So his release wasn't a shock, and he took it in stride as part of the business. But he heard just a couple of hours later from the Packers, whose inside linebacker position remains in flux.

After starter and leader Blake Martinez, rookie Oren Burks is still working through a preseason shoulder injury, undrafted rookie James Crawford also was rehabbing an undisclosed injury during Monday's practice, and Antonio Morrison arrived via trade just a week ago.

Any chance Toomer gets, the 6-foot-2, 235-pounder wants to be ready. A special-teamer earlier in his career, he started making more of an impact on defense with the Chargers, and he'd like to prove he's still a player on the rise.

"I feel like I put up great numbers given the playing time that I had," Toomer said. "It's tough not being able to find a home and find somebody that wants me and lets me play – just be myself and play my game. But the only thing I can do is keep working. I feel like Green Bay can be the spot for me. I hope it is."

Learning defensive coordinator Mike Pettine's playbook will be his first task, not an easy one when joining a roster Week 1. His approach will be to absorb each game plan, week by week, and put it all together from there.

"It takes a while. I missed training camp here," he said. "That's hard to do, especially when you come into a 3-4 scheme, it's just going to be piece by piece, day by day. I just have to grind at this point. I'm behind."

All he wants to do now is put a hectic couple of days behind him and get to work. And maybe get to know some new teammates as well.