The Green Bay Packers must prepare to reduce their roster to 53 players for the first week of the regular season, so they have some difficult decisions ahead of them.
Every team generally makes one or two surprise cuts, and the Packers likely won’t be an exception.
David Kenyon of Bleacher Report expects Green Bay to trade a pretty big name for its offensive line, predicting the Packers will part ways with offensive tackle Andre Dillard.
“Green Bay’s offensive line depth is taking shape, though,” Kenyon wrote. “Second-year blocker Kadeem Telfort and rookie Travis Glover may have done enough to overtake Andre Dillard, who is looking for a stable year after a frustrating 2023 with Tennessee.”
Green Bay signed Dillard to add depth in the trenches after longtime left tackle David Bakhtiari was released earlier in the offseason. Some thought he had a chance to compete for a starting spot, but instead he could end up unemployed.
Dillard, who played college football at Washington State, was originally selected by the Philadelphia Eagles 22nd overall in the 2019 NFL Draft.
He never really played for the Eagles, starting just nine games in three seasons. His most productive year was 2020, when he played in 35 percent of Philadelphia’s offensive actions.
After a disappointing three-year run in Philly, Dillard signed with the Tennessee Titans, where he appeared in 16 games last season and started 10 times. He failed to establish himself as part of the Titans’ future, so Tennessee released him in March.
The Packers signed the 28-year-old in April, but he may not even get the chance to make a single regular-season appearance in the Tundra.
We’ll see if Green Bay ultimately sends Dillard home.
Meanwhile, the Packers themselves will be looking to build on their surprising season last year, when they finished 9-8 and defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.
The Green Bay Packers are considered hot favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl next season.
