What the Green Bay Packers should have done this offseason
By Evan Siegel
Tim Barnes
Tim Barnes has quietly been a solid player throughout his career.
The 29-year-old center enjoyed a quality career with the Rams before being signed by the 49ers this past offseason.
The Packers let T.J. Lang and J.C. Tretter walk in free agency, and now have little to no depth along the offensive line.
Behind the five starters, Kyle Murphy, Jason Spriggs, and Kofi Amichia have all struggled mightily to warrant any sort of draft status, let alone the second round in Spriggs’ case.
Barnes would provide Mike McCarthy with the kind of flexibility from the center position that the team has enjoyed for years.
As far back as Jason Spitz and Scott Wells, T.J. Lang, J.C. Tretter, Jeff Saturday, Evan Dietrich-Smith, and more recently, Tretter and Corey Linsley, have started at center.
Mike McCarthy’s teams have enjoyed having two starting caliber centers for the majority of his tenure as head coach.
Barnes is the type of low-risk-high-reward player that the Packers could have used.
Rather than relying on Lucas Patrick, Kyle Murphy, or Kofi Amichia, Ted Thompson should have bought a cheap insurance policy and brought in Barnes on a short-term deal, in addition to Jahri Evans.