Green Bay Packers: 3 Pending Free Agents that may Actually be Re-Signed

Green Bay Packers potential re-signee: Lane Taylor

It doesn’t really matter which metric you look at; the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line was the best unit in football last season. But as we look ahead to 2021, there are some unknowns. David Bakhtiari is going to miss the start of the season, and Corey Linsley is likely signing with a new team.

So who are going to be the tackles in Bakhtiari’s absence? Billy Turner will be one of them, Elgton Jenkins is another option, or Green Bay could draft someone from this tackle rich draft class.

So then who plays along the interior? My guess is that Lucas Patrick will be the center — if Jenkins is out at tackle — Jon Runyan appears to be ready to be one of the guards if called upon, but then I’m not so sure.

Simon Stepaniak is an option, but as a former sixth-round pick who missed most of his rookie season with an injury, that seems risky to rely solely on him. Ben Braden is another option, but again, there’s some unknown there.

This is the value that Lane Taylor can provide if the Green Bay Packers do bring him back. Despite only playing in a couple of games the past two seasons due to injuries, he was still a Week 1 starter in 2020 on what ended up being the best offensive line in football, showing that he certainly still has what it takes to play.

In the short term, he will provide stability to the interior when Bakhtiari is out, and at this point in their respective careers, I wouldn’t say it’s a foregone conclusion that Runyan is better than him either. Meaning Taylor could very well be a starter even when Bakhtiari returns and Jenkins shifts back inside.

After spending a majority of the past two years on IR, Taylor can likely be signed to a vet minimum deal. The best-case scenario is that he continues to play like he did last summer and the Green Bay Packers have a starting guard who provides some needed stability.

The worst-case scenario — and it’s not bad at all — is that Taylor creates added competition in camp and is a reliable backup off the bench–which is incredibly important as we saw in 2020 with all of the injuries that the offensive line sustained.