Paul Bretl | 8/5/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Right guard isn’t the only position along the Packers’ offensive line where a competition is unfolding, but the swing tackle role off the bench is up for grabs as well.
“We have a fun competition there,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich. “It’s gonna be good.”
This was a role that was previously held by Yosh Nijman, who is now in Carolina after signing with the Panthers as a free agent earlier this offseason. As of now, there seems to be three players competing for this role in Kadeem Telfort, Andre Dillard, and recently, Caleb Jones was added to the mix.
Stenavich has also mentioned Luke Tenuta and Travis Glover when discussing this competition, but so far in practice, Tenuta is spending time at both guard and tackle with the second-team offense and Glover has seen more snaps with the third unit.
As far as who may have the upper-hand now 10 practices in, well, that hasn’t been easy to distinguish, and making that evaluation potentially more challenging is this group going up against Rashan Gary and Preston Smith regularly.
During the first two training camp practices, it was Dillard at right tackle with the ones, while Zach Tom is still working his way back to the team portion of practice. Tom is expected to be back this week in 11-on-11s. For the following six practices, it was Telfort taking the bulk of the snaps with the starters at right tackle, with Dillard being worked in here and there for a few series, but seeing most of his time come with the second unit.
However, roles have since flipped the last two practices, with Dillard primarily back with the ones, with Telfort being worked in occasionally. And then during Family Night, Jones was worked in for some snaps with the starters as well.
“We’ve got a really good competition there,” added Stenavich. “Obviously we’ve got Andre, we’ve got Kadeem, Caleb’s back in practice now, Glover, Tenuta, so we’ve got a bunch of guys we’re going to keep rotating around and see how grabs that spot.”
Telfort spent the 2023 season on the Packers’ practice squad after going undrafted out of UAB–a “humbling experience,” as Telfort put it, but a very valuable one as well. This offseason, he focused on footwork, working out with Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed in South Florida, and losing some weight in the process as well.
At 6-7 – 322 pounds, Telfort is a towering presence on the offensive line, and even saw some work at guard during offseason programs, helping him gain a better understanding of the offense as a whole. Although Telfort may not have the athletic profile of other linemen on this Packers team, he’s very steady.
“He’s been a good surprise and he’s been just a steady guy,” Stenavich said. “He’s not the most athletic. He’s not all that stuff. When you look at the numbers, he’s a big guy. He plays consistently, which in the offensive line is very important. He’s just a consistent presence.
“He’s very football intelligent. He’s just one of those guys that I’m excited to just see how he plays and how he keeps developing. We’ll see at the end of camp how it all aligns.”
Dillard joined the Packers in the offseason on a veteran league-minimum contract with no guarantees. Dillard is a supreme athlete and a former first-round pick in 2019, but has struggled to gain any traction. Last season with Tennessee, Dillard surrendered 12 sacks and 41 pressures, according to PFF, ranking 84th out of 86 tackles in pass-blocking efficiency.
With nearly all of Dillard’s 1,298 career snaps coming at left tackle, the challenge for him in Packers’ training camp has been transitioning to the right side of the line, which obviously is a must if you’re going to be the swing tackle.
“I think we just gotta keep working him on both sides,” Stenavich said. “He looks a lot better on the left side. He struggled a little bit on the right side. Us as coaches, we gotta make sure we put him over there on the right side to make sure he feels comfortable playing over there. It’s a new scheme. Just like anything, new terminology, some different techniques and things like that. You just gotta keep working at it and we’ll keep coaching him up.”
Jones began training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, putting him slightly behind after missing a few practices and then having to ramp up before being fully immersed in 11-on-11s. But now with some reps under his belt, Jones has shown that he’s deserving of some of the first-team reps.
“It felt good,” said Jones about getting snaps with the starters during Family Night. “It felt great to know I’m being considered in the first place. You know, again, like I said, there’s things that I wish I would have done better but I’m not upset at my opportunity to be out there. I’m just excited to be considered and I hope in the future I’ll be able to continue to build on what it is that I’ve shown today.”
Jones is in his third NFL season after spending the previous two on the Packers’ 53-man roster in a developmental capacity. After coming from the run-heavy Indiana offense, Jones said that the biggest strides he’s made have come in pass protection.
“I think coming into this it’s always been a question for me about I didn’t come from a heavy pass-blocking, any organizations before this,” said Jones. “So it’s always been a question, ‘how will he do in pass blocking?’
“I think that’s the biggest improvement on my part, just learning how to pass block and learning how to use my hands. Learning what sets to use at what times. It’s always just a blessing.”
When it comes to filling the swing tackle role, switching from the left side to the right side, or vice versa, isn’t anything new for Jones, which could be to his advantage in this competition.
“I’m somebody who has been swinging from left to right, right to left my entire career playing tackle from high school to college,” said Jones. “Mid-game, mid-series, it’s never really been something that I’ve had too much of an issue with. But for that, it’s kind of like, I can do whatever on both sides.”
With Tom returning to the team portion of practice this week–a welcomed sight for an offensive line unit that has struggled–this competition will primarily take place with the second-team offense–although there still may be some snaps with the starters available as Tom is eased in.
From the outside looking in, as these players continue to be rotated fairly heavily, there isn’t a ton of clarity on where this camp battle stands, but it is still early on in the process, and I imagine that right now it is the Packers’ intention to get each player as many reps as possible right now to have a large enough sample size when it comes to evaluating each of them. Once joint practices and the preseason arrives, we will have a better understanding of where things stand, and how this trio performs in those environments will carry a lot of weight.
“We’re going to keep shuffling it up and try to create a competitive situation and may the best man win,” said Matt LaFleur.