How Does Andre Dillard Change Packers’ Draft Outlook?

The Green Bay Packers signed offensive tackle Andre Dillard on Thursday, adding a former first-round pick one week before the 2024 NFL Draft.

Dillard holds his jersey with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell during the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft. / George Walker IV / Tennessean.com

GREEN BAY, Wis. – On Thursday, the Green Bay Packers signed a former first-round pick at a position that might demand a first-round pick in exactly one week.

General manager Brian Gutekunst added offensive tackle Andre Dillard, addressing one of the team’s biggest needs ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Dillard was a first-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2019. To be sure, he wouldn’t have been available more than two months after the start of NFL free agency had he played like a first-round pick.

Dillard started nine games in four seasons with the Eagles and ranked at or near the bottom in ProFootballFocus.com’s pass-protection metric in the two seasons in which he saw considerable playing time. Nonetheless, the Tennessee Titans signed him to a three-year, $29 million contract in free agency last offseason. The value of the contract was inflated by base salaries of $9 million in 2024 and $11.5 million in 2025. Still, the $10 million guaranteed was a considerable number.

Dillard allowed a league-worst 12 sacks in 10 starts, ranked last in PFF’s pass-protection metric and was released.

“I think it’s documented Dre didn’t play as well as probably he would have wanted or the way we wanted,” Titans general manager Ran Carthon said at the Scouting Combine. “But, nonetheless, he’s still a talented guy that has some physical traits that you just can’t find.”

Those physical traits are why Carthon signed Dillard in the first place, and those traits surely will be referenced by Gutekunst when he holds his predraft news conference on Monday at Lambeau Field.

“With Andre, I guess for a lack of a better way to put it, is untapped potential,” Carthon said at the time. “This is a guy who was a former first-round pick, really athletic, and he just continues to get better. He just needed an opportunity.”

The Packers have an enormous hole at offensive tackle. Zach Tom is a stud at right tackle; will he remain at right tackle or move to center? Rasheed Walker replaced David Bakhtiari and played better as the year progressed. At the NFL Annual Meeting last month, Gutekunst said Walker has a “ton of upside.”

But there is no depth. None. Caleb Jones, an undrafted free agent in 2022, has played one snap (on special teams) in two seasons. Luke Tenuta, a sixth-round pick by the Bills in 2022 who joined the Packers about a month into his rookie season, played seven offensive snaps in 2022 and spent last year on injured reserve.

So, the Packers were set to enter the draft looking to bolster the depth, if nothing else, a goal that probably would have been accomplished with an early-round pick.

The addition of Dillard probably doesn’t change that fact.

However, after not drafting a single lineman in 2023 and then losing Bakhtiari, Yosh Nijman and Jon Runyan this offseason, Gutekunst probably was poised to use three of his 11 draft picks on offensive linemen next week. Perhaps Dillard will be considered one of those three.

Dillard played left tackle at Washington State, and that’s where most of his action in the NFL has come. According to PFF, Dillard has played 1,179 snaps at left tackle, 22 at left guard, 11 at right guard and 34 at right tackle.

“We’d like to start him off at left tackle and have him there first, and see how it goes,” Carthon said in 2023. “But he's another guy that's played guard, and I think the big thing is having versatility.”

While he doesn’t have a lot of game action at those other three spots, he no doubt honed his skills at those positions at practice. If the Packers roll into the season with Walker at left tackle, Elgton Jenkins at left guard, Josh Myers at center, Sean Rhyan at right guard and Tom at right tackle, the key backups could be some sort of combination of Dillard (at tackle or as the utilityman), Royce Newman (at guard) and an early-round draft pick.

To earn a role with the Packers, Dillard is going to have to greatly improve his pass-protection skills.

Dillard started four games and played 337 snaps as a rookie in 2019, missed 2020 with a torn biceps, started five games and played 340 snaps in 2021, barely played in 2022 and started 10 games and played 562 snaps in his one season with the Titans.

Using 330 snaps as the playing-time threshold for PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries allowed per pass-protecting snap, Dillard ranked:

- 82nd out of 83 in 2023, when he allowed 12 sacks.

- 68th out of 71 in 2021, when he allowed one sack.

- 80th out of 80 in 2019, when he allowed four sacks.

That’s horrendous. However, Dillard still has the elite toolbox with a Relative Athletic Score of 9.81. His 33 1/2-inch arms are shorter than desired, but Tom (33 1/4) and Walker (33 5/8) fall short, too.

For Gutekunst, this is a low-risk gamble on a high-upside player. It didn’t work for Dillard in Philadelphia. It really didn’t work in Tennessee. Maybe offensive line coach Luke Butkus, who helped Tom and Walker exceed expectations, will work his magic again.

The #Packers signed former first-round pick Andre Dillard. Here's his story - both on the field and his path to the NFL. ⬇️https://t.co/l8vB6FUSOE

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) April 18, 2024

Seven-Round Mock Draft 10.0

Jacob Westendorf’s latest seven-round mock starts with a defensive lineman.

Packers Predraft Visits Tracker

Here are the NFL Draft prospects who have come to Green Bay to meet with the Packers.

NFL Draft Position Previews

QBs off the board? | Position preview

RBs off the board? | Position preview

OTs off the board? | Position preview

G/C off the board? | Position preview