Trying to replace a legend

Forget the roster battles at wide receiver: the real pre-season battle is at long snapper:

Green Bay - Long snapper, the largest void in the Green Bay Packers' lineup, is shaping up as a battle between a highly rated rookie and a "street" free agent with a solid background.

The Packers established the competition within two hours after the conclusion of the draft Sunday by signing Notre Dame's J.J. Jansen to a three-year contract.

Three special-teams coaches contacted by the Journal Sentinel before the draft all picked Jansen as the No. 1 long snapper.

Jansen, 22, will compete against 25-year-old Thomas Gafford, who has yet to snap in a regular-season game after falling short in a training-camp stint with the Packers in 2006 and an off-season stint with Seattle in 2007.

We’ll miss you, Rob Davis, although we hope we won’t miss you too much.