The Green Bay Packers moved quickly on Wednesday to address their struggling offensive line, agreeing to terms with veteran guard Kevin Zeitler on a one-year contract.
The deal, first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, is worth $4.05 million with incentives that can push the value to $5 million, according to Ian Rapoport.
Zeitler is the third veteran interior lineman Green Bay has added this month, following Laken Tomlinson and Mekhi Becton. The flurry of activity is a direct response to a unit that has been among the league’s worst through three weeks.
Jordan Love has been pressured at a high rate despite getting the ball out quickly, and the run game has generated almost no yards before contact. Injuries have compounded the problem, with right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele lost for the season and left guard Aaron Banks already missing time.
The Packers have also been forced to start young and inexperienced players in key spots.
For Zeitler, the move is a homecoming. The 36-year-old Waukesha native starred at the University of Wisconsin before Cincinnati selected him 27th overall in the 2012 draft. He has started 213 of 214 career games, a mark that ranks among the most ever for a guard.
After his early years with the Bengals, he signed a large contract with Cleveland, was traded to the Giants in the Odell Beckham Jr. deal, then spent three productive seasons in Baltimore, where he earned a Pro Bowl nod. One-year stops with the Lions in 2024 and Titans in 2025 followed.
Last season in Tennessee, he started all 16 games and graded as one of the better guards in the league by Pro Football Focus.
Zeitler had been unsigned into late September while waiting for what he considered the right situation. Green Bay hosted him on Tuesday, and the sides reached an agreement the next day. At this stage of his career he is no longer the dominant mauler of his prime, and he dealt with some soft-tissue issues last year.
Even so, he remains a high-floor technician with a long track record of availability and a 92.2 percent pass-block win rate in 2025. The Packers expect him to compete immediately for a starting job, most likely at right guard.
The signing will not single-handedly transform an offensive line that has been a collective failure so far.
Tomlinson and Becton also arrive with questions after bouncing around the league. Together, however, the three veterans give Green Bay far more experience and proven starters than the group that opened the season.
For a 1-2 team that needs to protect Love and establish a running game before the schedule gets harder, Zeitler represents a practical, low-risk addition with a familiar Wisconsin connection.
How quickly he can stabilize the interior will be one of the more important questions of Green Bay’s midseason.
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