One of the weaknesses on the roster heading into the new league year was the right tackle position. The Chargers wasted no time addressing it with the signing of Bryan Bulaga.
When the legal tampering period began, Bulaga had no idea that he would be heading from Green Bay to Los Angeles.
“I’d never gone through it because the last time I was scheduled to be a free agent I had re-signed with Green Bay before the whole thing kind of got going,” Bulaga said. “This time it was different. Sitting around kind of just waiting, getting a phone call from my agent every few hours updating me on what was going on.
We knew pretty early that we wouldn’t be heading back to Green Bay. That was made known pretty early, I think before the opening bell of the tampering process. We kind of knew that. We had an open mind and we were willing to kind of hear where the market was going and what teams were going to call.”
Bulaga had been commonly linked to the Bolts prior to the beginning of the process knowing that he was going to be one of the top right tackles to hit the market and his familiarity with offensive line coach James Campen.
The Chargers wasted no time showing interest in the 30-year old.
“The Chargers were a team that was very interested from early on,” Bulaga said. “Obviously, for me, a very familiar face is the offensive-line coach in coach Campen. He was my O-line coach in Green Bay for nine years. So, going to a place that is unfamiliar to me with having a familiar face there was a big sell for me.”
Los Angeles made sure that they were going to lock up Bulaga.
“There were a handful of teams that called and inquired, but no team really got down to negotiations right away like the Chargers did,” Bulaga said. “That was the one team that, from the tampering period at the start of it and kind of throughout the entire time, really negotiated right away. Other teams, I feel like, were kind of feeling things out. There weren’t really any concrete negotiations going on. It was really the Chargers.”
Even though the team is unlikely done shoring up the offensive line with the 2020 NFL Draft less than a month away, the additions of Bulaga and guard Trai Turner are huge boosts to a unit that struggled last season.