Bryan Bulaga, the Super Bowl winner, announced his retirement from the NFL on Friday, two games before his two former teams face at Lambeau Field. Green Bay, Wisconsin – Bryan Bulaga, the Green Bay Packers’ right tackle who helped the team win the Super Bowl in 2010, announced his retirement on Friday. Bulaga was the Packers’ first-round choice in 2010. The late Ted Thompson, who drafted Bulaga from the University of Iowa, began Bulaga’s 10-minute thank-you speech.
“Obviously, start right away with Ted Thompson,” Bulaga remarked. “I took a chance on a guy from Iowa with short arms and little hands. Probably not the best 40 time or anything like that. But they chose me in the first round, something I will be eternally grateful for. The Packers will be eternally thankful, too. When veteran Mark Tauscher was injured in the fourth game of the 2010 season, Bulaga entered the lineup. Only injuries kept him out of the starting lineup for the next decade. He started the final 12 games of his rookie season and all four postseason games as the Packers beat the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
“I didn’t really realize what was happening until we beat the Eagles in that first-round playoff game,” Bulaga joked. “I remember, we’re sitting on the bench and Cliffy [left tackle Chad Clifton] looked at me, he was like, ‘This kind of stuff doesn’t happen every year, so just start enjoying this and taking in this playoff run.”It felt strange. As a rookie, all I wanted to do was keep my head above water. I’m blocking for Aaron Rodgers, playing across a line full of veterans, and I’m the youngest player. I’m just trying not to kill Aaron while playing a new position, and then making sure I don’t make a mistake that [Josh] Sitton gets upset about.”
The Packers were road warriors. They held off Philadelphia, destroyed Atlanta, and avoided Chicago before defeating the Steelers for their fourth Super Bowl championship. “Once we get to the Super Bowl and win that, it was it was absolutely crazy,” Bulaga claimed. “It’s difficult to describe into words, and we never got back to another one, but it was definitely one of the coolest moments. like a rookie, like I previously stated, I was just trying to stay afloat, and then you wind up winning the entire thing, which is just a surreal, wonderful scenario.”
Bulaga complimented both former and current coaches, including Mike McCarthy and offensive line coach James Campen from his early career and Matt LaFleur, Adam Stenavich, and Luke Butkus from the current staff. LaFleur came over in 2019 and “restored our enjoyment of football.” I give those people a lot of credit because it’s difficult to walk into a locker room with a lot of veteran players and get these guys’ mindsets to alter, switch, and buy into something new. They were able to do it, and they made it enjoyable. My final year here was some of the most enjoyable I’ve ever had playing football, so many thanks to them.
Bulaga also acknowledged the training staff, who helped him through a series of ailments, as well as former colleagues Clifton and Tauscher. For much of his career, he played on the Packers’ star-studded offensive line, which included left tackle David Bakhtiari, center Corey Linsley, and guards T.J. Lang and Sitton. He declared it the “best offensive line” in Packers history.
“We pushed each other to be great and I and I really appreciate and love those guys,” Bulaga reported. Bulaga signed with the Chargers in 2020. He appeared in ten games in 2020 and one in 2021 due to back ailments that sidelined him both seasons. The Chargers waived him prior to the 2022 draft. With the Chargers visiting Green Bay on Sunday, Bulaga has officially entered the next phase of his career, which includes kids sports, golf, and a little radio. Despite an injury-plagued career that has limited him to only four seasons of 14 or more starts, he claims he feels fantastic; decreasing weight and running have helped.
After practice, he addressed the team, asking them to keep together during these difficult times. That is what the Packers did in 2017 and 2018; in 2019, they competed in the NFC Championship game. Bulaga grew up in Illinois. He attended college at Iowa. He ended his career in California. However, he will always be a Packer, making this symbolic act meaningful. “This is where I feel like I belong,” he informed me. “I enjoyed being a Green Bay fan. It’s an honor to play for this club, to be able to wear that ‘G’ on your helmet, to go out on the field every week, and to be a part of this storied franchise’s history.
“So, for me, it’s simply a lot of emotions, but mostly gratitude, honor, and humility. I could say a lot about it, but when I was here, I felt like I was whole as a person, not just as a football player.
