Green Bay Packers Re-Sign or Let Go & Prediction: Dennis Kelly
By Paul Bretl
Next up in my Re-Sign or Let Go & Prediction series is Green Bay Packers offensive tackle Dennis Kelly.
In this series I will be going through each of the Green Bay Packers’ 14 unrestricted free agents, taking a balanced look and why they could re-sign that player, why that player may end up elsewhere in 2022, and I make a prediction at the end.
If you’ve missed any of the previous articles, you can find them here:
Why the Green Bay Packers would re-sign Dennis Kelly
Depth. That is why the Green Bay Packers would re-sign Dennis Kelly.
We all saw just last season how important depth along the offensive line was for this Green Bay Packers team. At various points throughout the season, they were without David Bakhtiari, Lucas Patrick, Josh Myers, Elgton Jenkins, and Billy Turner. All of these injuries resulted in movement along the offensive line and seven different offensive line combinations.
While overall, the offensive line play — whether in the running or passing games — wasn’t nearly as dominant as it was in 2020, first off, what did you expect with that many injuries? And second, this group held up well, all things considered, including Dennis Kelly.
According to PFF ($$), in Kelly’s five regular-season appearances with the Green Bay Packers, he would allow just one sack and only four pressures. In fact, during that span, Kelly tied for 10th out of 82 eligible offensive tackles in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric, and his play earned him a start in the playoffs against San Francisco.
If brought back, Kelly wouldn’t be a starter, but he would provide valuable depth and experience at one of the game’s most important positions.