When Brian Gutekunst took over as the Packers’ general manager following Ted Thompson’s resignation, he made it clear the team would take a new approach to free agency.

Thompson made a few noteworthy moves in free agency, to be sure, but he largely avoided the springtime spending spree. Gutekunst was willing to play ball, though, saying throughout his tenure that he wanted the Packers to be “in every conversation” with notable free agents. If there was talent to be had on the open market, he wanted to find it.

And in the spring of 2019, he found a lot of it.

Gutekunst had played things relatively quiet through his first year as general manager. But with a new head coach in town and a clean cap sheet, Gutekunst spent and spent big, reeling in edge rushers Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith and shoring up his secondary with steady safety Adrian Amos. Gutekunst didn’t ignore the offense, either, adding versatile offensive lineman Billy Turner to the lineup.

A third round pick by the Miami Dolphins in 2014, Turner spent his first four seasons in the NFL finding his footing. Released midway through the 2016 season, Turner had a brief stint (just three days) in Baltimore before landing with the Denver Broncos. In action with the Dolphins and Broncos, Turner took snaps at every position but center, and that versatility was part of what landed him in Green Bay, where he cashed in on a four-year, $28 million deal.

The Packers put Turner to work all over their offensive line as well. He took snaps at both guard and tackle spots in 2019 (though he only played a single snap at left tackle, left guard, and right tackle) and continued that trend into 2020, pivoting to the outside to make starts at both left and right tackle. His left tackle work, though, ended up being the most important. In the wake of David Bakhtiari’s career-altering injury late in the 2020 season, it was Turner that slotted in for Bakhtiari as the Packers made a Super Bowl push.

It ended in disaster.

Turner surrendered four pressures to a voracious Tampa Bay defense as the Packers came up short in the NFC Championship. His versatility, once an asset, had him playing outside his preferred position when it mattered most, and it wouldn’t be the last time.

The Packers slotted Turner in at right tackle to start the 2021 season, filling their left tackle spot with a combination of endlessly versatile Elgton Jenkins and undrafted free agent Yosh Nijman as Bakhtiari recovered. Turner himself battled a knee injury late in the year, missing most of the last month of the regular season.

Then, the Packers did the inexplicable. After completing their Wildcard Round bye in the 2021 playoffs, the Packers chose to start Turner at left tackle and put journeyman backup Dennis Kelly at right tackle, benching Nijman, who’d been solid if unspectacular throughout most of the season. The Packers chose to trust Turner, who hadn’t played a full game since Week 12 and hadn’t played left tackle in nearly a year, banking on his versatility to carry him through.

Again, the move failed. Turner allowed two pressures, but Kelly, playing in Turner’s spot on the right side, allowed five, including a sack late in the first half that ended the Packers chances at a touchdown and ultimately resulting in a game-turning blocked field goal.

Would things have been different if Turner had been at right tackle? Could Nijman, a usually but not always adequate left tackle, have held up to a relentless 49ers defense? No one will ever know. But what’s certain is this: the versatility that brought Turner to Green Bay was a big reason they trusted him in that spot, and it may have turned the game.

Turner never played another game with the Packers, returning to Denver for the 2022 season before linking up with Aaron Rodgers with the New York Jets in 2023. Turner was a diminished player in both stints, appearing in just 22 of a possible 34 games and making just nine starts. Interestingly, the Broncos and Jets only asked Turner to play a total of seven snaps at left tackle in that two-year span. But that’s surely just a coincidence.