The Green Bay Packers lost starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga to a torn ACL last season. And after Bulaga reportedly declined to take a pay cut, there were fears that his time in Green Bay was soon coming to an end.
However, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst has moved to quash any lingering speculation about Bulaga’s future. He said Bulaga is progressing better than expected in his recovery from that ACL tear and expects the right tackle to remain a part of the Packers.
“He's doing excellent; he's way ahead of schedule,” Gutekunst said per Rob Demovsky of ESPN. “Those are big injuries. He's fought through those things before, we expect him to do that again. But yeah, we expect him to be a part of our team.”
The Packers’ decision not to take an offensive lineman until the fifth round of the draft could also be a strong indication that Gutekunst does indeed plan to have Bulaga as part of the O-line for the upcoming season.
When healthy, Bulaga is one of the best right tackles in the entire league. However, health has been a big factor with him throughout the years. His most recent torn ACL was the second he’s suffered on his left knee.
But despite Bulaga’s injury history, in-house right tackle replacements Jason Spriggs and Kyle Murphy are also coming off their respective injuries, so it likely won’t make sense to further reduce the team’s depth at the position.
Bulaga has a $7.9 million cap hit for the 2018 season and the team would save close to $5 million if they release him. However, there’s still a chance Bulaga’s deal can be restructured sometime before the start of the season.
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