Senior Bowl gives Packers OL Travis Glover a boost during pre-draft process
In the sixth round of the NFL draft, the Green Bay Packers continued to bolster their offensive line depth, selecting Travis Glover from Georgia State, who further made his way onto their radar with his play at the Senior Bowl.
“I think it definitely helped him,” said general manager Brian Gutekunst. “I think it helps anybody whether you come from a Power 5 school or whether you come from a small school, but I do think sometimes when you come from a small school you may have more questions about level of competition and then you walk out to the Senior Bowl and go against those guys and prove yourself a little bit, that certainly can help, yeah. In his case it did.”
You won’t find a much more experienced player than Glover, who was a five-year starter at Georgia State, playing almost 4,200 career snaps.
During that five-year span, Glover allowed only 11 total sacks. In his final four seasons, he never allowed more than 14 pressures in a season. In 2023 specifically, Glover ranked 29th among 200 tackles in pass-blocking efficiency and 57th in PFF’s run-blocking grade.
“He’s an exceptionally talented kid and all of his best football’s in front of him,” said Gutekunst. “So, again, versatile guys that I think we’ve talked about before can play inside and outside.”
However, even with Glover’s level of play and his experience, an already big jump just going from college to the NFL can be a bit more daunting for those who didn’t play at the Power-5 college football level.
So, the Senior Bowl provides non-Power-5 prospects with the opportunity to showcase that they can play with the best of the best. The unscripted nature of the event during the week of practices creates an abundance of one-on-one opportunities and highly competitive situations.
For Glover, it was a terrific chance to put his skills to the test and show what he’s capable of against some of the top pass rushers that college football has to offer, which the Packers took notice of.
“I think the Senior Bowl definitely helped out,” said Glover when speaking to the media, “especially going out there and getting in front of more teams. Then at the Hula Bowl, it showed guys that I wasn’t just a guy that could play in the Sun Belt. I could play against these Power 5 guys and I think it was a really big help just going out there and competing against new competition.”
The bulk of Glover’s playing time at Georgia State came at left tackle, but he is another versatile puzzle piece for the Packers as they go about constructing their offensive line, having some guard experience as well.
As the Packers often do, there will likely be plenty of mixing and matching along the offensive line during training camp, but where Glover can provide the most value is as a potential swing tackle option off the bench–a role he will be competing with Caleb Jones, Luke Tenuta, and Andre Dillard for, if we assume both Rasheed Walker and Jordan Morgan are in the starting lineup.
“I think my strength is probably just my hands,” said Glover. “I try to be violent when I play and really timing in my strikes is something that I’ve been trying to work on. It’s one thing to just be trying to throw haymakers, but in my training, just working on throwing fast strikes like a snake. It just pops.
“Just really fine-tuning everything I do, the way I move, the way I attack people, using my hands more. One thing I’m really trying to harp on.”
