OL: Packers offseason by position

The good news:  Despite losing Bulaga to a hip injury on Nov. 4, never getting Sherrod on the field after his horrific broken leg (suffered on Dec. 18, 2011) and bot guards playing through injuries, the line did a serviceable job. The biggest upshot of the injuries and other challenges – veteran Jeff Saturday was benched with two games left in the regular season in favor of his backup, Dietrich-Smith – was that it gave the team a chance to find out that Barclay has some talent. An undrafted free agent who made the team coming out of camp, the rookie wound up playing 459 snaps and starting the final six games, including both playoff games. While he had the kind of growing pains you might expect – ProFootballFocus.com charged him with five sacks, four quarterback hits and 19 hurries – he also flashed real potential. Van Roten, another undrafted rookie free agent who began on the practice squad before being promoted to the 53-man roster, also saw action as an extra blocker late in the season and accelerated his development. Is that the best thing that came from the injury issues? “It's a valid question,” offensive line coach James Campen said. “It gave opportunities for others to play, (and) we got to see them in live-action in a regular-season NFL game. So I think that is an advantage moving forward, obviously, getting more players to play. Certainly you don't want to have players get injured, as you know.”

The bad news:  By season’s end, all three of the Packers’ first-round draft picks over the past three years – Bulaga from 2010, Sherrod from 2011 and outside linebacker Nick Perry from 2012 – had all landed on season-ending injured reserve or, in Sherrod’s case,  never got off the physical unable to perform list. There has to be some concern that Sherrod may never fully recover from the injury, which required immediate surgery in Kansas City after it happened and will not have set foot on a game or practice field for 18 months when organized team activities start. Sherrod was limited to individual drills and rehabilitation work by himself with trainers in the Don Hutson Center as he was on PUP. Now, the Packers must not only find out if Sherrod will ever be healthy enough to play, but if he is eventually cleared by doctors, if he’ll be able to play at a high level, as a first-round pick should.

“I hope like heck that he's ready to go and can overcome the injury that he's had. He's got some things that he has to do from a medical perspective. What they are, I'm not exactly sure,” Campen said. “I expect him to be back out there competing for a spot. He's a good football player that had an injury that's obviously tough to overcome. But we certainly expect him to be ready to go and we're excited to have him back.

“He was just getting comfortable in what we were asking him to do. His fundamentals were in line. Never was an issue with that kid knowing where to go or how to get there. Very intelligent kid, very accountable to his performance. It was a shame that it happened to him. After going through that and then sitting the whole year, I know he’s champing at the bit to get back and play football.”

The big question: Left tackle is often called the offensive line’s glamor position, but the truth of the matter is that it’s the position that draws the most scrutiny. If you don’t believe that, just ask Newhouse, who draws more criticism than any other lineman, even as he faced a veritable Murderer’s Row of pass rushers during the season. Truth be told, Newhouse had his moments of brilliance and his moments where he simply didn’t play well. The question is, is he good enough to be the answer as the team’s long-term left tackle? According to ProFootballFocus.com, Newhouse was charged with nine sacks, eight quarterback hits and a team-high 37 hurries. But he was also the only player on offense to play all 1,257 offensive snaps, and it’s no easy task facing Julius Peppers, Jared Allen, Jason Pierre-Paul and Aldon Smith. At the same time, if Sherrod returns to health, he should compete with Newhouse, or maybe the Packers must consider letting Bulaga have a shot.

“I think really just for him is to gain the confidence that he gained this year. Let’s face it: He had a lot of very, very good rushers go against him this year,” Campen replied when asked what Newhouse needs to take the next step as a left tackle. “I’m not saying it was unusual because the left tackle most of the time gets the premier rusher. He had some ups and downs in there but, for the most part, I thought he performed well enough for us to win. The guy showed that he’s durable. He didn’t miss one single snap the entire season or postseason. He fought through some minor things and it’s always a positive when a player can play with a slight injury or bumps or bruises. His numbers were better from the year before. Moving forward, he should have a lot of confidence coming into camp to be better than what he was this year. He’s still an ascending player and he’s still a player that has room to grow.

“Marshall improved from last year to this year. It showed in his play. My exit interview with him was very positive. His confidence level is up, as it should be. He played better than he did the year before, and I expect him to grow and be even better next year."

Offseason outlook:   One would think the Packers would add a lineman or two through the draft, especially if Sherrod’s prognosis isn’t positive. If they are fully confident that Dietrich-Smith is their center of the present and future, then that position isn’t a pressing need. Both Lang and Sitton are locked up long-term, and having invested back-to-back first-round picks into their offensive line, do they go there again with other needs to fill? And how do they view Barclay – as an undrafted diamond-in-the-rough find, or a decent stop-gap and backup? All those questions require answers. “I think we were a little inconsistent at the beginning of the year and then we did get some injuries. Then, as the year went on, we adapted to the injury situation and we played more consistently at the end and became a little bit more productive at the end,” offensive coordinator Tom Clements said. “That's, ideally, how we'd like to play for an entire year. That didn't work out that way. .Each year is a different year and next year will be different from this one. It's a new process that you start.”

Next: Defensive line.

– Jason Wilde