One week before the 2024 NFL Draft, the Green Bay Packers signed former first-round pick Andre Dillard to come in and compete for the squad’s swing tackle position. When right tackle Zach Tom missed significant time this offseason with a pec injury, Dillard played plenty of time with the first-team offensive line.
Apparently, the Packers haven’t been very impressed. According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the “feeling internally” is that Green Bay’s first tackle off of the bench for the regular season isn’t on the team’s current roster. That’s a pretty crushing blow to Dillard, Caleb Jones and Kadeem Telfort, who have been competing for the position. On top of that, the Packers spent a draft pick on sixth-round pick Travis Glover in April, which might lead to him making the 53-man roster as a “redshirt” player.
Because Dillard is a vested veteran, his $1.125 million salary for the 2024 season will fully guarantee if he’s on the active roster in Week 1. If the Packers don’t think that he’s ready to be a season-long swing tackle going into his age-29 season, it’s hard to justify locking up that money on a player they might eventually release — but still owe money to and cap space for — in-season.
If Green Bay thinks a swing tackle is just going to fall into their lap at cutdowns, though, they might want to rethink their strategy. Almost every team in the league could use another tackle. If the Packers want to add a swing tackle, they might have to go down the trade route, as they did earlier today when they traded for former Tennessee Titans quarterback Malik Willis to solve their backup quarterback issue.
Every NFL team has until 3 p.m. CT on Tuesday to get down to a 53-man roster. If the Packers are going to trade for a swing tackle, we’ll hear about it by then. If they’re going to test the waiver wire, that news will probably emerge on Wednesday.