Packers To Sign Byron Bell

The Packers have beefed up their offensive line. Veteran Byron Bell announced on Instagram that he has signed with the Packers. 

Bell spent the first four seasons of his career with the Panthers before hooking on with the Titans in 2015. He missed all of 2016 with a foot injury, but returned in 2017 with the Cowboys where he appeared in 12 games at left tackle and made two starts. Bell’s 243 snaps last year were the lowest of any of his career seasons. All in all, he has started in 74 games across six years.

Bell has spent the bulk of his pro career at right tackle, but also offers experience at left tackle and left guard. With the ability to potentially play four positions on the line, Bell could be primed for a supersub role in Green Bay. And, with Bryan Bulaga and starting left guard Lane Taylor off the practice field as they recover from injuries, he’ll get plenty of reps this summer to show what he can do.

“I think it’s a heck of an opportunity for guys to rotate in there and do a lot of things now,” offensive line coach James Campen said last week (via Bill Huber of 247 Sports). “We’re getting (in the) team period 14 reps or 16 reps, but it’s the work we get to do on the side with them. Now, they get to have bags in front of them and those type of things. You move guys here and there. You use it as an advantage, because as we’ve seen before at times. You have to put guys in and move guys around. People get really comfortable with guys they’ve worked with. You try to rep a lot of that as well as looking at the evaluations. I look at it as a positive thing. Obviously, you’d love to have Bryan and everybody out there doing their thing, but be that as it may, even if everything was there, there’d still be some rotation and some things going on.”

In theory, Bell could even push for the starting right guard job as last year’s starter Jahri Evans remains in free agent limbo. As of this writing, Justin McCray projects as the team’s top RG option.