National Football League

Josh Sitton, Green Bay Packers guard, gone but not forgotten

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Among all the story lines for the Green Bay Packers today as they made cuts to the roster to get down to the magic 53 men, the biggest was the cutting of veteran left guard Josh Sitton.

As the Pro-Bowler packs his things, the offensive lineman won’t have to wait long before one of the other 31 teams in the league employ his services.

The calls for Ted Thompson’s head have begun in earnest for this move. Social media is alive and well … I’ll let you check that out on your own.

Josh Sitton and Corey Linsley battle in the trenches against the Dallas Cowboys. Raymond T. Rivard photograph

In the meantime, now is the time to say so long to Sitton, who has been one of the top guards in the league for years.

We can’t forget all this guy has done for the Packers on the field. His presence will be missed.

His value can’t be understated. In fact, it wasn’t long ago that I wrote a piece about why his contributions would help lead Green Bay to a Super Bowl 51 title.

While that won’t be the case, I’m going to reiterate here why the Packers will miss him.

Josh Sitton: Pro-Bowler brought a polished game to the Packers

Josh Sitton . Raymond T. Rivard photograph

While Green Bay Packers guard T.J. Lang is one of the best valued offensive lineamen, we recognize his counterpart and fellow guard on that pretty incredible Packers line, Josh Sitton.

In fact, these two players are far and away the best guard tandem in the entire league – profootballfocus.com actually ranks Lang just about Sitton at #5, while Sitton is ranked sixth among all NFL guards.

More from Lombardi Ave

Lang and Sitton are two players who could be swapped in this list with no argument here, but Sitton is given the nod a bit higher only because he has been recognized more often by his peers for the Pro Bowl and played a few more snaps in 2014.

In 2014, Sitton played 1,016 snaps, finishing with an overall rating by profootballfocus of 22.7 (19.2 in pass blocking and 1.9 in run blocking. He committed only three penalties that season, allowed four quarterback hits and six quarterback hurries.

In addition, Sitton was also named at that time to Pro Football Focus’s top 100 NFL players …

Here is what they had to say after the 2014 season:

Last year Sitton was in on more than 1,300 snaps in 19 games, finishing with an overall grade of 86.6 (88.1 passing and 83.4 rushing)

Sitton was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fourth round (135th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft.

Since 2009, he’s been a starter for the Packers, missing only two games in 2011. He’s a tough sonofagun, who played through foot injuries last season to turn in one of his most productive of his career.

In 2013, he made the move to the left side and was to be joined there by fellow lineman Bryan Bulaga. But that was before Bulaga went down with a season-ending injury and was replaced by then-rookie left tackle David Bakhtiari.

Sitton had a similar situation occur in the 2014 season when projected center J.C. Tretter was injured and was replaced by Corey Linsley.

Without panic, both Sitton and Lang helped Linsley become one of the biggest surprises among several rookies who contributed.

Sitton also demonstrated late last season that he was the consummate team player when he slid to the left in Week 17 against the Minnesota Vikings to play left tackle when David Bakhtiari was injured.

Though he showed clearly he wasn’t a long-term answer at the position, he held his own for at least one night.

Sitton could have once again been part of one of the most consistent units on the Packers’ squad in 2016.

That won’t happen as both parties go separate ways.

We wish the best for Sitton and hope that Thompson’s move today won’t be known as one of his worst.

Stay tuned …

Josh Sitton’s career statistics

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/10/2016

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