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Considering the team’s sudden set of injuries on the offensive line, it should come as no surprise that the Green Bay Packers are looking into help up front. Right tackle Bryan Bulaga and right guard Justin McCray both left Sunday’s game in Washington with injuries, depleting the team’s depth at both positions. Now, they are bringing in an exceptional athlete for a tryout on Tuesday.
That player is Gerhard de Beer, a rookie lineman out of the University of Arizona with an exceptional name. His agent, Brett Tessler, tweeted his plans for this week on Monday morning; those plans include a workout for the Seattle Seahawks on Monday before his visit to Green Bay on Tuesday. De Beer signed with the Buffalo Bills as a free agent after going undrafted and started the season on Buffalo’s practice squad, but was released following the Bills’ week one loss. He played his college ball as a tackle, but may have the ability to slide inside to guard as well.
A South Africa native and a track & field athlete before picking up football at Arizona, de Beer’s Pro Day put him on the map among NFL scouts this spring. The Packers even brought him in for a pre-draft visit this year, and he fit ideally with the athletic tendencies the team tends to look for in their offensive linemen.
By the Relative Athletic Score (“RAS”) system, de Beer’s Pro Day measurements rank him in the 94th percentile of offensive tackles studied over the past decade-plus:
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Showing their desire for exceptional athletes, the Packers actually drafted five players with higher RAS values than de Beer this year: OLB Kendall Donnerson (9.98), WR Equanimeous St. Brown (9.84), DL James Looney (9.74), ILB Oren Burks (9.72), and CB Jaire Alexander (9.54).
If the Packers determine another lineman is needed, it seems likely that they would promote Adam Pankey to the active roster from the practice squad. However, in that case they would have an open spot on the practice squad, which would be an ideal landing spot for de Beer.