Former Green Bay Packers’ right tackle Bryan Bulaga declared he and his family will be moving to California in a few weeks as he beings the next stage of his career in Los Angeles. Bulaga joined the Chargers in free agency this offseason after an illustrious career in Green Bay. The lack of Sunday Night Football “Iowa” chants will dismay many Packers fans, who would have loved for Bulaga to remain with his former team.
It’s the nature of the business. Salary cap, team needs, and being a fan favorite rarely align, and while many would have liked to maintain Bulaga on the offensive line, it wasn’t in the picture. The way modern free agency works, fan favorites, and valuable players are always likely to play in multiple cities in their careers.
Last week, I wrote about a Mike Daniels/Green Bay reunion, which could certainly happen. But this week, let’s look at former Packers’ players returning from a fun fan lens. If you could have any former Packers player return to the team, ignoring cap space or trade details, who would you want to see return to Lambeau?
The only stipulation is this theoretical scenario is you must take the player as they are today; not in their prime, not on their rookie deal, but where they’re at in their career right now.
Let’s have some fun! My personal choices:
Micah Hyde
Hyde was clearly misused in Dom Capers offense and became a Pro Bowler in his first year with the Buffalo Bills. While his stats simmered down a bit in 2018 and 2019, Hyde is still a versatile player capable of playing free or strong safety, special teams returner, or even cornerback. The Packers have shored up much of their secondary, but an extra-talented safety is never a bad thing. Hyde wins with intelligence and hard work, and he could pass his training techniques to the young secondary members the way Tramon Williams did.
Randall Cobb
Cobb may not fit as well in Matt LaFleur’s scheme as he did in Mike McCarthy’s, but a healthy Cobb is a dangerous thing, The Packers are putting a lot of faith in their current group of receivers, but Cobb was one of Rodgers’ most reliable and trusted targets and is always good at decimating the Chicago Bears. He’d certainly improve the group.
Bashaud Breeland
So, Breeland is in a bit of trouble right now, but focusing on on-field abilities, having another talented cornerback like Breeland would be great for this defense. You can never have too many talented cornerbacks. Breeland had a fairly slow start in Kansas City but was an important part of the defense for the eventual Super Bowl Champions.
Bryan Bulaga
See above.
Mike Daniels
Discussed last week.
Who would you like to see return? Leave your choices in the comments!
Matt Hendershott is a Packers fan and Miller High Life enthusiast from Northwest Ohio. He has a Master of Arts in Media and Communication from Bowling Green State University. You can follow him on Twitter @MattHendershott.
2 responses to “Fun: Who would fans want to return to Green Bay?”
Clay Mathews would help the middle linbacker group.
Casey Hayward without a doubt. Micah Hyde would be my 2nd. remember people bashing Hyde when he came out because of his 40 time. The 40 time is the most overblown stat from the combine I can think of. The differences in a 4.48 and 4.52 is so small yet some make it sound insurmountable.