GREEN BAY, Wis. — There was a time this off-season when things were going so well that B.J. Raji started to hope for a starting job on the defensive line.

Now he’s pushing just to get in his first game.
Welcome to the NFL, where there’s not a lot of favoritism, even for No. 9 overall draft picks.
Raji was earning quite a bit of praise when he hit two speed bumps this summer.
The first was a delay in reaching a contract agreement, which cost him two weeks of practice time at the start of training camp. Then he injured his ankle in the final exhibition game, Sept. 3 against Tennessee.
Now, heading into Week 3 of the regular season, the only thing that’s clear is that there is one major difference of opinion:
Raji thinks without question he’s ready to play. The Packers aren’t so sure.
His status for Sunday against the St. Louis Rams remained up in the air after practice Friday, and the coaches may not decide until hours before kickoff whether to have Raji make his debut.
“It’s clearly a medical decision. If he’s ready, he’ll play. If not, it will be another week,” said Packers coach Mike McCarthy. “A lot of times when you’re dealing with sprains, they go through the rehab test and they look fine. But it’s different for an interior lineman when you’re in there and you’re pushing on two 300-pound men, or they’re pushing on you.
“Until I see him put his foot in the ground and turn and break and have the naturalness to his gait that he showed before, I don’t think he’s ready to play.”
Raji is frustrated by the coach’s decision, but not as frustrated as he was Week 1 against Chicago.
“They didn’t tell me until game day” that he wasn’t playing, said Raji. “I would like to know. . . . I’m in game mode, and they tell me I can’t play. I don’t want that.
“But people like Aaron Kampman and Al Harris, they’re always coming up to me, asking how I’m doing. They could tell that I was upset. They just told me that it’s not the end of the world. It made me feel a lot better. Back then I was real upset.”
Raji decided to speak up, though. At the team hotel before the Cincinnati game Sunday, he asked for a private meeting with McCarthy.
“I told Coach I want to play,” said Raji. “I wanted to discuss several other issues that I don’t want to go into right now.”
Raji was told he would be out again for the Bengals, but he was satisfied with his discussion with McCarthy. Raji then took his case to defensive line coach Mike Trgovac and asked for more repetitions in practice.
“I got hurt on the goal line, so in practice they were holding me out of that just to prevent” further injury, said Raji. Trgovac awarded Raji “a few more” reps each day, Raji said.
When he was done speaking his mind, Raji tried to convince coaches with his performance in practice. He said this week, with two padded practices, was his best week since he injured the ankle, but the coaches were concerned when he tweaked it Thursday. Although encouraged that he could work for the whole practice Friday, they still find it hard to just give him a shot, even though they could use him against a back like the Rams’ Steven Jackson.
The Packers defend their cautious stance because they must feel sure about Raji’s ankle.
“Right, because any time you have only five linemen up, you can’t afford to have a guy who goes out there two plays and then he’s on the sideline,” said defensive coordinator Dom Capers. “Because you get too shorthanded too quick.”
But can’t the Packers just tape up that ankle and let a 23-year-old play through it? Isn’t that the benefit of youth?
“Theoretically, I guess,” said Capers. “This is such a game where things happen so fast, if you’re going three-quarters and everyone else is going full speed, you probably aren’t going to be very effective.”
Raji is aware of that, even if he doesn’t agree with it.
“They don’t go too much on what I say; they go with how I look on film as compared to how I was when I was healthy,” said Raji. “That’s how they look at my movement. They don’t want to put me out there just to put me out there if they don’t feel that I can be myself.”
One thing Raji isn’t concerned about is that the Packers might be attempting to send some sort of a message. Would a team consider sitting a guy who had a contract holdout just to prove a point? Maybe, but Raji feels none of that.
“At the end of the day, they want me to play,” said Raji. “It’s not like they’re holding me out on purpose. It’s not a punishment.”
It’s still hard for him to sit and watch, however, especially when the Bengals’ Cedric Benson ran for 141 yards. Raji believes he could have made a difference.
“Definitely, definitely. A lot of it had to do with those guys being worn out, being tired, playing for most of the game,” Raji said, looking at the other defensive linemen in the locker room. “I could have helped out, giving them a break and go make some plays, too.”
Raji believes the coaches will conclude he’s ready to play Sunday. The injury report says he has a 50-50 chance to play.
“Obviously, a guy with his talents you want to get groomed and get on the field,” said Capers. “He was playing catch-up by the time he came into training camp, and then we get him going and then the last preseason game he injures that ankle and it’s been somewhat slow recovering from it. I will also be anxious to see him on Sundays.
“You don’t have to convince me because he’s been telling me. He wants to play.”