After Playoff Disaster, Travis Glover Gets Big Opportunity

Travis Glover was thrown into the fire in last year’s playoff loss and burst into flames. He didn’t let the inferno consume him, though, as he moves into Year 2 with the Green Bay Packers.

Last year’s sixth-round pick played 13 garbage-time snaps on offense during the regular season. When standout left guard Elgton Jenkins suffered a stinger on Green Bay’s first possession of the playoff loss at the Philadelphia Eagles, the Packers turned to Glover. The results could hardly have been worse. He was guilty of three penalties, including two holding infractions in a span of three plays.

While the Packers moved on from Glover in that game, benching him after the holding penalties, they haven’t moved on permanently.

Glover got some first-team reps at right guard during the first practice of training camp on Wednesday. When starting left guard Aaron Banks dropped out of practice on Thursday, Glover moved in with the first unit again.

“I just took it as a learning experience – a great learning experience,” Glover said of the playoff game on Thursday. “That’s the biggest moment that you probably could have. First round of the playoffs, going against the Eagles, thrown in there when Elgton went down, so I just take it as, 10 years later, I can look back at it and be like, ‘I remember when I got thrown in that fire. I didn’t perform, but my next year I went out there and took it.’

“So, like you said, just being a pro and moving on, man. I don’t even think it’s too much I would’ve did to prepare [differently] because I think I pretty much give it my all each day, so I just took it as a learning experience.”

That Glover got a lot of first-team action the past two days didn’t provide a sense of validation, he said. Rather, it was an opportunity to remind the team why he was drafted in the first place.

“My main goal, just like last year when I got thrown in the playoff game, is to go re-earn their trust,” he said. “So, every time I get in there, no matter 1s, 2s, 3s, just go out there and play, earn the trust of my teammates and the coaches, all the way upstairs ... just go out there and work.”

From that perspective, Glover has put out the flames. The Packers could have gone in several directions to replace Banks on Thursday. They could have gone with Kadeem Telfort, who replaced Glover at Philadelphia. Second-round pick Anthony Belton could have been an option, too.

Instead, Glover got another opportunity to show what he can do.

“I just go out there and play,” he said. “When my number’s called, I go. Like you said, they could’ve called anybody, but they called on me, so I take that personally. When I was going out there, I was telling myself, ‘Earn their trust.’ Earn the trust of Rasheed Walker and the center, the right guard, the right tackle. When I’m thrown in there, I’m going to pick up and do just as good a job as the first man in there.”

Of course, being with the No. 1s on Thursday doesn’t guarantee anything about Friday or Sunday or the end of training camp. There’s no sugarcoating how the playoff game went. Nobody expected it to be smooth sailing for Glover, a five-year starter at Georgia State. But after a poor performance, Glover knows he’s going to have to earn his place on the roster.

“I didn’t go out there [against the Eagles] and do nothing that I can say I’m proud of,” Glover said. “So, now it’s just about re-earning that trust of everybody in the building. I mean, it’s a job. It’s performance-based, so you got to go perform. Every opportunity I get, I want to go out there and re-prove myself.”