Colledge on Packers... "It's not my choice"
July 20, 2011
It’s been an eventful offseason for Daryn Colledge, which is a good thing because it has distracted him from his uncertain NFL future.
A few days after celebrating victory in Super Bowl XLV, the Green Bay Packers’ starting left guard joined several teammates in a 10-day tour of the Middle East put together by Navy Entertainment. In May, he visited the troops at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
“It was an awesome opportunity that got put in my lap,” Colledge said this week in a phone interview from his home Boise, Idaho. “The Packers have always been very troop-friendly — they have them at all of the games. Navy Entertainment came to us and offered the opportunity for us to go out there and spend some time with the troops on ship and on base. I was truly honored and humbled and privileged all at the same time. They were so excited to see us, but the opportunity to see what they do on a daily basis was real humbling.”
Joining Colledge on the Tundra Tour of the Middle East were current Packers Jarrett Bush, Nick McDonald and Frank Zombo, former Packers Derrick Martin and William Henderson, trainer Pepper Burruss, equipment manager Red Batty and assistant equipment manager Tom Bakken. On the trip to Cuba, Colledge was joined by fellow lineman Jason Spitz, Henderson and former Packer Tony Moll.
The Tundra Tour began at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey and included stops on ships in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, plus a visit with Marines at the U.S. embassy in Jordan. Their trip got cut short by a day after civil unrest broke out in Bahrain.
“We showed up at all the bases, and on all the ships and we did autograph sessions and question-and-answer sessions,” Colledge said. “Every night, we were allowed to scatter and go and hang with the troops. I got an opportunity to do it on almost every ship and every base. To sit down and (talk) with these men and women on their level — just sitting around in an aircraft hangar and talk about what they do and what they miss from home and let them ask questions that they might not necessarily get to ask during a question-and-answer session about what I do with my daily life or what I enjoy doing. To have real interaction with those people, and not just the basic, ‘What was it like to play with Brett (Favre) and what’s it like to play with Aaron (Rodgers)?’ but to really know what they think and feel about being football fans, that stuff is going to stick with me. That was special stuff.”
The trip hit home on many levels for Colledge. His great grandfather served and died, his grandfather and two uncles also served, and his little brother will after graduating from Boise State.
“The sacrifices that those guys make, that’s what made it truly one of the most humbling things to see,” he said. “To put yourself on the line for people that will never thank you enough and you may never meet is one of the great things that people can do.”
Colledge’s life changed again a few weeks ago when he and his wife, Megan, became parents to a girl named Camryn.
“You know what? I’ve changed a ton of diapers,” Colledge said. “I try to take a lot of that off of my wife because she’s got everything else she’s dealing with with the baby, so that’s a chance for me and Camryn to interact and spend some time together. It’s a chance to steal her away for a few minutes and she’s just mine. I change as many as I can because whenever camp starts and the season starts, I have a feeling I won’t be getting time to change diapers.”
Just where he will be changing diapers remains to be seen.
Colledge has started 83 of a possible 87 games (including playoffs) since the Packers drafted him in the second round in 2006. At a position where durability and flexibility are the names of the game, Colledge has been a consummate team-first professional. Yet the Packers made little to no effort to give him a long-term deal, and once the lockout ends, Colledge will be an unrestricted free agent and quite possibly will be wearing colors other than green and gold this season.
That’s something that struck Colledge during the team’s June 16 Super Bowl ring ceremony, even while allowing himself to dream of defending the championship.
“The Packers have had a lot of years to re-sign me if they wanted to, so it looks like they might just let me go to free agency,” Colledge said. “Whether that’s a business decision or a personal decision, I don’t know. As of right now, I still get to look back at all the memories I’ve had over the past few years and all the great times we’ve had and we won a championship and did a lot of great things. I love my guys back there. I love the players and I love the fans and I love the city. But it’s not my choice anymore. It’s one of those things where the Packers will make that decision. If they want me back, they’ll have me back. If they don’t, then they’ve decided they want to go another direction.”
Colledge is coming off his best season as a pro. He allowed a career-low three sacks, according to STATS, and was hit with just one holding penalty. Not coincidentally, last season was the first in which Colledge got to concentrate solely on playing left guard. As a rookie, he spent much of the preseason at left tackle before starting 14 games at left guard. In 2007, he started 13 games at left guard but finished games at both tackle spots. In 2008, he started 14 games at left guard and one apiece at left and right tackle. In 2009, he started 14 games at left guard and two at left tackle. Beyond the snaps taken in games, Colledge slid to left tackle frequently during training camp to relieve veteran Chad Clifton.
The arrival of first-round pick Bryan Bulaga, however, finally let Colledge put his focus on one spot.
“This job is tough enough when you just play one spot, especially in our division because we play some great defensive linemen,” Colledge said. “When you’re forced to hop around, it makes it tough, but that was kind of my role the first four years of my career. They needed a guy who could move without any practice, and it ended up being me. (In 2009), I played well in two games at (left tackle) and did terribly in one game, and that hurt my team and it hurts me because you take it personally.
“Even though you don’t get to practice at it and even though you know you’re not in a great position, you still expect a lot out of yourself. So, that hurts. Last year, I had an opportunity to play left guard and play good football and protect Aaron (Rodgers) the best I could. That makes you feel good. That makes you feel like you’re helping the team. Then to have it culminate in a championship, I don’t know if there are words for that.”
Because of the timing of the trip to the Middle East, Colledge hasn’t watched any of the Super Bowl beyond some highlights. That’s just as well.
“It’s one of those things, everybody wants to remember it as greatness,” he said. “I would hate to go and watch it and say, ‘I should have made that block.’ You just want to be happy with the championship.”