Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said during the draft in April that he wants to build a big, physical offensive line to help create a certain style of play for the cold, wintery conditions in Wisconsin during football season.
The pieces are starting to fall into place, especially after adding veteran free agent Dennis Kelly – who is 6-8 and 321 pounds – to the room this week.
The Packers look like they have plenty of depth, versatility and size along the offensive line to start training camp.
Consider the potential starters, even with David Bakhtiari (6-4, 310) starting camp on the PUP list: Elgton Jenkins (6-5, 311), Billy Turner (6-5, 310), Josh Myers (6-5, 310), Lucas Patrick (6-3, 313) and Kelly (6-8, 321), with Jon Runyan (6-4, 307), Royce Newman (6-5, 310) and Ben Braden (6-6, 329) all competing for playing time.
As defenses get increasingly smaller to combat the passing game, the Packers are getting bigger in the trenches. This is an offensive line group that could physically control games against teams more worried about Aaron Rodgers throwing the football.
Kelly, who started 16 games at right tackle for the Tennessee Titans, fits right in. He’s now the tallest player on the roster. He also started for an offensive line that paved the way for Derrick Henry’s 2,000-yard rushing season in 2020. There’s a chance he could be a Rick Wagner-like player for the Packers in 2021, providing quality depth with a chance to be a starter at tackle.
Even without Bakhtiari on the field, coach Matt LaFleur is exceedingly confident in the depth of the group.
“I’ll tell you what, our offensive line group, this is as deep of a group as I’ve ever been around. There’s a ton of competition at that position,” LaFleur said.
Mixing and matching combinations will be important during camp to find the starting five for Week 1.
“There’s going to be a lot of shuffling on the line throughout all of training camp trying to find the five that fit together the best, and then at some point we’ll get David back into the mix as well,” LaFleur said.
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