The 2020 season has brought more than enough quirks for a lifetime, but it looks like we will be in the division round at least once more. Veteran attacking linebacker Jared Veldheer is on the verge of pulling something that has never been done in league history: playing for two different playoff teams in the same post-season.
After spending most of the 2020 season without a team, he joined the Indianapolis Colts training squad at the end of December. He was then called up in time for Indy’s game card game with the Buffalo Bills, a game the Colts lost Saturday, 27-24. Under normal circumstances, Veldheer’s 2020 season will end on the finish line with Indianapolis. However, these are not normal times.
Because Veldheer was in the Colts training group and not the active roster, and was simply elevated to the roster by the NFL’s special protocols to give teams flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, he returned to the training unit right when the match ended. . That adjustment in the rules for this season opened the door for the Green Bay Packers to sign him, which they did on Monday, according to Adam Schefter from ESPN.
If Veldheer were on the active list, it would not have been possible, as the players remain under contract with their respective teams and cannot sign elsewhere – in most cases – until the free agency window with the new league year opens in the spring. . . However, the training group freed him to continue his search for a Super Bowl.
Veldheer’s arrival comes just nine days after Packers David Bakhtiari placed the star-left suit on the injured reserve. That hole along the offensive line could give the 33-year-old considerable playing time for Green Bay if they tackle the Los Angeles Rams in the division round. Against the Bills last week, Veldheer played for the Colts every time and was solid and earned good points from Pro Football Focus.
The 6-foot-8, 321-pounder was a draft pick of the Raiders in the third round in 2010 and has jumped into the league over the past decade, stopping with the Cardinals, Broncos, Patriots and most recently the Colts. He even spent some time in 2019 with the Packers, making it his second tournament at the club. That year he was merely a reserve player and scored two games.