Do you agree with this evaluation of our offensive line?

[Bucksfans1and2]

When the Packers selected Mississippi State standout, Derrick Sherrod, with their first round pick, Clay Matthews tweeted, “Protect the Franchise!!” That’s the logic that Ted Thompson seems to be using, and like most of what Ted Thompson does, it makes a lot of sense.

Aaron Rodgers is Ted Thompson’s guy. Ted took heat for ‘wasting’ a 1st round pick on a QB when there was a Hall of Famer on the roster, but that was nothing compared to what was to come. After a 13-3 season in 2007, Brett Favre announced his retirement and Ted Thompson took him at his word. The team made plans to move forward with Rodgers at QB. The Packers committed to him and unlike Favre, Rodgers committed to the Packers. Then Favre wanted to come back, and Ted was forced to make a decision. He battled popular opinion, and against a roar of public outrage, held the line against Favre’s comeback.

It turned out to be a stroke of genius that eventually culminated in the Lombardi Trophy returning home. Ted and the Packers, rightfully so, have hitched their wagon to Aaron Rodgers, and now Ted is doing his best to protect that investment. Taking two Tackles in the first round the past two years should tell everyone that Ted is not joking around with Rodgers protection up front.

Next year, the Packers look to start Clifton at Left Tackle, Sherrod at Left Guard, Wells at Center, Sitton at Right Guard, and Bulaga at Right Tackle. There were three big question marks going into the 2010/2011 season:

1: How much would Daryn Colledge suck? Not whether or not he would suck, that was a given, but how bad would he be. The answer was pretty terrible. He wouldn’t have been starting if TJ Lang hadn’t suffered from a back injury in Training Camp, but he was quite possibly the worst Offensive Lineman in the NFL last year. I never expect anything out of a rookie his first year, but Sherrod will be a huge improvement over Colledge.

2: How would Bryan Bulaga perform at Right Tackle? Wildly inconsistent was the answer. He started out the year pretty well but he had two terrible games against the Bears and the Dolphins, and that seemed to hurt his confidence. He got it together late in the season and he looked like a completely different player. In the last two regular season games and throughout the playoffs he played excellent. If he continues to build off of that performance, the Packers will have an awesome player at Right Tackle for a long time.

3: How would Chad Clifton’s knees hold up? If anybody said at the beginning of the season that they thought that Chad Clifton would start every game and make the Pro Bowl, they would have been laughed at. Clifton’s knees are held together with chewing gum and prayers and he was thirty-four. Clifton, through sheer will-power, traveled back four years and was a very good Lineman. He still was a bad runblocker, but a Left Tackle on a team like the Packers isn’t expected to be a dominant runblocker, just to protect the QB. This is the question that remains going into the 2011/2012 season and could possibly derail the Packers offense. If Clifton goes down (a distinct possibility) either rookie Derrick Sherrod or backup TJ Lang would start at Left Tackle.

The questions heading into 2011/2012 are:

1: Whether or not Chad Clifton can stay healthy? He’ll be a year older and have another season of wear on his knees.

2: How will Rookie Derrick Sherrod perform at Left Guard? Sherrod’s a big guy and was a monster at Mississippi State. He’s athletic for his size and projects to be an excellent pass blocker, the question with Sherrod stems from his runblocking and whether or not he has a mean streak. I think he’ll be fine, and even if he falls flat on his face in the running game he’ll still be better than what Colledge did last year.

3: Which Bryan Bulaga will we see? Will we see the guy that Cameron Wake dominated and drew what seemed like a dozen penalties in a heartbreaking loss to the Bears at the beginning of the season, or will we see Playoff Bulaga who shutdown Justin Tuck and Trent Cole? I don’t expect anything from Rookies so I’m more prone to believe that it will be the latter and he’ll only get better with an offseason and a year of experience under his belt.

From the looks of things, the Packers are in a much better position than last year which is rare for a Superbowl team. The two guys that haven’t really been mentioned yet are Scott Wells and Josh Sitton. Wells at Center is the typical Center. A lineman who’s a little bit undersized but makes up for it by being the smartest guy on the team, and a very solid pass blocker. He’s not a dominant player, his lack of elite strength and explosiveness means he’ll never be a dominant Center like Eric Mangold. He’ll always be more in the Jeff Saturday mold of a guy who’s adequate in the running game and excellent as a pass blocker. The Packers running game would have been fine with Wells at Center if the left side wasn’t made up of Clifton and Colledge who provided essentially nothing in the running game. Brandon Jackson starting at Running Back didn’t help much either.

