Kansas City, though, achieving the maximum passer rating possible of 158.3 by completing 13 of 15 passes for 223 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Coleman, meanwhile, was 7 of 18 for 77 yards with an interception, a sack and a passer rating of 29.2.
"(From) Day 1 and Day 2, you get better, and then as we progress through the preseason, you've got to continue to get better," Coleman said Friday.
Asked what the biggest strides he's made have been, Coleman replied, "I would say just being a little bit more comfortable in the offense, watching Aaron and listening to Mike (McCarthy), Tom (Clements) and Ben (McAdoo) in there and focusing on the details and the little things to be able to go out and let the big plays happen. Don't try to force things, let those things happen. I'm feeling real comfortable now at this time this year as opposed to this time last year. It's coming along."
Jason Wilde wrote: