The Green Bay Packers’ offensive line is in a period of transition, as it appears that both Laken Tomlinson and Kevin Zeitler — who were both brought in this week — have a chance at starting against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4. According to reports from practice, Tomlinson has already been getting the full share of left guard reps in the media-open portion of practices this week, while the right guard position is a little more open-ended.
On both Wednesday and Thursday, Donovan Jennings got the “start” at right guard, but Zeitler continues to work on the side of the first-team offensive line, where he’s taking simulated reps as a right guard — both in terms of assignment and stance. You can see an example of that in the tweet above, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
It’s an interesting way to go about ramping up Zeitler, who head coach Matt LaFleur has said will take over the right guard position whenever he’s caught up on the offense.
On top of that, Travis Glover, who has yet to play on offense in the regular season, also got looks at right guard today. This pushed Jennings out to “the side” with Zeitler, allowing the team to rep three “right guards” at the same time.
So who will start at right guard? If he’s ready to execute the game plan, it’ll be Zeitler — per LaFleur’s comments. If Zeitler still needs a little more time to ramp up, it will likely be one of Jennings or Glover. There’s no certain answer right now, just because of the situation the team is in right now. Maybe we’ll get more clarity by the end of the week, but the truth of the matter is that the Packers are giving themselves options and are repping several players in preparation for what should be an Anxiety Bowl between 1-2 Green Bay and 0-3 Tampa Bay, two teams that desperately need a win in Week 4.
