Bryan Bulaga, a first-round draft pick in 2010 from Iowa who manned right tackle for the better part of a decade, returned to officially retire as a Packer on Nov. 17.
He had not played since the last of his two years with the Chargers in 2021.
“Obviously, being drafted here and being part of this organization — I think the greatest organization in the NFL — was an absolute honor. Green Bay, it feels like home to me for more than one reason.
“Obviously, getting drafted and winning a Super Bowl and all that here, that’s part of it, but I think coming here as a 21-year-old, really had no responsibility besides play football and worry about myself, and then becoming a man here, getting married, having kids, make relationships outside of this building. It felt like home from the minute I stepped down here till I left in 2020.
“So, to make it official as a Green Bay Packer to me means the most, because it’s truly where I felt I belonged, where I felt the most comfortable, where it felt like home and family. For me, it truly is a special moment.
“Obviously start right away with Ted Thompson. Took a gamble on a short-armed, small-handed guy from Iowa. Probably not the greatest 40 time and stuff like that. But selected me in the first round and I will be forever grateful for that. Hell of a guy, the times he actually wanted to talk to me. Ted was a man of few words, so the times I did get to speak to him, he was a helluva guy to be around, so very thankful.
“And finally, obviously, Aaron (Rodgers). I’d like to think from time to time we made Aaron look good. Maybe some people would disagree. But he made us look good a lot.
“Being able to block for a Hall of Fame quarterback and experience what it’s like to watch greatness and be a part of greatness with him is something I’ll always be appreciative of.”
What was your message to the team after practice Nov. 17?
“What I told them, it’s cliché and things like that, but times weren’t always good for even us when we were here. I mentioned 2017 and ‘18, we went through some hard times.
“But the thing we believed in that locker room with the guys that we had we could come out the other side better than what we were in right now. We trusted in each other, and we stuck together. There was never any finger-pointing; there was never any getting down on each other. We knew we had the guys. We just needed to pull it together and get it together, and we eventually did.
“My message to them was stick together during this. It’s not always going to be pretty; it’s not always going to go the way you want. But if you guys hold together, keep fighting for each other, keep fighting for the guys you have in the huddle, you’ll come out of this better.”
What do you miss?
“I miss the locker room. I miss the guys. I miss the camaraderie. Sundays, it’s hard to replicate Sundays and the feeling you get going out there in front of all the fans on Lambeau, you’ll never replicate it, because it’s awesome. But the thing you miss is the locker room, the guys, the camaraderie, the O-line dinners, the meeting rooms, the BSing. That’s literally the hardest part of walking away is knowing you’re not in that little group anymore. You’re excluded. Yeah, you may be in a group text, but you’re not there doing it. So I think for me, that’s probably the toughest part.
Talk about the Super Bowl run.
“I didn’t really realize what was happening until we beat the Eagles in that first-round playoff game. I remember, we’re sitting on the bench and Cliffy, he looked at me, he was like, ‘Man, this doesn’t happen every day. Like, we have a really good team; we’re hot.’
“At the end of the season, we got hot. Going to Philly against one of the better teams in the league and we kind of took care of them. We didn’t blow him out by any stretch, but it was a comfortable win – at least we felt it was in the locker room. And he goes, ‘This kind of stuff doesn’t happen every year, so just start enjoying this and taking this in, this playoff run.’
“Then we go to Atlanta, kind of destroyed them. And then against Chicago. It was a surreal kind of feeling. At the time, I was just trying to stay above water as a rookie. I’m blocking for Aaron Rodgers, I’m playing across the line full of veterans, I’m the youngest guy. I’m just trying to not get Aaron killed while playing a new position, and then making sure I don’t screw something up so then (Josh) Sitton’s not mad at me because if I screw something up then he’ll be mad. I was trying to just keep my head above water, do my job as best I could. So, I wasn’t really paying attention to the playoff standings or where I could have been. I just wanted to make sure that every week I could be relied upon and be a good teammate.
“So, once we got into the playoffs and we started winning, I started to kind of open my eyes a little bit. Like, ‘This is surreal. We’re making this run and I’m a rookie doing it, and I have no idea what I’m even doing, but here we go.’
“We’re winning playoff games one after another and, obviously, once we get to the Super Bowl and win that, it was it was absolutely crazy. It’s hard to put into words and, unfortunately, we never got back to another one, but it was probably one of the coolest moments. As a rookie, like I said, I was just trying to stay above water and then you end up winning the whole thing. And it’s just a surreal, awesome deal.”
What’s the emotion that you feel when you think about the Packers?
“I love the team. When I was in LA or I’m back now, I love the team. I love the organization. I want them to do well. I watch the games and I’m screaming at my TV, because I want them to do well and I want them to win and I want them to succeed. I played with some of the guys that are on the team: Kenny (Clark), Jaire (Alexander), Preston (Smith), Elgton (Jenkins), so I want those guys to succeed and do well and win. I want them to be as good as we were when we were here.
“For me, this is where I feel like I belong, right? Being a Green Bay Packer is what I loved being. I’m not the guy that’s going to tell the war stories 50 years from now. But it’s an honor to play for this team and be able to wear that G on your helmet and go out on that field and play every week and be part of this storied franchise’s history. It means everything.”
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