Green Bay Packers Beef Up OL Depth w/ Addition of Dennis Kelly

As a whole, the Green Bay Packers starting offensive line unit should be among the league’s best once again this season. However, with David Bakhtiari possibly out at the start of the season, along with any other injuries that could happen, Green Bay could be in a position where they have to rely heavily on some young and inexperienced players.

Day 1 of training camp is in the books and competing for playing time is Yosh Nijman, Ben Braden, Jon Runyan, Royce Newman, and Cole Van Lanen. Combined this group has 181 career NFL snaps, with Runyan accounting for 161 of them.

When it comes to the offensive line, there is no such thing as too much depth or experience, which is why adding veteran Dennis Kelly to the mix is a move that makes a lot of sense for the Green Bay Packers.

As reported by Tom, the Packers are expected to sign Kelly and he will be the 90th player on the roster after the team recently acquired Randall Cobb while also cutting Blake Bortles and Jake Dolegala. Kelly will provide Green Bay with a much-needed true tackle, the only other true tackles on the roster prior to this addition were Bakhtiari and Nijman, as well as a potential swing tackle.

Kelly was drafted in the fifth round of the 2012 draft by Philadelphia and spent four seasons there before spending the last five in Tennessee. Before 2020, Kelly was never a full-time starter, the most snaps he took in a season at that point came during his rookie year when he was on the field for 685 of them, according to PFF ($$).

But last season, Kelly was the Titans’ starting right tackle. He was on the field for 1,099 total snaps with 587 of them coming in pass-protection where he didn’t allow a sack and 26 total pressures. Kelly also has 464 career snaps at left tackle and 427 at right guard.

As a run-blocker, his overall grade from PFF ranked 38th out of 93 eligible offensive tackles in 2020. It’s also worth noting that Kelly spent the 2018 season with Matt LaFleur as his offensive coordinator, so there will be some familiarity with the system.

Overall I really do like this signing for Green Bay. Kelly provides some much-needed depth at a key position and a veteran with plenty of NFL snaps under his belt that the Green Bay Packers can rely on if needed. After all, we saw how important having quality depth along the offensive line was to this team just last season with all of the injuries that this group sustained.