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PACKERS SIGN CENTER FRANK WINTERS, 13-YEAR PRO, TO A MULTIYEAR CONTRACT
posted 04/05/00
 | | Frank Winters |
Veteran center Frank Winters, a 13-year professional and one of the most durable performers in the Green Bay Packers' long history, has been signed to a multiyear contract, Executive Vice President/General Manager Ron Wolf announced today.
The 36-year-old Western Illinois alumnus, a tenacious competitor who graded out as the Packers' most effective offensive lineman in 1999, has been the Packers' nominal starting center since 1993, having played in 122 of 128 regular games during eight seasons in a Green Bay uniform (135 of 142 games, including playoffs).
Winters, originally signed as 'Plan B' free agent on March 17, 1992, also is tied for the sixth-most postseason appearances in Packers annals, having started 13 playoff games, sharing that distinction with former Packers defensive back Doug Evans. Only LeRoy Butler, Mark Chmura, Brett Favre, Mike Prior and Reggie White, with 14 games played, have made more postseason appearances.
Among active NFL players, Winters is tied for the seventh-most career playoff games played overall, 20, having appeared in seven postseason contests for the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and Kansas City Chiefs before joining the Packers. He ranks behind only the San Francisco 49ers' Jerry Rice (23), the Denver Broncos' Bill Romanowski, (22), the 49ers' Steve Young (22), the Broncos' Mike Lodish (21), the Buffalo Bills' Andre Reed
(21) and the Miami Dolphins' Thurman Thomas (21) and is tied with the Indianapolis Colts' Cornelius Bennett (20) and the Washington Redskins' Bruce Smith (20).
A canny performer whose skill at making pre-snap calls and adjustments has been a key factor in the Packers' offensive success in recent seasons, Winters helped the Packers pull off a rare "trifecta" in 1999 when they emerged with a 4,000-yard passer (quarterback Brett Favre), a 1,000-yard rusher (Dorsey Levens) and two 1,000-yard receivers (Antonio Freeman and Bill Schroeder) in the same season for the first time in their history.
Along the way, 6-3, 305-pound Hoboken, N.J. native mounted an impressive durability streak, playing in 82 consecutive regular-season games, the longest on the team at the time, before being sidelined for three weeks by a left mid-foot sprain suffered at Philadelphia September 7, 1997. As a Packer, he has started all 16 games in five of his eight seasons (1993-96 and 1999) and has played in all 16 games in six seasons, including 1992.
As it turned out, Winters broke into the starting lineup for good in the ninth game of the 1992 season when he stepped in for the injured James Campen at center for two games. A versatile performer, he subsequently started the last eight games at left guard after incumbent Rich Moran was sidelined by a knee injury. The following year, he again started at left guard for the first four games after Moran went down with a second knee injury.
Winters began the 1994 season as the starting center but again moved to left guard for games 2-7 when then starter Guy McIntyre was out with a blood clot in his calf. He moved back to center in a Monday night game at Chicago
(October 31) when McIntyre returned to his left guard role and, save for missing the three games in 1997 and the final three in 1998 - the latter with a broken leg suffered in a game at Tampa - he has been there ever since.
Winters, who played in the 1997 Pro Bowl after becoming an alternate selection, was one of the Packers' two offensive captains following the 1996 and 1997 seasons, helping lead them to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances and a victory over New England in SB XXXI.
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