What do you guys think happens with the OL next year?

I think we should keep Bakhtiari at LT. He struggled out of the gate and wasn't great in run blocking but he did improve throughout the year and was a bit undersized. It depends if he can put on some weight/strength during the offseason which I think he can but he's got more exp playing LT than Bulaga does now. I say let Sherrod compete with Bakhtiari at LT and let Bulaga lock down RT where we know he can play. I am also hoping EDS can be re signed, guy had a really underrated year at C and pretty much looked every bit as good as Wells has.

Here's what I'm thinking

LT - Bakhtiari/Sherrod
LG - Sitton
C - EDS (I guess Tretter if EDS is not signed though I'd not be too excited about that)
RG - Lang
RT - Bulaga

I think that's a great set up assuming Bakhtiari can do what he needs to do in the offseason or even Sherrod with the first offseason of his career. Then we've got an experienced guy in Barclay who can play G/T as a back up. Bulaga should be GtG since his injury was so early and hopefully something can get done with EDS because he proved he can be reliable.

What I am looking for is increasing size and physicality of the line. EDS, Bahktiari and Barclay have and can put on a little weight, but I don't think they can get where I want to be. Lang was our backup C this year, I would like to see him and Tretter compete for anchoring the center of the line. With Taylor and Sherrod on the Right with Sitton and Bulaga on the left.

LT - Bulaga
LG - Sitton
C - Tretter/Lang
RG - Taylor
RT - Sherrod

Have some road grinding run blocking.

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I think Bulaga can play both OT spots... but Bak might be better suited to LT than RT.

Also Bulaga hasn't proven he can stay healthy lately... that's a concern. I think it'd be very nice to have a decent back-up you can count on behind Bulaga just in case.

Can we count on Sherrod? ... I don't know, I haven't seen enough and he hasn't been healthy.

But I think we can count on Barclay, so maybe put Bulaga at RT and have Barclay be the back-up, while also working Barclay at the OGs spots, and trying to get him to keep working on center as well.

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If we are pretending. I say our #1 draft picks are both healthy. They are very strong. They have had all these years studying the system (while playing some) and thus know what needs to be done. They are both hungry to prove they are worth the draft picks and money that was invested in them.

I then pretend that EDS has everything click and he is All Pro in his abilities at C. I pretend Lang takes a step forward and is rock solid at G and Sitton is the anchor of the line.

LT Baluga
LG Sitton
C EDS
RG Lang
RT Sherrod

Backups- Bakhtiari is backup at LT and eventually LG
Tretter is backup at C
Barclay is backup at RT & RG
Taylor is also backup at both G positions.

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While he definitely got outplayed at times, there weren't that many times where Bahk seemed totally overwhelmed by playing LT. He also showed a lot of backbone in the playoff game vs Aldon Smith and constantly got in his face and didn't back down at all. If EDS can't be resigned, I wouldn't be surprised if Barclay takes over the position. Though if they want him to play center at all, they need to have him work on it all offseason, not TC and allowing him to work through mistakes by not yo-yoing him around between positions like they did.

LT: Bahk/Sherrod
LG: Sitton
C: EDS/Barclay
RG: Lang
RT: Bulaga/Sherrod

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I think there are three factors that’ll determine next year’s offensive line.

1. Does the team re-sign Evan Dietrich-Smith?

2. What is the status of Derek Sherrod?

3. What is the status of Bryan Bulaga?

The easiest one to answer is No. 3. Bulaga should be healthy and he’ll start at either left or right tackle. He was a starter on the 2010 Super Bowl team as a rookie and he played very well in 2011. He had an inconsistent 2012, but the coaches thought enough of him to put him at LT in the off-season. You could just sense the sick feeling the players and coaches had when they found out he tore his ACL during Family Night. That tells me they think and expect a lot of him. He’ll get every opportunity to deliver, especially in a contract year.

I don’t know the answers to No. 1 and No. 2, but you can’t discount either player, especially EDS. I suspect Ted Thompson will re-sign EDS. Thompson learns from his mistakes. That’s one of his strengths as a general manager, in my opinion. Losing Scott Wells hurt this team a great deal in 2012, so I don’t think he and Mike McCarthy want to go through another off-season with an unknown at center.

