Green Bay Packers: Bringing Back Jared Veldheer Still Makes Sense

Jared Veldheer remains a free agent and even though the Green Bay Packers already signed Rick Wagner, adding Veldheer to the mix should still be in play.

Although many fans have been quick to point out Bryan Bulaga’s injury history over his career, he has given the Green Bay Packers a very good right tackle for the better part of a decade. Not to mention that the combination of Bulaga and David Bakhtiari formed one of, if not the best tackle duo in the NFL in recent seasons.

However, all good things must come to an end and with 2019 being the final year of Bulaga’s deal in Green Bay, he left via free agency to sign with the Los Angeles Chargers.

This undoubtedly left a huge hole at the right tackle position and one that couldn’t be filled with any players that were on the roster. We saw Alex Light step in a few times last season and it wasn’t pretty, to say the least. Meanwhile, many speculated that when the Packers signed Billy Turner, he would be an option at tackle. But Turner out on the edge working in space just isn’t going to end well.

That meant that Green Bay had to explore free agency where they quickly ended up with former Wisconsin Badger and NFL veteran, Rick Wagner who signed a two-year deal worth $11 million. His cap hit in 2020 of $4.8 million is not bad at all considering what many of the other tackles on the open market were making.

Unfortunately, Wagner is coming off a down 2019 season where he would appear in only 12 games and when he was on the field he would struggle. It’s also worth pointing out that since 2014, Wagner has started all 16 games just one time. So the Packers need a viable backup plan, just in case.

With that said, if he can return to his form from past seasons this signing will look like a steal. However, that remains to be seen and banking on that is a bit of a gamble.

This is why after the draft, Head Coach Matt LaFleur mentioned that Wagner would be in competition for the starting right tackle job, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. But the only problem is that there isn’t much experienced competition for him to go up against.

Yosh Nijman has the tools and athleticism to be an NFL tackle but his skill-set is still quite raw and who knows how much he has developed over the past year. There is rookie Jon Runyan who was a left tackle at Michigan, but most expect him to move inside at the NFL level given his size. Then there are players like Zack Johnson, Cody Conway, and Jonh Leglue, but Green Bay can’t exactly rely on them at this point.

If the Packers want to get creative they could give Lane Taylor some reps at tackle where he did appear in two games during the 2017 season and fared quite well. But once again, how much can Green Bay really rely on that?

So in a way we are back to where we started. Sure there are several options, but a lot of unknowns as well. And that is where Jared Veldheer comes into play as he still sits on the free-agent market.

As I’m sure you all remember, Veldheer retired before the 2019 season began but halfway through the year he decided he wanted to return and that was when GM Brian Gutekunst would sign him to a backup role. And good thing he did.

Bulaga would leave the Week 17 game against Detroit with an injury and then he missed the Divisional Playoff game against Seattle with an illness. In both instances, Veldheer would fill in at right tackle and he would fill in quite well.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), over that two-game stretch, Veldheer would have 58 pass-blocking attempts and he wouldn’t give up a single, sack, hit, or pressure. On top of that, he wasn’t even called for a penalty either.

Now it’s worth mentioning that if Veldheer was the starter in 2020, over the course of a 16 game season it’s hard to imagine him having that same level of success. To some degree he would be exposed but if anything, he would provide the Green Bay Packers with a tackle that could really compete with Wagner in training camp as well as add some much-needed depth.

As it currently stands the Packers have a full roster of 90 players, so in order to add Veldheer – or any other player for that matter – they would have to make a cut. And according to Spotrac, Green Bay has just under $10.9 million in available cap space at the moment. However, while not all of that cap space is spendable as there are unaccounted for expenses, signing Veldheer isn’t going to break the bank by any means either.

In the end, the tackle is a premier position in the NFL and the Green Bay Packers have a soon to be 37-year-old quarterback that likes to hold on to the ball. Solidifying the right tackle position is a must and if that means re-signing Veldheer after giving Wagner a free agent contract – albeit not a huge one – then I say go for it.