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Cory’s Corner: JC Tretter makes the most sense at left tackle

Posted on by Cory Jennerjohn

Ted Thompson admitted two things on Monday.

One, he admitted that he made a mistake with first round pick Derek Sherrod. When Roger Goodell stepped to the podium in 2011, just about everyone was surprised when he told the world that the Packers had just selected Sherrod with the 32nd and final pick of the first round.

Even before Sherrod went down with the tibia fracture, he wasn’t really impressing anyone. His speed was his most glaring weakness and obviously it didn’t get any better after taking almost two years to recover and rehab from injury. Arguably the biggest downfall came this year at Seattle. Sherrod spelled Bryan Bulaga who left with a knee injury and was the main reason the line caved in numerous times — including being responsible for two sacks.

And two, Thompson admitted that JC Tretter is a prize worth keeping. Drafted to play center, he never got a chance to prove what he could do there in an NFL regular season game. He was doing so well in the preseason before suffering his leg injury vs. Oakland Aug. 22 that many folks were talking about possible Pro Bowls.

But now the offense has been humming with rookie Corey Linsley. The Packers will let the two compete for the center job, but it’s highly unlikely Tretter wins and puts an unwelcome awkwardness into the offense at the midpoint of the season.

To maximize Tretter and the offensive line, the Packers have to move him back to tackle. He played tackle at Cornell before being drafted in the fourth round in 2013.

The weakest link on the Packers’ offensive line is easily left tackle David Bakhtiari. He has been called for holding 12 times the last two seasons. Of course that doesn’t count three false starts, an unsportsmanlike conduct, facemask and an illegal use of hands.

The biggest worry right now is if the Packers convert a big play touchdown, and as the team is celebrating in the end zone it turns around in horror to see a yellow penalty flag on the field waiting where the line of scrimmage was. A good comparison to Bakhtiari would ironically be Sherrod. Both players have motivation and discipline issues.

Let Tretter carve out a niche at left tackle protecting Aaron Rodgers’ blind side. Let him put his athletic ability, that everybody saw this past summer, to the test. And let Tretter solidify an offensive line that needs to be shored up with the game’s best quarterback under center.

Tretter may not like the news, seeing as how he was set to start at center this season before going down in the preseason. But Linsley has been unbelievable. Nobody — myself included — didn’t think he would be able to step in and play well on the road. But the strong Ohio State kid has, and now that the offense looks great like it routinely does, he is owed a lot of the credit.

Tretter was a star in the making before a freak injury took him down. The best way for him and the Packers to shine is as a left tackle.

Rodgers would be forever grateful for the switch.

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Cory Jennerjohn is from Wisconsin and has been in sports media for over 10 years. To contact Cory e-mail him at jeobs -at- yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter: Cory Jennerjohn

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24 thoughts on “Cory’s Corner: JC Tretter makes the most sense at left tackle”

  1. Cant say I agree with this..I like Bakhtiari at LT. Tretter should go in at RT until Lang gets healthy.

  2. TT admitted he made a mistake… that is the first step, there is hope. I pointed out this mistake years ago and got crucified for it. So now when the head honcho admits it, do I get at least an I told you so.?

  3. I like the idea of replacing Bakh with Tretter but I would prefer to try it out in a blow out game that we have taken Rodgers out of. I’m not sure that I want to risk Rodgers with an LT that has never played a down in the NFL. When Bakh took over he had an entire pre season to get ready to play. Maybe the coaches are seeing something in practice that’s telling them he’s ready to go. I guess we’ll see what develops this week. Thanks, Since ’61

  4. Sorry Cory – I don’t agree with this at all. Is Bakh an all pro? No. But I’d put him somewhere between 10-20th as a LT in the league. Not a world beater. Nothing special (yet), but not a “bust” by any sense either. He’s functioning. You don’t replace that in the middle of the year unless you absolutely have to.

    Make Tretter the 6th man and get rid of Taylor.

    1. May sound harsh, but I’m getting tired of “Corey’s Corner” series. I disagree with them more and more, and the stuff I do agree with hardly prompted the need for discussion. Quality over Quantity I always say.

      Bakh is a stud in pass protection, but a liability in run blocking, yet overall he’s very consistent. If we had to replace someone on that line, it would be Bulaga who clearly doesn’t trust his knee anymore. He’s been inconsistent in both aspects of protection and blocking, but even then there’s still a chance he will regain his confidence and get back to his 2011 form.

      1. He’s a stud alright, if you’re willing to overlook a steady stream of false starts, HTTF and holding penalties that are usually drive-killers.

