GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It’s the elephant in the Green Bay Packers' offensive-line room: Three of the five starters have contracts that expire after this season, so it could be the last hurrah for the unit coach Mike McCarthy predicted in 2014 would be the best group of blockers he’s ever had.
“Everybody understands the situation that’s coming up after the season, but we don’t really think about it a whole lot,” right guard T.J. Lang said, one the trio of pending free-agent starters. “We don’t talk about it a whole lot. It’s just the nature of the game. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, and only time will tell. Everybody is just kind of taking it day by day and just enjoying each other’s company because you don’t know what’s going to happen, nobody does.
“But we’ve still got a lot of games left before something like that is decided. Until then, we’ll just take it slow and just enjoy the time we have together.”
At this point, the line is just trying to get back to where it was when McCarthy made that prediction. After a stellar 2014 season in which the same five started 17 of 18 games (including playoffs), last season, only Josh Sitton started all 18 games (including playoffs).
Lang missed only one start but played with a badly damaged right shoulder that required surgery after the season (he still hasn’t returned to on-field workouts). Center Corey Linsley, who played every snap as a rookie in 2014, missed three. So did left tackle David Bakhtiari, who had played in 46 consecutive games before a late-season ankle injury knocked him out.
It was one of several factors that contributed to the offense's plummet last season to 23rd in the NFL, its lowest ranking in more than 20 years.
“Last year, I don’t think we took a step back,” Lang said. “We had the injury bug kind of hit, and it hit everybody. It just kind of threw our momentum off a little bit. Yeah, you look all the way across the board, each guy has a case to be the top player at his position in this league, and that’s something that’s really special. Everybody is excited. We’re excited to ... or I’m excited to get back on the field. That won’t happen 'til training camp, but I know we’re all excited about putting together another solid year up front.”
But will it be their last together? Bakhtiari could command $10 million or more per year on the left-tackle market next spring if the Packers don’t re-sign him before then, while Sitton’s status as a repeat second-team All-Pro gives him leverage despite the fact that he turns 30 next week. And Lang has proved to be one of the most consistent performers among the group.
“We’ve got a lot of guys up and if I’m gambling, I’m going to bet that not all of us come back,” Bakhtiari said. “That’s just how the nature of the beast is. But that’s something you don’t want to think about and that shouldn’t be our topic of conversation.”
It’s why general manager Ted Thompson protected himself in the draft. He traded up to take tackle Jason Spriggs in the second round and took another tackle, Kyle Murphy, in the sixth.
“All we can focus on is getting ready to play this season,” Sitton said. “All of that other stuff is kind of out of our control. I think we’d all love to be here at the end of the year, but it’s out of our control. All we can do is go out and play well and try to play well as a unit, and everything else will take care of itself, whether it’s here or somewhere else.”