Van Lanen Goes From Childhood Spectator to Family Night Performer

Attendance for Saturday’s Family Night was 34,835. The Green Bay Packers can thank rookie offensive lineman Cole Van Lanen for at least a few of those tickets.

Van Lanen grew up in nearby Suamico, so there were plenty of familiar faces who endured a rainy night to see him play for the first time as a professional at Lambeau Field.

“Honestly, quite a bit that I know of and a lot more that I don’t know of,” Van Lanen said of the friends-and-family spectator count.

While at Bay Port High School, Van Lanen was first-team all-state in 2014 and 2015 and a U.S. Army All-American. The four-star recruit went to Wisconsin, where he redshirted in 2016, showed his NFL potential off the bench in 2018 and was an all-Big Ten left tackle in 2019 and 2020.

The Packers drafted him with a sixth-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft.

Clearly, being drafted would have been a thrill, regardless of the team. Staying home with the Packers, however, was especially exciting for the lifelong Packers fan who was 5 or 6 when he attended his first Family Night.

That game will happen on Saturday night, the preseason opener against the Houston Texans.

Of course, Van Lanen wants to be on the field for the real games, including the home opener against Detroit on Sept. 20. When general manager Brian Gutekunst picks his 53-man roster at the end of training camp, the feel-good nature of Van Lanen’s story won’t mean a thing. Only what Van Lanen does during the practices and preseason, and the potential he’d bring to the roster, will matter.

To that end, Van Lanen has joined the group of multitasking Packers offensive linemen. Playing left tackle and right tackle for most of camp, he’s also started lining up at guard. He was the left tackle with the No. 3 offensive line to open Saturday’s practice, and he went 3-1 at offensive tackle during the one-on-one pass-rushing drills on Tuesday and Thursday.

“At this level, especially at O-line, you need to be able to versatile and be able to play all positions or most of them. I’m in that position right now,” Van Lanen said of playing guard. “I don’t think it’s been too challenging at all. Being at tackle my whole career, I think it’s a lot easier coming inside than out. Someone that’s played guard, it’s not easy to go out to tackle. But going from tackle is a little easier going to guard, so I think the transition going to those guard reps hasn’t been too difficult for me. Just kind of getting all those reps at all those positions and showing that I can play.”

Van Lanen is part of an offensive line group that’s overflowing from a numbers perspective. There are 16 linemen on the roster, including six draft picks over the past two years and the recent addition of veteran Dennis Kelly. All-Pro David Bakhtiari has “put me under his wing,” Van Lanen said, as the rookie soaks up every bit of knowledge from the veterans and coaches Adam Stenavich and Luke Butkus.

“I feel like our room is very comfortable with each other,” he said. “Obviously, we’re the rookies and they’re the vets, but it’s not like a big divide in the room. We feel comfortable and they’re very great with answering our questions, anything we have, really helping us. Even if we don’t ask questions, they come and give us pointers on what they should do after what they see. It really helps us a lot. I really enjoy our room. Great, great camaraderie already. I do everything I can to absorb like a sponge because you got some of the best linemen in the country in our room, and I’m trying to do everything I can to be on their level.”