      2. Yep, it does sound harsh, but I’ve been saying the exact same thing for months, and about other authors, too.

        This article confidently asserts the bizzarre notion that people were surprised and thought Sherrod was a reach… which seems to indicate both a complete lack of research and also a highly suspect memory (see my other post below). Other articles have obviously not been proofread – or even read at all? – before they are posted to the site, and contain utterly egregious errors of fact or grammar.

        If anyone says something about it, the answer will invariably be, “How much did you pay for this? We are not professionals, and therefore we hold ourselves to no standard of accountability whatsoever.”

        1. I’ve only had issue with a few articles. And even then, most of the time it’s a typo or just someone’s take that I don’t agree with.

          We’re all people here. We all make mistakes. In general, I think the content is great. And the fan interaction. Esp considering what you pay for it. 😉

  5. Isn’t it obvious?? RIGHT GUARD!. Lang,even when healthy, gets blown up with regularity.

    1. Why the hell does everyone give T.J. Lang so much crap????? He’s rated as the seventh best Guard in the NFL!!!

      1. Agreed. Lang takes crap for no reason. I don’t get into the PFF ranking stuff, but there’s no question he’s a good guard. The Packers are definitely near the top of the league with respect to their starting guard combo.

  6. The draft profiles on Tretter all indicated that he would have to move inside at the NFL level. Maybe GB’s coaches think he can play LT. If so, I agree with Since ’61 that it should be tried in a blow out game with Rodgers on the bench. I agree with Corey that Bakh is pretty good in pass pro but pretty bad at run blocking. He is a below average LT but he is serviceable. For now, we have to look for Tretter at RG in place of Lang. Lang is an above average guard, although he has been less consistent this year.

    Cory’s articles too often seem to have revisionist history in them, which though often pointed out by the commenters, doesn’t faze Mr. Jennerjohn. In fact, no one was surprised when TT made Sherrod the 32nd pick. On this very website, Mr. Thomas Hobbes in his 4/28/11 article wrote that GB “selected their best player available, which was Sherrod.” And Zack Kruse followed with an article on 4/29/11 in which he was very high on Sherrod, stating that pro bowls might be in his future and that Bulaga might have to move from RT to RG.

    1. LOL. In fact, you’re being waaaaaaaay too kind, Reynoldo. IN ADDITION to the ones you mention, here are a few more…

      Kiper (ESPN) #29
      McShay (ESPN) #29
      Nolan Nawrocki (PFW) #26
      Rob Rang (CBS) #29
      Chad Reuter (CBS) #29
      Pete Schrager (Fox) #29
      Evan Silva (Rotoworld) #22
      uncredited (Sporting News) #19
      Rick Gosselin (Dallas Morning news) #30
      Ourlads Scouting #23
      Jim Corbett (USA Today) #29
      Sean Leahy (USA Today) #29
      Steve Wyche (NFL.com) #29
      Bucky Brooks (NFL.com) #29
      Wes Bunting (NFP) #26

      “Just about everyone was surprised?” Um, no. Maybe there are one or two guys above who made a last minute change to their mock that I didn’t see, but that hardly matters. Virtually EVERY SINGLE BIG NAME in the business pegged Sherrod to go higher than he actually did. Was even ONE PERSON seriously surprised… except Big T, of course. He saw Sherrod’s failure while Derek was still playing in high school.

      There are ways to learn facts from the internet. It takes about 3 minutes.

  8. Left Tackles are highly regarded and therefore likely to have a draft rating assigned in order to list the minimum of 5 in the first round.Sherrod IIRC was that 5th guy in a class that had Tyron Smith,Nate Solder,Anthony Castonzo,Gabe Carimi and our Derek Sherrod and the ratings of each based on their contributions to date offers a validation.IIRC also,Mike Mayock also called this a very weak draft class for LT’s overall.

  10. This is a pretty bad article. Bak isn’t a star but he is very solid, incredibly young at 23 years old, and getting better. Has anyone even seen Tretter play LT??? Tretter hasn’t even taken a NFL snap and you want him protecting AR’s blindside? What on earth is the possible upside in making this move??? In no way would we win more games with Tretter starting for Bak this year, but we would probably get AR killed and have to turn to Matt Flynn again.
    Also, we will never know about Sherrod due to the injury. He looked like a beast and nobody was all that surprised he was drafted 32nd.

  11. Last year the discussion was that Bak was a steal in the fourth round, now he should be benched for a guy that hasn’t played a snap? Cory, you’re trolling. Like someone replied earlier “quality not quantity”. GoPack!

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