The Packers added another veteran player on Wednesday. Just hours after acquiring wide receiver Randall Cobb in a trade with Houston, the team signed free agent tackle Dennis Kelly. It’s fair to question the first move but not the second. In fact, if the money is reasonable – let’s say no more than $2 million – this might be the shrewdest transaction made by general manager Brian Gutekunst since he signed corner Tramon Williams in 2018.
I watched Kelly practice for four summers in Philadelphia from 2012 to 2015, so I had a pretty good idea what the Packers were getting even before I watched some tape from the past couple of seasons. The 31-year-old former Purdue star is the ideal swing tackle. While more comfortable at right tackle, Kelly can finish out a game or even start a few on the left side. Rick Wagner, who served as the team’s No. 3 tackle in 2020, didn’t have that type of versatility. Kelly could even fill in at either guard spot in a pinch. None of Green Bay’s current backups have that kind of flexibility. Ben Braden comes the closest, but he’s barely played since originally signing with the Jets in 2017.
Kelly, who stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 320 pounds, played too tall and upright when he first entered the National Football League. That negated his leverage, strength, and power, and he was consequently stressed by speed in pass protection. But his pad level got a little better each year in Philly, and it improved dramatically in his last few seasons with the Titans. Kelly really benefited from being around Keith Carter, who is a respected offensive line coach. Speaking of Carter, he worked with Matt LaFleur in Tennessee in 2018 and before that in Atlanta in 2015 and 2016. So Kelly will arrive in town already having a pretty thorough understanding of the Packers’ complex scheme.
I don’t want to make it sound as if Kelly is a Pro Bowl-caliber tackle because he’s not. If he were, he would’ve been signed months ago. There are still times when his height and average feet get him in trouble in protection, and as a run blocker, he’s inconsistent sustaining blocks and doesn’t always generate movement. It’s also interesting that one of his least effective games last season came against, you guessed it, the Packers in week 16 at Lambeau Field (maybe Gutekunst didn’t notice because he was too busy thinking of ways to alienate quarterback Aaron Rodgers further).
Before starting all 16 games for the Titans last season, Kelly was a backup for the majority of his career. In fact, he started only 21 games from 2014 to 2019. How much he plays for the Packers remains to be seen. The coaches could choose to start him at right tackle and move Billy Turner to left tackle until All-Pro David Bakhtiari is ready to return from the serious knee injury he suffered last New Year’s Eve. That would allow Elgton Jenkins to remain at left guard, where he made his first Pro Bowl in 2020. Regardless of what the coaching staff decides, Kelly will ultimately be asked to do what he’s always done – provide solid depth at one of the most important positions on offense.
