Those idiotic rumors about Bryan Bulaga possibly replacing David Bakhtiati at left tackle can be put to rest. Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy confirmed today that Bulaga will move back to the right side in 2014.
Mike McCarthy tells me @BBulaga will play Right Tackle, they talked a few weeks ago. @DBak69 stays at LT. #OwnersMeetings
— Chris Roth (@rothchris) March 25, 2014
That’s really all I want to and all that should be necessary for us to say about that. However, in case you haven’t been following along, let’s go over it one more time.
Bulaga was moved from right to left tackle prior to the 2013 season. Then he tore his ACL in the preseason, which cost him the entire year. It also thrust rookie David Bakhtiari into the lineup at left tackle.
Bakhtiari played well enough in 2013 and will only improve. Still, a bunch of idiots wondered… “Derrrrrrrr, will Bryan Bulaga got his job back at left tackle?”
No. No he won’t. The way Bakhtiari played in 2013 there was never any reason he should have.
The only question is what happens on the right side? If you assume Bulaga will be the starter at right tackle and you might as well, then what happens to Don Barclay? That guy started at right tackle all of 2013 and part of 2012, which Bulaga spent a good portion of being injured as well.
The most likely scenarios are Barclay goes back to the bench or the Packers give him a shot at being the starting center. Barclay played some center in training camp last year. He was horrible at it, which will happen when you’ve never played center before in your entire football career, but it’s a possibility.
The Packers lost last year’s starting center, Evan Dietrich-Smith, in free agency. In fact, they didn’t even really make a play for him, so they clearly had a backup plan in mind. That plan is probably to let Barclay compete with J.C. Tretter, a fourth-round pick from a year ago.
One more far-flung scenario we’d like to see play out is the Packers letting Barclay compete with T.J. Lang for the right guard job. In our estimation, Barclay is the far superior run blocker.
We doubt the Packers would be so bold, though.