Green Bay has plenty of depth on their line, which should translate to tough roster cuts and competitive battles for starting jobs.
The Green Bay Packers’ offensive line is loaded with talent going into the 2024 season, which presents a slate of “good problems” for the team. At the moment, the squad carries 14 linemen, all of whom have the chance of making the 53-man roster at the conclusion of the preseason. At the same time, there are only two players on the team who are absolute 100 percent locks to start this year.
What that means is there are plenty of forks in the road for the Packers to venture down between now and Week 1, when they’ll take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil. This position group isn’t just the major one to watch in Green Bay’s camp this summer, but one of the premier top-to-bottom units to watch league-wide this preseason.
Let’s dive into every player in the Packers’ offensive line room, highlighting which players have a chance to start at different positions and which ones are on the roster bubble in what should be a series of cutthroat camp battles.
As a reminder, below is our two-week publishing schedule for our positional previews:
- May 13th: Quarterbacks
- May 14th: Running Backs
- May 15th: Receivers
- May 16th: Tight Ends
- May 17th: Offensive Linemen
- May 19th: Defensive Tackles
- May 19th: Defensive Ends
- May 20th: Linebackers
- May 21st: Cornerbacks
- May 22nd: Safeties
- May 23rd: Specialists
Elgton Jenkins
Zach Tom
The first tier of offensive linemen we’re going to talk about here are players that we know are going to be starters on this team. Gun to my head, I really do think there are only two players we can put on this list.
Jenkins, a Pro Bowler who has played all five positions for the Packers, signed a $68 million deal in 2022, which locks him into a starting role — even beyond his on-field production. The assumption is that he will start at left guard this season, though, his versatility may lead to him landing at another spot. Green Bay’s coaching staff and front office have said over and over again this offseason that they’ll figure out a way to get their best five players on the field in 2024. Jenkins is arguably the best lineman that the team has.
If Jenkins isn’t the team’s top offensive lineman, it’s Zach Tom — who started last season as a right tackle. The Packers’ coaching staff reportedly thinks of Tom as a potential Hall-of-Fame caliber center, which certainly complicates projections moving forward. Offensive line coach Luke Butkus did mention that Josh Myers is “obviously” a center in a post-draft press conference, noting that Myers is likely to be the only player who isn’t cross-trained at another position in 2024 — but does that mean that he’s simply going to be given the starting center job going into camp? We’ll have to wait and see there.
Rasheed Walker
Josh Myers
Jordan Morgan
This second tier of offensive linemen is a list of likely starters, but there’s still an outside chance that one, or more, of them end up on the bench. We’ve already mentioned Myers’ situation, as Tom could be a real contender to push him — if the team allows for it. It’s also worth noting here that Myers, a former second-round pick, is going into a contract season. What is the cost-benefit analysis of allowing Myers to start another year, if the squad is willing to let him hit free agency next offseason, rather than having a player with multiple seasons remaining on his contract playing those snaps? That’s worth thinking about.
Another major question mark is who will play the tackle positions for the Packers. At this point, there seem to be three real contenders: Zach Tom, Rasheed Walker and first-round pick Jordan Morgan. Tom started at right tackle last year, while Walker pulled an upset by displacing Yosh Nijman — who was given a second-round tender as a restricted free agent in 2023 — as David Bakhtiari’s injury replacement.
By all accounts, Green Bay seems to be willing to give Morgan — who played every snap of his college career as a left tackle for Arizona — an opportunity to hang at the tackle position. Does this mean that Walker and Morgan could be the starting bookends, which would push Tom inside? Would the Packers really just move Walker to the bench if Morgan wins the left tackle job, as it’s unlikely that the 6’6” Walker would be able to fit in as an interior player? If Walker is Green Bay’s left tackle, would Morgan move to guard or would he simply take a redshirt season? There are plenty of questions to answer here going into camp.
Sean Rhyan
Jacob Monk
The third tier here is players that I would consider dark horse candidates to start. Sean Rhyan has playing experience at right guard, where he split time with Jon Runyan Jr., who left for the New York Giants on a $10 million per year contract in free agency, in 2023. If Morgan takes a redshirt year with the returning starters holding down their positions, Rhyan is probably the favorite to start at right guard in that scenario. In others, though, he’s a high-quality backup with some experience under his belt.
