Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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GREEN BAY – Jared Veldheer was watching pregame for the Sunday afternoon game between Houston and Kansas City when the Packers’ swing tackle saw the news alert pop up on the screen.
The stomach virus that’s been circling through Green Bay’s locker room, particularly the offensive line, had collected starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga, who was now listed as questionable to play in the Packers’ NFC Divisional showdown with the Seattle Seahawks
Having battled the virus himself, Veldheer hopped in his car and drove to the stadium to prepare for a possible emergency start. Sure enough, a few hours later, Veldheer was called into action in the biggest game of Green Bay’s season.
“I got it through my head pretty quick that I had to be ready for this ballgame,” Veldheer said. “So, yeah. Step in and give it all I’ve got.”
Veldheer proved to be up to the task in helping keep the pocket clean for Aaron Rodgers in a 28-23 victory. In many ways, it was similar to what the 6-foot-8, 321-pound tackle did two weeks earlier when Bulaga exited the Packers’ regular-season finale against Detroit with a concussion,
While Bulaga was technically active for the game, Veldheer found out definitively he’d be starting roughly “20 minutes” before kickoff. A veteran of 113 NFL regular-season starts, Veldheer slid back in next to right guard Billy Turner and picked up where he left off from the Lions game.
Situations like these are the exact reason Packers General Manager Brian Gutekunst claimed Veldheer off waivers from New England in November, which came after the 10th-year veteran announced he wanted to resume his NFL career after a six-month retirement.
Fittingly, Veldheer was in attendance when the Packers opened their season against Chicago – only back then it was as an observer in the stands.
“Jared stepped in and did a great job, he really did,” Rodgers said. “I was teasing him in the third quarter during a long TV timeout, I said, ‘You were retired this year and here you are starting a playoff game.’ And he said, ‘Hey, I was at your first game in the stands.’ It’s funny how life is sometimes. But we’re really happy to have him and he’s been really good for us.”
Veldheer credits the Packers’ outside linebackers for hastening his preparation since he arrived in Green Bay less than two months ago. With plenty of NFL postseason experience to fall back on, Veldheer will be ready should another unique opportunity arise.
“You kind of take each week as know that I have to be able to go out there and fill in at any second,” Veldheer said. “It could be zero percent of the plays, it could be 100 percent of the plays. Today, it was a hundred percent of the plays, and that just comes with being the swing guy.”