Latest On Packers’ Offensive Line
Elgton Jenkins passed on testing free agency to sign a lucrative Packers extension, a deal that ties the Pro Bowler to Green Bay through the 2026 season and one that looks to solidify the team’s left guard spot for the foreseeable future.
The Packers entered last season with plans of moving Jenkins to right tackle — opposite a recovered David Bakhtiari, whom Jenkins had previously replaced on the left side — before shifting their younger Pro Bowl blocker back to guard. The left side of Green Bay’s offensive line — when Bakhtiari suits up, that is — is not in question. Competition will take place at other spots along the Packers’ O-line.
Although the Packers took Josh Myers in the 2021 second round and have used him as a starter in all 23 games he has played — including 17 last season — he will be challenged this year. Second-year blocker Zach Tom poses as the top challenger for both the center and right tackle spots, Matt Schneidman of The Athletic notes (subscription required).
Chosen in the fourth round out of Wake Forest, Tom started at both center and left tackle for the Demon Deacons. Bakhtiari’s issues staying on the field last season moved Tom into Green Bay’s lineup in his stead, and while a role as a super sub of sorts could end up being where Tom ends up this year, Matt LaFleur said earlier this offseason center might be the young lineman’s best spot. Pro Football Focus graded Myers as the league’s 26th-best center last season. While Myers shook off the health issues that plagued him as a rookie, the Ohio State alum will no longer be handed a gig in Green Bay.
Packers OC Adam Stenavich said (via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky) Tom will also compete at right guard, though Schneidman adds Jon Runyan Jr.‘s spot is probably safer than either Myers or right tackle Yosh Nijman‘s. PFF slotted Runyan 37th among guards last season. The second-generation pro is going into a contract year. Nijman played 555 right tackle snaps for the Pack last season; Tom played 84. Nijman being tendered at the second-round level ($4.3MM) as an RFA does illustrate Packer confidence, however. Royce Newman, who has started 22 games since his 2021 rookie year, remains on the roster as well. Newman showed rocky form last season but offers versatility in having played 100-plus snaps at guard and tackle in 2022.
PFF ranked the Packers’ O-line third in the league last season, putting the team on solid footing going into 2023. Last year featured both Bakhtiari and Jenkins rehabbing major knee injuries. Both returned in 2022. At $17MM per year, Jenkins is now the NFL’s third-highest-paid guard (behind Chris Lindstrom and Quenton Nelson). Bakhtiari remains the league’s third-highest-paid tackle, at $23MM per year. While Bakhtiari’s game count this year — after he missed 22 contests from 2021-22 — will play a significant role in his post-2023 Packers future, the franchise will begin its Jordan Love era with a quality foundation up front.
Elgton Jenkins Likely To Stay On PUP List To Start Regular Season
The offseason rumors of Elgton Jenkins‘ return not transpiring until at least October are looking likelier to be true. The Pro Bowl offensive lineman is likely to begin the season on the reserve/PUP list, Matt Schneidman of The Athletic notes (subscription required).
Players currently on teams’ active/PUP lists have until August 23 to be activated. If activations do not take place, they must begin the regular season on the reserve/PUP list — a roster designation that requires a minimum four-game absence to start the season. The potential unavailability of Jenkins and All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari continues to complicate matters for the Packers’ offensive front.
Jenkins, who has played a few spots along Green Bay’s offensive line, suffered his ACL tear on Nov. 21, 2021, going down on a noncontact play. If he remains on the PUP list going into the season, the earliest he could return would be the team’s Oct. 9 game against the Giants. That would be on the longer end for an ACL return, though these severe knee injuries — as Bakhtiari’s complications from a New Year’s Eve 2020 tear show — affect each player differently. The Packers also are known for injury-related caution.
Bakhtiari remains on Green Bay’s active/PUP list as well. The team managed to go 14-2, prior to a meaningless Week 18 loss to the Lions, with its starters last season. That came entirely without Bakhtiari and partially without Jenkins, who missed 10 games (counting Green Bay’s divisional-round loss to San Francisco).
The Packers have been using Jon Runyan Jr. as their first-string left guard during camp, per Schneidman, who adds a combination of Yosh Nijman, Zach Tom, Royce Newman and Jake Hanson have been combining to fill the other three tackle and guard posts. The Packers used third- and fourth-round picks on Sean Rhyan and Tom, respectively, this year. Josh Myers, who also missed a chunk of last season, remains at center. The team’s first depth chart listed Nijman at left tackle, Newman at right tackle and Hanson, a third-year blocker, at right guard.
Jenkins, who filled in for Bakhtiari at left tackle to start last season, is going into a contract year. A strong return from the ACL tear would put him in position to command top-tier guard money. He was a Pro Bowl guard alongside Bakhtiari, who signed a top-tier tackle contract weeks before his ACL tear, in 2020. Of course, the longer both he and Bakhtiari remain out the more questions it will generate about the state of Green Bay’s O-line.
Packers Sign Jon Runyan Jr.
The Packers signed sixth-round guard Jon Runyan Jr., according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Michigan product is, of course, the son of longtime NFL tackle Jon Runyan. 
The younger Runyan was the first of three linemen selected by the Packers in the sixth-round. After calling his name at No. 192 overall, they nabbed Oregon center Jake Hanson (No. 208) and Indiana tackle Simon Stepaniak (Indiana). With Runyan, Stepaniak, and seventh-rounders Vernon Scott and Jonathan Garvin under contract, the Packers still have five rookies left to sign from this year’s class.
Like his dad, Runyan has a pro-ready build for the tackle position. He stands at 6’4″ and 307 pounds, a few inches shorter than his pops but only ~20 pounds lighter.
Here’s the full rundown of the Packers’ class, via PFR’s 2020 NFL Draft Tracker:
1-26: Jordan Love, QB (Utah State)
2-62: A.J. Dillon, RB (Boston College)
3-94: Josiah Deguara, TE (Cincinnati)
5-175: Kamal Martin, LB (Minnesota)
6-192: Jon Runyan, G (Michigan): Signed
6-208: Jake Hanson, C (Oregon)
6-209: Simon Stepaniak, T (Indiana): Signed
7-236: Vernon Scott, S (TCU): Signed
7-242: Jonathan Garvin, DE (Miami): Signed