GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The last time the Green Bay Packers made a major move with their offensive line, they lost center Scott Wells in free agency last year and picked out washed-up Jeff Saturday to replace him.
The year before, they drafted tackle Derek Sherrod at the tail end of the first round.
Sherrod's story can't be written yet, but based on his rough rookie season and ongoing leg problems coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson probably will end up missing there as well.
In May, the pair unveiled a reconfigured line with the four incumbent starters all changing positions and free agent Evan Dietrich-Smith installed as the starting center.
Heaven help the Packers if McCarthy and Thompson are wrong again.
"I think we will be a better offensive line," offensive coordinator Tom Clements said. "I don't have any doubt about that."
The Packers could have come back the way they finished 2012. The preferred unit of Marshall Newhouse, T.J. Lang, Dietrich-Smith (after Saturday was moth-balled after 14 games), Josh Sitton and Bryan Bulaga from left to right was part of an offense that ranked fifth in scoring and helped win 12 of 18 games.
Newhouse, the weakest link and manning the most important position, was the fly in that ointment.
Did the Packers really want to go another year with Newhouse at left tackle knowing he'd be an unrestricted free agent in March and having doubts he was good enough to receive a second contract?
Identifying Bulaga and Sitton as his top linemen, McCarthy moved both to the blind side and gave Newhouse, whose finesse game would seem better suited for left tackle, at least first crack to help himself and the team on the right side.
In a telling comment from mid-May, McCarthy said, "More importantly, we focus on the ones that we know are going to be here."
Clements and James Campen, the offensive line coach, were enthusiastic how all hands adjusted to foreign sides during spring ball. "I was really kind of amazed," said Campen.
When it was suggested to Clements that the Packers could always switch back, he replied, "Anything's possible, but I don't think that's probable."
According to Clements, there was no risk attached to the moves. Others in the league disagreed.
"It's an axiom that you don't move a 'blue' (elite) player," a top executive for an NFL team said in June. "Sitton's a 'blue' player. He could struggle."
Another personnel man thought of the ramifications and said, "It better work. But as long as that grouping stays together it'll be fine."
It will be critical for the starters to be hale and hearty during camp and the season. Besides the extreme need to practice together, depth was whittled away with Sherrod's availability uncertain and the major leg injury that J.C. Tretter, a fourth-round draft choice, suffered in May.
Running the ball better is a focus, Clements said, but the thrust has to be the pass protection.
From 2009-12, the Packers ranked 29th, 20th, 22nd and 28th in percentage of sacks allowed. In that span they have allowed 202 sacks, counting playoffs, and the line was charged with 114-1/2.
From 1999-2008, counting playoffs, the Packers gave up 260 sacks, 144-1/2 of which were charged to the line.
Thus, the Packers have averaged 50.5 sacks (28.6 by the line, or 56.7 percent) in the last four seasons compared to 26.0 sacks (14.5 by the line, or 55.6 percent) in the decade before that.
There are any number of reasons why this offense, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and line has allowed almost twice as many sacks as its predecessor, but both Campen and Clements said the trend has to change.
"We've made adjustments in our scheme eval (evaluation), and obviously some personnel changes," Campen said. "We put our two most accomplished guys on the back side (to) shut that down and provide better opportunities for the quarterback to throw the ball.
"There are things we need to do better. We are going to trim that number down."
Last year, the line was tagged with 35 sacks, its highest total since the 1996 title team unit yielded 33.
It starts, as always, at left tackle, the position where Newhouse allowed most of his 21-1/2 sacks in the last two years and Chad Clifton gave up merely 39 sacks in 12 years.
Bulaga, a right tackle since early 2010, started on the left side at Iowa from 2008-09.
At 6 feet 5-1/2, he is 1-1/2 inches taller than Newhouse and a more physical player. However, Newhouse's arm length is about an inch greater.
"'Cliffy' was a very good pass protector," said Clements. "Bryan can be a very good pass protector and he's very good in the run game. He was a No. 1 pick. He's a diligent player. He'll just keep getting better."
On the other side, Newhouse is first man up. McCarthy loves his feet, which one scout rated better than Bulaga's. Newhouse, according to McCarthy, must play better with his hands and start finishing blocks.
"Everyone will get their opportunity," Clements said. "But Marshall will line up there initially."
Don Barclay rose from free-agent obscurity to take over at right tackle not long after Bulaga damaged his hip. McCarthy admires his toughness while acknowledging that Barclay needs development.
Barclay is the exact height as Newhouse to go with comparable arms and larger hands. He's likely to push at right tackle but, unless one of the young players develops as the No. 3 guard, Barclay might have to swing between four positions and maybe center as well.
"Any place you put him he's going to battle and be very productive," said Clements. "He's a versatile guy and a physical guy."
In late May Campen said Sherrod was "on the rise," but after another lost off-season following a second surgery his future is clouded.
"He's worked hard -- absolutely," Clements said. "He was limited this spring. Very limited. He can play both tackles probably."
Asked if Sherrod had much chance to become a good player, one scout said, "Maybe pigs fly."
The plan is to start rookie David Bakhtiari behind Bulaga. Described as a finesse player by several scouts, one AFC personnel man evaluated the Colorado junior much differently.
"He has a finish mind-set and an edge," the scout said. "I like the way he played. He's pretty strong. He can fit on and adjust on contact. He's athletic and good enough to try at left tackle."
Assuming Sitton makes an uneventful side adjustment, not many teams have a better set of guards.
Sitton, the Packers' best blocker since Wells departed for St. Louis in March 2012, was a right tackle at Central Florida and, according to Campen, never even played on the left side in high school. One scout questioned if Sitton would be as effective in pass protection at left guard.
"You look at him on film at right guard last year and at left guard in the spring, it looks like he's been there his whole life," said Clements. "Josh is a very good player.
"It's comforting to know you've got two guys the caliber of Josh and T.J. They're very smart players and available all the time."
Fresh from a season on the practice squad, towering Andrew Datko made enough strength gains in the off-season that the Packers feel he can play guard.
Dietrich-Smith is the only new starter from the beginning of last season but seems to be the least of the Packers' concerns.
"Very strong player," Clements said. "Played in playoff games, which was very important for him. He went through some growing pains but he's done a very good job."
Because center is such a cerebral position, personnel people attach particular significance to scores on the Wonderlic intelligence test.
When Dietrich-Smith came out of Idaho State as a sawed-off tackle in 2009, his Wonderlic score was 15. That paled in comparison to the team's past three centers: Mike Flanagan (35), Scott Wells (30) and Saturday (27).
Is it possible for Dietrich-Smith ever to reach the mental proficiency of Wells and Saturday?
"If the spring is any indication I'd say yes," replied Clements. "He hadn't been a center in college. He's improved."
http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_23736651/green-bay-packers-offensive-line-switch-critical?source=pkg
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They won a Super Bowl with only one of those three items you listed.
