Green Bay Packers’ 2019 season was full of surprises. No one expected Green Bay to be the second-best team in the NFC. No one expected Green Bay to be in the NFC Championship game. Winning the division seemed reasonable, but Vegas considered Minnesota and Chicago had better odds to win the division. One of the low-key surprises were Jared Veldheer. Green Bay brought him on board from New England when Veldheer decided to come out of his short retirement. Veldheer made a huge impact for the Packers in the playoffs when Bryan Bulaga could not play with the stomach flu. It would be behooved the Packers to keep him next year, whether, he is a starter or a backup for the team.

While it might seem like an overreaction to judge one game from Veldheer but consider the moment. This guy has been with the Packers for only a month or so. Packers had been relatively healthy on the offensive line, so, the assumption of him getting time was unlikely. But Veldheer jumped right into the action in a high-intensity playoff moment and did not allow a sack. That shows a ton of gumption. He worked his ass in that game and received praise from quarterback Aaron Rodgers for his work.

Even if the Packers do bring back Bulaga, Veldheer would the backup offensive tackle that Green Bay has been looking for the last several years. Now, they could add one through the NFL Draft, but the safer move would be to go with the former first-round mountain of a man. We saw what happened with Jason Spriggs, who was a complete disaster, from the start of his career. That seems like a high-risk decision that Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst doesn’t usually take with his team. In my opinion, Gutekunst seems less risk-averse than Ted Thompson which might be a podcast topic for another time. That is not a bad thing by the way.

We’ll see what the Packers do at offensive tackle. Middle linebacker, tight end, and offensive tackle are the three biggest priorities for Gutekunst this offseason.

Charlie.