Jager Burton at Kentucky (Photo: Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images, Getty)
By Mark Eckel
Is Jager Burton the next in a long line of Green Bay Packers late-round offensive linemen who will provide both immediate and long-term help?
What happens at minicamp and OTAs should be viewed as such. Burger, the team's fifth-round pick out of Kentucky, impressed more than just the media over the past few weeks.
"I think every practice he gets a little more comfortable," Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said of Burger, who played both center and guard in college and may do the same for the Packers. "He's definitely going to be in the mix for playing time."
It wouldn't be the first time the Packers found a good offensive lineman on Day 3 of the draft. Going back to when Ron Wolf was GM it would actually be the 12th time.
Wolf selected guard Adam Timmerman out of south Dakota State n the 7th round of the 1995 draft. Came back in 1996 and took Penn State guard Marco Rivera in the sixth round and struck gold again in 2000 when he drafted Mark Tauscher in the 7th round out of Wisconsin.
Timmerman started every game for the Packers from 1996-98 before signing with the Rams where he started eight more years. He went to the playoffs nine times and won two Super Bowls.
Rivera was a seven-year starter for the Packers before ending his career in Dallas. He was named to three Pro Bowls in those seven years.
Tauscher played 11 years at right tackle, starting as a rookie and ending his career with a Super Bowl win in the 2010 season.
Ted Thompson found five Day 3 offensive linemen in his tenure as GM and four of those five were Pro Bowl players.
Thompson selected guard Josh Sitton of Central Florida in the 4th round of the 2008 draft; guard T.J. Lang of Central Michigan in the 4th round of 2009; tackle David Bakhtiari of Colorado and center J.C. Tretter of Cornell in the 4th round of 2013 and center Corey Linsley of Ohio State in the 5th round of 2014.
Sitton played seven of his 10 years in Green Bay went to five Pro Bowls and was named All Pro three times.
Lang played eight of his 10 years in Green Bay and went to two Pro Bowls.
Both Sitton and Lang were key parts of the 2010 Super Bowl champions.
Bakhtiari played all 11 of his years with the Packers was named All-Pro five times and went to three Pro Bowls.
Tretter played just three years in Green Bay before becoming a five-year starter at center for Cleveland.
Linsley played seven of his 10 years with the Packers was named All Pro twice and went to one Pro Bowl.
Burger could be the fourth late-round OL find by current GM Brian Gutekunst, who selected Jon Runyan Jr. out of Michigan in the 6th round of 2020 and drafted Zach Tom of Wake Forest in the 4th round and Rasheed Walker of Penn State in the 7th round of 2022.
Runyan, enters his seventh season in 2026, he started three of his four years in Green Bay before signing a $30 million free agent deal with the New York Giants.
Tom is the Packers starter at right tackle and is universally looked at as the team's best linemen.
Walker started four years at left tackle for the Packers before leaving this past offseason as a free agent to sign with Carolina.