Offensive lineman Jared Veldheer is set to make NFL history this weekend. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports (via Twitter) that the veteran is signing with the Packers.
Per Schefter, this signing will make Veldheer the first player in NFL history to play at least one postseason game for two different organizations in the same year; Veldheer started for the Colts in their playoff loss to the Bills this past weekend. Thanks in part to Indy’s loss and Veldheer‘s initial placement on the practice squad, Green Bay was able to swoop in and sign him.
Schefter notes (on Twitter) that COVID-19 practice-squad rules allowed this to happen, meaning it will likely be the only time in league history that we see a player appear in postseason games for different teams in the same year. Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets that Veldheer must be signed to Green Bay’s 53-man roster.
This won’t be the 33-year-old’s first stint with Green Bay; he joined the Packers late last season and ended up starting a playoff game. It’s uncertain if Veldheer will be starting this time around, but at the very least, he sounds like he’ll serve as insurance for offensive tackle Ricky Wagner, who’s currently dealing with a knee injury.
Veldheer, a 2010 third-round pick out of Hillsdale, has put together a 12-year career, appearing in 121 career regular season games. He joined the Colts in late December, and he ended up playing 100-percent of his team’s offensive snaps in Week 17 and the Wild Card Round.
Excellent no-risk move!
how bout that
So first off let me say that I am a big Jared Veldheer fan and was disappointed when he priced himself out of Oakland.
Jared is on the Colts practice squad, was elevated for the playoff game, started at left tackle even though he was not signed to the 53 man roster, thus he is still considered a practice squad player, is in the COVID testing program, so Green Bay is eligible to be signed and play this weekend….
Some shady stuff right there.
I never really understood the nfl allowing teams to sign anyone after the regular season is over.
With all the covid stuff and rule changes because of it, this still seems off to me. I could see a kicker or punter..maybe. but when a team already has 8, 9 or 10 guys in the o-line group, I don’t really see the need, much less the logic.
i mean, who cares? i think prohibiting such moves is an unnessicary rule to be honest.
Packers lost Bakhtiari and Wagner might be hurt too, so is this is just veteran depth. In the playoffs, it’s better to run out a guy with experience rather than a rookie from the practice squad
Too bad he is a career underachiever.
What? For a 3rd round pick hes played 121 games, his first 5 years were great, production fell off as he got older, and hes survived in the league for 10+ years. Id stay hes outperformed being a 3rd round pick by a wide margin compared to most 3rd round picks
especially for a player coming from Hillsdale college
I think he already made history for the reason listed in your second post.
Well, he wasn’t the first player drafted from the Hillsdale, but he’s the only one this century. Howard Mudd played there, which is cool. I’d definitely put money on Veldheer being the biggest.
…this really doesn’t seem right at all TBH. Oh well The Covid season has given us some REALLY weird stuff.