Former Green Bay Packers OT Dennis Kelly Signs with Colts
By Paul Bretl
Given the Green Bay Packers’ lack of depth along the offensive line prior to the draft, a reunion with Dennis Kelly for the 2022 season would have made sense.
However, once the Packers selected three offensive linemen in the draft, all of whom have tackle experience, the odds of Kelly coming back greatly decreased. So instead, Kelly will be signing with the Indianapolis Colts.
We have signed T Dennis Kelly and released T Shon Coleman and LB Malik Jefferson.
— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) May 10, 2022
We have also waived TE Farrod Green and TE Eli Wolf.
The Packers signed Kelly last June to bolster their offensive line depth after he had spent the previous five seasons in Tennessee, where he was the primary right tackle for the Titans in 2020, not allowing any sacks in 587 pass-blocking reps, according to PFF ($$).
With the Green Bay Packers, Kelly provided needed stability at right tackle after Billy Turner had injured his knee.
Kelly took over at right tackle in Week 14 against Chicago and was the starter there throughout the remainder of the regular season.
During that span of 4-plus games, he allowed just one sack and four pressures. Kelly would also rank 10th out of 82 eligible offensive tackles in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric.
Even with Turner back in the mix, Kelly got the start at right tackle against San Francisco during the playoffs, with Tuner then moving to left tackle. Unfortunately, Kelly could not keep up that same level of play that we had seen in the regular season, as he was credited with a sack, five pressures, and a penalty in that one game alone.
Although, overall, it was a rough showing against a stout 49ers’ pass-rush, it’s difficult to envision the Packers winning 13 games and claiming the NFC’s top seed without Kelly on the roster and being able to fill in for Turner over those final five games.
As I wrote recently, the Green Bay Packers added some much-needed depth to their offensive line unit during the draft, and there will be plenty of competition between this group over the summer.
light. Related Story. Packers OL will be Loaded with Competition this Summer
With that said, although I don’t expect the Packers to add to the offensive line unit, I do believe there is value in adding a Dennis Kelly-like presence–specifically at tackle. Cole Van Lanen has one career NFL snap, and it came at guard. Yosh Nijman has just over 600 snaps — which is a relatively small amount — while Sean Rhyan, Zach Tom, and Rasheed Walker are all rookies. We also don’t know when Elgton Jenkins will return either.