Outside of “how quickly can Matthew Golden move up the depth chart as a rookie,” the only real question that we had about the Green Bay Packers’ offensive personnel this summer was who would play on their line in Week 1. With Aaron Banks added in free agency and Elgton Jenkins moving to center, the only true vacancy available for the team was at the right guard spot.
With that being said, the Packers have continued to push the narrative that there’s an open competition at left tackle, where incumbent starter Rasheed Walker and former first-round pick Jordan Morgan have been rotating when the offensive line has been fully healthy. Spoiler alert: Players have missed days due to injury during training camp.
Whenever a preferred starter up front gets banged up, the Packers’ immediate response is to play Morgan at a guard position, leaving Walker at left tackle, even if that means moving Sean Rhyan to center. Like left tackle, Morgan is also competing for playing time at right guard with Rhyan, a role they shared in the 2024 regular season before Morgan was placed on the injured reserve list with a season-ending shoulder injury.
The only exception is at right tackle, where rookie second-round pick Anthony Belton has consistently been subbed in when preferred starter Zach Tom has been out of action.
Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, who was previously the Packers’ offensive line coach, said in a press conference during training camp that the team could play six or seven linemen during the regular season on a rotational basis. I think we know who those seven candidates are now, clearly, though I doubt Belton will get playing time at the expense of Tom, who just received an $88 million extension last month. Considering that Belton is only getting looks at right tackle, his path to 2025 playing time seems to revolve around a Tom injury.
Based on how camp and the preseason have played out, here’s what I think Green Bay’s offensive line will look like (left to right) to start the year: Walker, Banks, Jenkins, Rhyan and Tom. Naming Rhyan or Morgan the “starting” right guard is a little bit of semantics to me, because I think Morgan will be rotating in at the left tackle and right guard positions (assuming everyone is healthy) pretty regularly. I wouldn’t be shocked if Walker, Rhyan and Morgan each played about two-thirds of the offense’s total snaps, with Morgan splitting those reps between guard and tackle.
So what was the point of Morgan getting all these left tackle looks in camp? First of all, he’s much more ready to be a high-end backup left tackle than he was last year, when he dealt with a shoulder injury for the entire regular season. Secondly, I believe that the team is banking reps for Morgan at the position, as Walker’s rookie contract is set to expire. Remember, Dan Moore Jr. set the new floor for starting left tackles at $20.5 million per year in free agency. A new extension for Walker will come at a price tag that will be in the range of Tom’s recently signed deal.
In truth, this was all probably just in preparation for a Walker injury and/or Walker leaving the team in 2026. Like Walker, Rhyan is also an unrestricted free agent in 2026, and a release of Jenkins would also net the Packers $20 million in cap relief next offseason. Green Bay’s offensive line is going to look very different very soon, so it probably wasn’t a bad call to get ahead of it with Morgan’s reps this summer.
At no point, though, did the Packers seem like they were ever really committed to benching Walker, a tackle-only player, in their lineup. Their best five involves Walker being on the field, so this exercise was really just a way to cross-train Morgan for his immediate role on the team (right guard) and his future role on the team (left tackle).
As far as Belton goes, I think Green Bay simply believes that they have three starting-caliber guards in Banks, Morgan and Rhyan going into the year, so they wanted to train Belton as a backup at another position for 2025. Personally, considering Belton’s athletic limitations at tackle and his big-body frame that has earned him the nickname “Escalade,” I see his future being at right guard for the 2026 Packers.
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