The decision is in and it’s the one I thought was least likely. Guard T.J. Lang has officially gone home and signed with the Detroit Lions.
He gets a three-year deal.
G T.J. Lang received a three-year, $28.5 million deal with $19M fully guaranteed, according to source.
— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) March 12, 2017
This is certainly a blow to the Green Bay Packers, but not completely unexpected.
The Packers seemed to prepare themselves for this possibility when they re-signed backup guard Don Barclay on Thursday.
As far as the future is concerned, Barclay would be the presumed starter at right guard at the moment.
While he has had his issues playing tackle in the past, Barclay seems to be able to hold his own at guard. He played there without much issue in 2016.
Surely, the Packers will work to acquire some bodies — whether to start or be backups — in the 2017 draft.
Perhaps the best news out of this is Lang didn’t sign with the Seattle Seahawks, who are much more of a threat to the Packers than the Lions.
We know the Packers don’t value the guard position. We knew that when they released Josh Sitton and replaced him withe Lane Taylor. This decision — which ultimately came down to money — can be viewed in exactly the same fashion.
Postscript: Here are the numbers, which, quite frankly, I am surprised the Packers didn’t match.
The #Lions deal for former #Packers G TJ Lang: $9.5M average for 3 years with $19M fully guaranteed, source said.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 12, 2017