Packers Release Right Tackle Billy Turner
GREEN BAY, Wis. – With the start of the league-year just two days later, the Green Bay Packers started the painful process of getting below the salary cap on Monday morning by releasing outside linebacker Za’Darius Smith and right tackle Billy Turner.
Releasing Turner, 30, saved the Packers about $3.36 million of cap space. It also left them without a right tackle, though Yosh Nijman played well at left tackle last season and Pro Bowl left guard Elgton Jenkins could potentially shift once he’s beyond his torn ACL.
A source last week expected Jenkins would return to guard; the release of Turner could change that thinking.
Part of the team's huge 2019 class of free agents, Turner started 43 games in three seasons.
Turner, with versatility and production, immediately becomes one of the better offensive linemen available in free agency. Because he was released, he will not be eligible for a compensatory draft pick.
Turner started the first 13 games before joining David Bakhtiari, Jenkins and Josh Myers on the sideline with knee injuries. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers hyped him as a Pro Bowl-caliber right tackle. That might have been a bit of hyperbole but Turner was having perhaps his best season before the injury.
According to PFF, 58 offensive tackles played at least 590 snaps. Turner ranked 40th in its pass-blocking efficiency with three sacks and 32 total pressures. Sports Info Solutions only charged Turner with one sack – a far cry from 12 as the right guard in 2019 and five as the right tackle in 2020. In the run game, he was charged with seven blown blocks (2.4 percent). He was penalized three times (two holding).
Turner returned for the playoff game against San Francisco and got the call at left tackle. It was a surprising decision by coach Matt LaFleur, considering Turner’s layoff and how well Nijman played there earlier in the season. Turner wasn’t the problem against the 49ers, though. Rather, it was veteran Dennis Kelly, who replaced Turner at right tackle. Kelly is one of the team’s unrestricted free agents.
The Packers started the day about $43.8 million over the $208.2 million salary cap.
