Travis Glover, a name some Green Bay Packers fans might have wanted to scrub from their memory after his last significant outing, stepped up at right guard for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and delivered a performance that’s going to make folks rethink some things. After a post-Thursday Night Football shake-up on the offensive line, the coaching staff pulled his name out of the hat for the start, a move many probably didn’t see coming given his history.
From Rough Start to Injury Sideline
Glover, a 2024 sixth-round pick, hasn’t had an easy path, to put it mildly. We hadn’t seen him in a game that truly mattered in ages. His last real appearance came in the Packers’ loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. He got thrown into the fire at left guard after Elgton Jenkins went down injured, just four plays into the game. That Eagles front is absolutely ferocious, and Glover, well, he struggled. He got hit with three penalties before the coaches swapped him out for Kadeem Telfort. Later in that same game, with starting center Josh Myers sidelined by injury, Sean Rhyan shifted to center, and Glover actually got back in, this time at right guard. All told, he played 33 snaps that day and it was, frankly, dreadful, according to Pro Football Focus, who slapped him with a brutal 1.8 pass blocking grade. To give you some perspective, Donovan Jennings and Jacob Monk, whose grades of 40.0 and 48.2 in the Week 1 loss to the Vikings were considered some of the worst blocking performances ever, looked like all-pros compared to that. You take PFF grades with a grain of salt, sure, but that’s a wild difference. Then came the real gut punch: Glover missed the entire 2025 season recovering from a back injury. Talk about a setback.
The Comeback Nobody Expected
After all that, it was a massive question mark if Glover would ever factor in again. He was back for preseason, playing mostly at right tackle, but also got 28 snaps at right guard, versus 39 on the outside. But with Jennings struggling, Monk out injured, and Burton’s experience being mostly at right guard, those 28 snaps must have been enough to convince the staff. They threw Glover into the starting right guard spot against the Buccaneers. And how’d he do? Listen, it wasn’t some highlight-reel performance for the Packers’ offense overall, but Glover came pretty darn close to what an offensive lineman dreams of: he was seen but mostly not heard. In 60 snaps of work, he surrendered only one pressure. The only flag against him was a holding penalty on the very first offensive play of the fourth quarter. But guess what? A 19-yard completion to Jonnu Smith on the very next snap totally wiped out that penalty. It ended up being a non-factor. PFF, the same folks who torched him before, gave Glover a 59.4 overall grade this time, with a very respectable 71.4 for his pass blocking. His run blocking was 53.8, so there’s still work there. That aligns with what everyone saw: the Packers’ offensive line did a solid job protecting Jordan Love, even if they couldn’t get a ton of push in the ground game.
So, what does this mean? After a truly rough start to his career and a whole season lost to injury, Travis Glover showed everyone he can step up when it matters. He passed the test, big time. With the offensive line looking a little unsettled, this kind of dependable performance from a young player is exactly what the Packers needed. Keep an eye on Glover as the season rolls on, he might be turning into a surprising answer for Green Bay.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Acme Packing Company.
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