As a result, I see something like this…

LT Bryan Bulaga/LG Josh Sitton/C Evan Dietrich-Smith/RG T.J. Lang/RT David Bakhtiari

You have J.C. Tretter backing up EDS at center. You kick Don Barclay inside and have him backup at both guard positions. You use Derek Sherrod as your backup swing tackle. This allows the Packers to rid themselves of Marshall Newhouse, who is a free agent anyways.

Bulaga and Sitton play well with one another. Bulaga doesn’t have the physical makeup to play LT, but I think he has the footwork, awareness, and work ethic to play it. In my view, Bakhtiari doesn’t have the footwork of a left tackle. That’s why I think the Packers would be more incline to move him to right tackle or even guard.

What happens if EDS signs elsewhere?

That leaves J.C. Tretter and T.J. Lang as his potential replacements.

If the Packers intend to keep Bakhtiari at tackle, then Tretter is the frontrunner. If they move Bakhtiari to right guard, then I could see Lang sliding over and playing center. He’s their most versatile offensive lineman.

Moving Bakhtiari to guard would depend on Sherrod’s development. If he begins to play like a first-round draft pick, then that opens the door for him to crack the starting lineup. It won’t be as a guard, though. He’s a tackle. In fact, he's physically suited to play left tackle. He’ll also be just 25 in April. Sherrod is the wild card in the equation.

As a result, I could see this lineup entering 2014...

LT Derek Sherrod/LG Josh Sitton/C T.J. Lang/RG David Bakhtiari/RT Bryan Bulaga

The wrinkle here is that I think Lang needs an entire off-season to move to center. I suspect he’d have to play the position starting with OTAs, and there’s just no way we’ll know whether Sherrod is developing by then.

Assuming they don't like what they see from Tretter at center, they could keep Bulaga at LT and simply pencil Sherrod in at RT. I would have to assume this is something the coaching staff would ponder after minicamps and early into training camp.

Of course, Sherrod could struggle and Tretter could struggle, forcing Green Bay to move Lang to center and play Don Barclay at right guard.

LT Bryan Bulaga/LG Josh Sitton/C T.J. Lang/RG Don Barclay/RT David Bakhtiari

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What we have better be sufficient, because most of the draft will undoubtedly need to be devoted to defense.

I really don't think Bakhtiari is the solution at LT. He sucked at BOTH pass blocking and run blocking from everything I saw. I sincerely HOPE Sherrod finally gets healthy and plays like a number 1 pick. That, however, seems like a longshot. Bulaga is a mystery. After progressing to be at least decent his first few years, he regressed even before his injury. About all we can do with him is HOPE also.

HOPEfully we re-sign EDS, and the line consists of him, Sitton and Lang at G, and Sherrod and Bulaga at T - who is left and who is right depends on what works best.

I'm not optimistic about the whole unit being any more than mediocre, though.

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1. Yes the team resign their own when they play well and Evan Dietrich-Smith is one of the best Centers in FA this year and they is no clear back-up.

2. He's a member of the Green Bay players and I believe he's going to get his fist healthy offseason of his NFL career. First healthy offseason is when you should see a jump for a player.

3. He's NOT sexy... and he knows it.


[grin1]

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Projecting starters doesn't matter when we will lose 1-2 of me before week 1.


[aiee]

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Really liked your post Porky ... assuming we get bulaga back and he is healthy - if I remember right his tear wasnt that bad but he decided to have surgery anyways.

I think the unknown is sherrod ... is he decent at all? ... if so where would he play ... is he better then bakhtiari ...

At the beginning of the season it looked like our Oline was dominating everyone ... perhaps that is because we faced easy teams ... Then we started to get teams where we couldnt dominate them so much and our running got alot harder and our pass blocking was quite poor. Didnt help when we had backup QBs thou.

I like EDS - not the best dude in the world but pretty decent. And bakh is just a young dude; imagine how he would play with another 20-30 pounds of muscle on him and some more training. Might turn out quite well.