Packers, T.J. Lang agree to 4-year extension

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Aaron Rodgers and T.J. Lang
Aaron Rodgers and T.J. Lang

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Green Bay Packers have agreed to a four-year contract extension with left guard T.J. Lang.

Lang was a fourth-round draft pick out of Eastern Michigan in 2009, and he’s blossomed into a versatile and reliable offensive player with the Packers. After starting all 16 games at left guard last season, the Packers clearly felt that Lang was deserving of a long-term contract.

And although the Packers insist on their reluctance to play “musical chairs” on the offensive line, Lang is likely the team’s best option behind Marshall Newhouse at left tackle. If the Packers found themselves in a position without Newhouse in the regular season, they’d almost certainly do some sort of shifting, whether it be Lang or Bryan Bulaga to left tackle, instead of asking rookie Andrew Datko or journeyman Herb Taylor to protect Aaron Rodgers’s blindside.

The Packers still have bigger fish to fry, as Greg Jennings’s contract is set to expire after this season, but getting Lang’s deal extended before the season is certainly a step in the right direction.

Lang, 24, and right guard Josh Sitton, 26, form one of the league’s top duos at offensive guard. With Jeff Saturday set to replace Scott Wells at center, the interior of the Packers’ offensive line appears to be in great shape headed into 2012.

Not only does the offensive line look like a solid unit for this season, but Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explains that the core of the offensive line will remain intact for the next several years:

“The deal assures the Packers that three of their five offensive linemen – Josh Sitton and Bryan Bulaga are the others — will be together for at least three more years. Sitton is locked up through 2016, Bulaga through 2014, Marshall Newhouse through 2013 and Derek Sherrod through 2014.”

Terms of Lang’s new contract have yet to be released.

 

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Marques is a Journalism student, serving as the Sports Editor of UW-Green Bay\'s campus newspaper The Fourth Estate and a Packers writer at Jersey Al\'s AllGBP.com. Follow Marques on Twitter @MJEversoll.

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4 thoughts on “Packers, T.J. Lang agree to 4-year extension

  1. Draft a center next year and if Newhouse/Sherrod pans out we’re set for years. When does Bulaga come up? That could end up being pricey, but got to protect the franchise.

  2. The terms of the contract probably had incentives like free steak meals with extra helpings of baked potatoes.

  3. I hope Rodgers celebrates Lang’s extension by beaning him with a head of cabbage.

    That commercial still cracks me up when I think about it.

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