In Need of Offensive Line Help, Packers Sign Veteran With 48 Career Starts

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have signed a veteran offensive lineman with starting experience.

No, it’s not Kevin Zeitler.

The Packers on Thursday signed guard Cordell Volson to the practice squad, where they had one opening. He was on the practice field with his new teammates after a successful workout.

Volson, 28, was a fourth-round pick by the Bengals in 2022. He started all 16 appearances as a rookie, all 17 games in 2023 and 15 of his 17 appearances in 2024.

In 2025, he suffered a shoulder injury during training camp that required season-ending surgery. During the Bengals’ final roster cuts, they released him with a waived/injured designation and he sat out the rest of the season.

Volson spent training camp this summer with the Titans but did not make their roster. He played 73 snaps at right guard in the preseason and gave up one sack and two pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, and was penalized once.

During his three seasons with the Bengals, all 3,178 regular-season snaps came at left guard. He didn’t get appreciably better during his time in Cincinnati, though, with five sacks and 38 pressures allowed as a rookie, five sacks and 38 pressures allowed in 2023 and six sacks and 43 pressures allowed in 2024, when his eight penalties matched his total from the previous two seasons.

Still, he’s a young, experienced blocker who might be able to help. The other guards on the practice squad, Dillon Wade and Josh Gesky, are undrafted free agents. Sunday’s starting guards, Jacob Monk and Donovan Jennings, had made one combined start in the NFL.

Volson was a first-team All-American at right tackle at North Dakota State in 2021. In 823 career passing plays for the Bison, he allowed zero sacks and just seven pressures.

“Offensive lineman with excellent size and thickness to transition inside to a full-time guard spot,” NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein wrote in his scouting report. “Volson has good core strength to compete against power players and possesses the athleticism to work up into positioning as a second-level blocker.

“He needs to cut down on the penalties and make hand placement a greater priority. There are some holes in his pass protection, but he should be average in that regard as a pro. He has Day 3 talent and could become an NFL backup.”

At 6-foot-6 and 315 pounds before the 2022 draft, he ran his 40 in 5.27 seconds.

Volson’s hometown is Balfour, N.D. – population 27. His graduating class at Drake-Anamoose High School was 13. They played nine-man football.

“Growing up in a small town and seeing how hard my parents worked their whole life, and how they continue to do, that work ethic was passed down,” Volson said this summer. “So, I just want to show up every day and improve.

“My mindset is to show up, lead by example, and be the same guy every day. I’m going to compete my ass off and make the guys around me better.”

He said the year out of football last year put things in a “different perspective.

“I think the big thing for me is first off, I love football,” Volson said. “That is something that drives me. To get the opportunity to play a kids game and make money doing it is just the cherry on top. When football is over, it is over. It is not like you get to play pick-up football like you do basketball or play softball. Every opportunity I get I want to take advantage of it and enjoy the moment. And then work really hard.”

The Bengals selected Volson four picks after the Packers selected Romeo Doubs and four picks before the Packers drafted Zach Bako-Bewele.

“(He’s) a versatile player, then-Bengals coach Brian Callahan said after the draft. “He’s got a lot of different things he can do well (and) a lot of good measurables. We’re excited about the person (he is), the makeup – all those type of things.

The Bengals offensive line coach at the time, Frank Pollack, said Volson was the best offensive lineman available and appreciated his toughness and power.

“He’s tough, he’s physical, and he’s a finisher,” he said. “You’ll see him pull out on a perimeter and run pretty well. He’s productive out in space when he did pull. He comes from a winning team (and) winning culture. You love his intangibles. He’s a worker – that’s how he was raised, (which is) what you’re looking for.”

His older brother, Zach, also played for North Dakota State. As a senior in 2018, he was named the top center in FCS.

“I did enjoy having my brother’s example growing up,” Cordell told The Minot Daily News. “I found it motivating to try and beat him and do better than him. We always enjoyed the competitive nature growing up, either in the driveway playing basketball or in other areas of life. It was definitely a motivating factor.”

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