Josh Sitton was the best Guard in the NFL last year. He gave up one sack in 20 starts and didn’t give up any in the regular season. His snub from the probowl was as bad as the snub of Aaron Rodgers. He was the Packers only consistent runblocker and he was excellent in the playoffs. Ndamukong Suh said that Sitton was the best lineman he played against all season and the NFL Alumni Association seemed to agree with the Rookie of the Year because they awarded Sitton the “Offensive Lineman of the Year” award.

Both Sitton and Wells will be free agents after the 2011/2012 season and I would expect both to remain to be resigned. Neither has turned thirty yet and I expect both of them to join Bulaga and Sherrod on the Packers Offensive Line for a long time. Ted Thompson will sleep much more soundly at night when Sitton and Wells have signed on the dotted line.

Once Clifton retires, and Sherrod moves to Left Tackle, a hole will open up at Left Guard. Daryn Colledge won’t be resigned and for good reason. TJ Lang looks to be the favorite to start there once Clifton is gone but other Packers reserves will fight for the spot as well. Marshall Newhouse and Nick McDonald, as well as rookie Caleb Schlauderaff will all get a fair shot but Lang remains the favorite.

TJ Lang was forced into action at Left Tackle in the playoff game against the Bears. He didn’t allow a sack despite matching up against premier Pass Rusher Julius Peppers. He only played for a little more than a quarter and he had plenty of help but what he showed was very encouraging. I wish he was better run blocking but he has a year to improve before he is thrown into that role. He probably would have started this year over Colledge but a back injury in training camp kept him out.

All in all, the Packers look very solid up front, both for next season and for the future. Other than having a good QB, being able to protect your QB is the second goal of any offense. Ted’s ability to accomplish both of these things as well as getting probowl level talent throughout the entire team is why almost everyone considers him to be one of the best GMs in all of professional sports.

[El Duderino]

First of all, while i'd for sure like an upgrade over Colledge, he wasn't brutal as this guy said. Then he says

3: Which Bryan Bulaga will we see? Will we see the guy that Cameron Wake dominated and drew what seemed like a dozen penalties in a heartbreaking loss to the Bears at the beginning of the season, or will we see Playoff Bulaga who shutdown Justin Tuck and Trent Cole? I don’t expect anything from Rookies so I’m more prone to believe that it will be the latter and he’ll only get better with an offseason and a year of experience under his belt.

Bulaga shut down Tuck? What was this guy watching?

Tuck was often blowing right past Bulaga, it was only some great scrambling by Rodgers and his quick release that save Bulaga from allowing 2-3 sacks in that game.

As for Sherrod starting at LG, that's certainly possible, but far from a lock, especially since it looks like all the rookies will miss out on vital offseason camps which they'd normally attend.

[eagle13]

Sounds about right.

To what degree College sucked? No matter - he just sucked.

IMO if Lang or McDonald performs good at LG I would start him there right away & let Sherrod focus on LT as Chad's backup/heir.

However not sure bulaga wouldn't be better at LT? Coaches will obviously evaluate bulaga/sherrod.

[askdavescat]

Where'd this come from. 1 - I thought that last year Lang was set back by a wrist injury, not his back. Spitz has the back issue from two seasons ago. 2 - When Lang replaced Clifton in the NFC Championship game, he got his @ss handed to him. I believe we've seen the last of Lang at LT (unless the O-line is totallly decimated by injuries). 3 - While I believe that for his overall career , College has underachieved (and pretty bad in 2009), he was no where near as bad last year as some make him out to be. GB won't pay him if he becomes unrestricted, but if last year's rules still apply, I'm pretty sure College will be our LG again in 2011.

[jwmann2]

Who cares about what happened last year? The Packers won the Super Bowl and have most of their roster back. FYI, Justin Tuck blew by a lot of people last year.

[eagle13]

Unless OL is depleted due to injuries, College will be gone regardless of new CBA terms. IF he's unrestricted he's gone for more money than he's worth - if he's RFA then TT will trade him for a 4th or 5th draft pick.