Breaking News: Packers Sign Kevin Zeitler

Alright Packers fans, welcome back in. Cal Hutson here, and folks, we have some breaking news coming out of Green Bay, and honestly, I think this is one of those moves that tells us a lot more about what the Packers think about their football team than just the name of the player they signed. The Green Bay Packers have agreed to a one-year deal with veteran offensive guard Kevin Zeitler, and if you're sitting there going, "Wait a minute, didn't the Packers just sign Laken Tomlinson? Didn't they just bring in Mekhi Becton?" Yes. Yes, they did. And that's exactly why this is so interesting. Green Bay is making some serious changes to this offensive line, and they're doing it because what we saw against Atlanta clearly wasn't good enough.

Kevin Zeitler is a name Packers fans should recognize. He's a 14-year NFL veteran, he's got 213 career starts, and he spent last season with the Tennessee Titans, where he started all 16 games he played. He's also a Wisconsin guy. He grew up in Waukesha, played his college football at Wisconsin, and now, after spending more than a decade playing all over the NFL, he's coming home to play for the Green Bay Packers. And I know some people will say, "Well, who cares where he's from? Can he block?" And you know what? That's fair. I don't care if the guy was born in Lambeau Field if he can't block anybody. But in this particular case, we're talking about a veteran guard who has spent his entire career playing at a very high level and has an enormous amount of NFL experience.

And that's really what Green Bay is buying here. They're not getting 2014 Kevin Zeitler. They're not getting some 25-year-old superstar who's going to come in and dominate the league for the next decade. Kevin Zeitler is 36 years old. But that's not why you sign him. You sign him because you've got a young quarterback, you've got an offense that needs stability, you've got a running game that has struggled, and you've got an offensive line that just got absolutely exposed against Atlanta. You're bringing in a guy who has been around the block a few times, who's played in big games, who's seen every defensive front imaginable, and who knows what he's doing at the guard position.

And I think that's important because the Packers aren't necessarily looking for somebody to come in here and become an All-Pro. They're looking for somebody who can raise the floor of this offensive line. That's the way I'd describe this entire move. Green Bay needs fewer disasters. They need fewer missed assignments. They need fewer plays where a defensive lineman comes screaming through the middle of the line untouched. They need Jordan Love to have time to actually run the offense. They need the running backs to have somewhere to go. They need the receivers to have enough time for routes to develop. That's what this is about.

Think about what happened against Atlanta. The Packers scored just 14 points. They ran the football nine times for 17 yards. Seventeen yards. That's the kind of number where you look at the stat sheet and wonder if somebody accidentally left out a digit. And obviously, it's not all on the offensive line. Football doesn't work that way. There are running-back decisions, there are play-calling decisions, there are defensive fronts, there are situations in games. But when you're watching an offense struggle that badly to run the football and you're watching the quarterback deal with pressure, the offensive line is going to be one of the first places you look.

And apparently, Brian Gutekunst looked there too, because suddenly we're seeing veteran offensive linemen arrive in Green Bay one after another. Laken Tomlinson was added earlier this week. Mekhi Becton was brought in as another veteran option. And now you've got Kevin Zeitler. That's not some random coincidence. The Packers looked at what happened, evaluated the situation, and decided they needed more experience up front.