Fifth-round pick Jacob Monk of Duke is a player that I fell in love with after watching his college film. Monk has played all over the offensive line, similar to Jenkins and Tom, but is likely to be an interior lineman at the next level due to his lack of length. I think there’s a world where he could contend for either the right guard vacancy or the center job — should the Packers consider it a position that warrants a true camp battle. Keep an eye on Monk, who has great feet in pass protection but lacks a little bit of power in the run game that you’re accustomed to at the NFL level.
Royce Newman
Travis Glover
Donovan Jennings
Luke Tenuta
Caleb Jones
Andre Dillard
Lecitus Smith
The final tier of the Packers’ offensive line features a healthy amount of players who are on the roster bubble. Green Bay’s line should be one of the more competitive units league-wide this summer.
The assumption is that the Packers will end up carrying 10 players going into the regular season, as that is typically the minimum amount of linemen they’ve carried under both head coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst. With so many draft picks on the roster, the new special teams emphasis that will come with the changes to the kick-off rules and the team deploying a 4-3 base rather than a 3-4 base, the margins should become tighter from a roster construction standpoint — which means it’s gonna be hard for Green Bay to carry 11 offensive linemen, like they have at times.
Assuming that Jenkins, Tom, Walker, Myers, Morgan, Rhyan and Monk are going to make the 2024 team — a pretty safe bet at this point — that means that seven players are competing for three jobs on the 53-man roster.
Royce Newman is a unique player, as he now carries a cap hit north of $3 million due to the league’s proven performance escalator program. Newman has slowly decreased in playing time every season he’s been in the league, going from 1,084 snaps as a rookie (16 starts) to just 183 in 2023 (2 starts). There’s a real chance that he’s a cap casualty, as his release is one of the few ways that the Packers can save some cap space in-season.
Beyond Newman, Luke Tenuta — a former draft pick who the Packers picked up off of waivers in 2022 — and Caleb Jones — an undrafted free agent the team signed in 2022 — return. Both players have been “stash” linemen that Green Bay has tried to keep around for multiple seasons. Outside of preseason snaps, that duo has rarely played for the green and gold, but the team must have seen something from those players in practice to warrant them sticking around.
The Packers also signed former first-round pick Andre Dillard, who has primarily played tackle in the NFL, just before the 2024 draft. Dillard hasn’t lived up to the hype, but he’s on a cheap deal and has experience, if Green Bay feels like they need more depth at the tackle position. For what it’s worth, Tenuta and Jones are both tall players — like Walker — which probably means they’re viewed as tackle-only linemen. It would be highly unlikely that all three of Tenuta, Jones and Dillard all make the Packers’ 2024 roster together, barring some sort of major injury to the position.
The final two linemen on this list are undrafted rookie Donovan Jennings and former draft pick Lecitus Smith. Jennings played tackle at South Florida, fairing well against Alabama’s first-round pick pass-rusher Dallas Turner in their 2023 matchup. His limited size likely means that Jennings is being viewed as a guard at the NFL level, though.
Smith was a sixth-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2022 and started two games at guard for the team as a rookie, but he didn’t register a single snap for the Cardinals, Houston Texans or Philadelphia Eagles in 2023, the three teams who signed with that year. Following the draft, the Eagles, who had previously signed Smith to a reserve/future contract, waived Smith. He went unclaimed and participated in the Packers’ rookie minicamp as a tryout player, leading to him being one of three players that Green Bay signed from the event.
If you’re wondering where former Michigan lineman Trent Jones is, he retired. Jones, who dealt with several injuries as the Wolverines’ sixth man, has decided to put the pain of football behind him, despite receiving a notable $110,000 in guarantees as an undrafted free agent. For perspective, that’s more guaranteed money than most seventh-round picks earn on their four-year contracts. It’s also the same number that the Packers’ signed Jennings to, which shows just how much the team likes the former South Florida product.
Good luck sorting out the end of the offensive line depth chart before the pads come on.
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