Bishop again sidelined with strained calf

Published Jul. 26, 2012 11:57 a.m. ET

foxsports

GREEN BAY, Wisc. -- Green Bay Packers inside linebacker Desmond Bishop failed his pre-training camp physical after straining his calf this past weekend while working out.

This is an injury Bishop has suffered before. The 28-year-old starter hurt both of his calves last season and missed Weeks 13 through 15 with the injuries.

There is currently no time frame for Bishop to begin participating in training camp.

"We've had some (injury) history with Desmond; it was his calf last year, missed a couple games," said coach Mike McCarthy after the team's first practice Thursday morning. "It's good that we be cautious before he gets back out there. He actually (injured) both of them last year."

McCarthy would not specify which calf Bishop re-injured.

Despite missing three games last season, Bishop led the Packers in tackles with 115 total and 90 solo takedowns. Bishop was in the top three in the NFL in tackles prior to his injury and still ended up finishing 13th overall in the league.

Bishop was also second on the team in sacks with five, behind only Clay Matthews, who had six.

It appeared that Bishop was on his way to his first career Pro Bowl selection, but the missed games late in the year proved costly.

During minicamp in mid-June, Bishop was healthy and setting goals to improve upon his 2011 performance.

"It's always room to grow and make plays, be disruptive and make more plays, do things like that to help out the defense," Bishop said then. "That's definitely my goal, hands down. This year I'm going to work on intangible things like being a little bit more vocal, trying to be a leader; not just by example, but by vocally challenging guys and motivating guys to do better."

In order to achieve any of those goals, Bishop will first have to get healthy. With the Packers' first preseason game only two weeks away, there isn't much time to do that.

With Bishop out, second-year inside linebacker D.J. Smith -- who was impressive in limited opportunities last season – filled in Thursday and came up with an interception during seven-on-seven drills.

Six other Packers failed their physicals, including fullback John Kuhn, linebacker Frank Zombo, offensive tackle Derek Sherrod and tight end Andrew Quarless.

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