Detroit Lions top the NFC North offensive line power rankings
By Ash Thompson
The Green Bay Packers offensive line
The Green Bay Packers offensive line is the polar opposite of the Bears. Their strength is on the outside, rather than the inside. They will put up better analytics in 2018 than they did in 2017. A large portion of that is due to the quick decision making and nimble feet of Aaron Rodgers, however.
When Bryan Bulaga and David Bakhtiari are both on the field, and healthy they might be the best bookend of tackles in football. The problem with that statement, if you’re a Packers fan, is the rarity of the event as of late.
Bakhtiari has not been the problem. He did miss four games during the 2017 season, but those were four of the six games he has missed during his entire career. He is one of the NFL’s better left tackles.
Bulaga, on the other hand, has a career loaded with missed time. He has played in 16 games only twice during his seven-year career. Considering his level of play it is bizarre that the Packers reportedly asked him to take a pay cut from his paltry $5.85 million salary during the offseason.
The reason that it is a problem is that the team’s projected swing tackle has been Jason Spriggs. Some of you may recall that name from the 2016 draft. He was the offensive tackle who put up a spectacular workout and fooled prognosticators into thinking he was something other than a day three project.
There is no position in football for which the combine workouts mean less than the offensive line. The Packers apparently did not agree. The Packers were wrong.
Lane Taylor, Corey Linsley, and Justin McCray might be the worst interior offensive line in football. Taylor and Linsley are just run of the mill bad starters. If either were the worst player on this line, it would be the top group in the division. They are not, however, the worst players on this line.
Right guard is a black hole, sucking all potential offensive success into its gravitational field and annihilating it. Justin McCray would not make the Lions 53 man roster. He will likely be the Packers starting right guard.
The Madison Cole joined the Packers in the fifth round of the 2018 draft. He or Spriggs may get the job at right guard over McCray. If that happens, it will not be because they are good players. It will be because McCray was so bad the Packers got desperate to try any other option available to them.