GREEN BAY, Wis. — 14,407 offensive snaps. That’s what the Green Bay Packers infused into their ailing offensive line on Wednesday.
The team officially agreed to a one-year deal with 36-year-old Kevin Zeitler after a successful visit in his hometown state of Wisconsin on Tuesday. Just three games into the regular season, the Packers are turning over every last stone in an attempt to salvage an ailing offensive line that has already surrendered 34 hits on Jordan Love.
With Zeitler—among others—in town, that number shouldn’t climb much in the coming weeks.
Head coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday that Zeitler provides “everything you’re looking for” in an offensive lineman.
"He’s stout, he can anchor in pass-pro, he’s really effective in the running game, whether it’s a zone scheme or a gap scheme,” said LaFleur. “He’s done it all. There’s nothing he hasn’t seen or done; we just gotta get him ramped up.”
Zeitler is the third former first-round pick the Packers have added to their offensive line in as many days, after officially signing Laken Tomlinson and Mekhi Becton earlier this week. The 34-year-old Tomlinson has spent the entirety of his career as a left guard, while Becton entered the league as a tackle before shifting inside to right guard during the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl season in 2024.
Of the bunch, only Becton was signed to the practice squad while Zeitler and Tomlinson joined the Packers’ active roster. The latter two have the opportunity to join the lineup as soon as Sunday’s matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.
“We haven’t even set foot on the grass with them, but we have a plan in place,” LaFleur said. “We’re going to follow that plan and try to push and get these guys up to speed as quickly as humanly possible so they can go out there and contribute.”
The Packers have little time to waste. They’re staring down their first 1-3 start in 20 years, and the biggest detriment to their shortcomings so far this season has been the San Andreas-sized faults in their offensive line. The hope is that Zeitler and co. will be able to do their part in patching the crevices, as well as help bring along some of the team’s other inexperienced linemen.
This certainly isn’t Zeitler’s first rodeo. To provide an idea of just how long Zeitler has been in the league, he was drafted in the spring following the Packers’ 2011 Super Bowl title defense. They were on the heels of a 15-1 campaign, just three months removed from being stunned at Lambeau Field by the New York Giants—the eventual champions—when Zeitler was drafted No. 27 overall by the Cincinnati Bengals. The 6’4”, 332-pound Zeitler is a native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, having played four collegiate seasons for the Badgers before entering the league.
Green Bay will mark Zeitler’s seventh and presumably final stop of his career, and it is perhaps the sweetest. He spent the duration of his rookie contract with the Bengals, two seasons with the Cleveland Browns, two with the Giants, three with the Baltimore Ravens, and one with both the Detroit Lions and Tennessee Titans. In the 16 games Zeitler played at 35 years old in Tennessee last season, he allowed just 16 pressures on rookie quarterback Cam Ward. The Packers’ starting guard tandem of rookie Jager Burton and Jacob Monk surrendered 16 pressures in last Thursday night’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons alone.
All but four snaps across Zeitler’s 15-year career have come at right guard, so he’ll be replacing Monk at the position by the time he’s ready to take the field. Monk, a former sixth-round pick, has struggled in what has been his first audition at right guard after starting last year’s regular-season finale at center.
The Packers have desperately tried to make Monk a core piece of their offensive line, and their efforts were prominent throughout training camp. However, it was more like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. With more experience, Monk could potentially become dependable down the road, but the Packers don’t have the time to wait for that to happen, nor does Love need to be collateral damage in the process.
Zachary Jacobson is the author of The Packer Dispatch. He is entering his 12th season covering the Green Bay Packers after spending seven as the Editor-in-Chief of Packer Report. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Follow him on Twitter @zachjacobson or contact him via email at itszachariahj@gmail.com.