I used to post more frequently in years gone by and on more than one occasion I was highly critical of James Campen's coaching ability (or lack thereof). After seeing Josh Sitton, JC Tretter, and TJ Lang leave the Pack over the last two seasons, it would be understandable for Packers fans to panic. The truth is, James Campen may be one of the best OL coaches in the NFL to groom their successors. Players that signed large FA contracts elsewhere: Darren Colledge, Scott Wells, Josh Sitton, TJ Lang, and JC Tretter - all interior OL.
The starting OL Campen inherited in 2007 was Chad Clifton, Colledge, Wells, Mark Spitz, and Mark Tauscher. The players with the most starts/season for each position over the last 10 years:
LT: Clifton (4 years); Marshall Newhouse (2); David Bakhtiari (4)
LG: Colledge (4); Sitton (5); Lane Taylor (1)
C: Wells (5); Jeff Saturday (1); Evan Dietrich-Smith (1); Corey Linsley (3)
RG: Spitz (2); Sitton (2); Lang (6)
RT: Tauscher (3); Bryan Bulaga (6); Don Barclay (1)
What makes the players mentioned above even more eye-opening, most of these players were mid-late round draft choices:
R1 - Bulaga
R2 - Clifton, Colledge
R3 - Spitz
R4 - Sitton, Lang, Bakhtiari
R5 - Newhouse, Linsley
R7 - Wells, Tauscher
UDFA - Dietrich-Smith, Barclay, Taylor
FA - Saturday
I'm guessing either Jason Spriggs (R2) or Kyle Murphy (R6) will pan out ok (I've heard the Packers brass really likes UDFA Lucas Patrick), plus I would expect the Pack to draft an OL around the 4th/5th round. Derrick Sherrod (R1) was only high draft pick miss and that was in large part due to gruesome injury. TT's draft and develop philosophy is alive and well in the OL...thanks in large part to James Campen.