Offensive Line Depth Remains a Major Concern for the Green Bay Packers
By GilMartin
The Green Bay Packers are confident that they know who their starting five offensive linemen are going to be this season. Barring injuries, the Pack will line up Jordan Morgan at left tackle, Aaron Banks at left guard, Sean Rhyan at center, Anthony Belton at right guard, and Zach Tom at right tackle. But the overall lack of proven depth behind these players raises a genuine concern. Remember, the Packers offensive line was beset by injuries last season from the nagging injuries suffered by Banks to the season-ending injuries suffered by the now departed Elgton Jenkins and by Tom.
The best depth along the offensive line is at right tackle. If Tom is unavailable, the Packers will turn to Darian Kinnard to step in. Kinnard did a solid job last season filling in at right tackle and acting as the sixth offensive lineman in certain formations when technically he was playing tight end. He provides a reliable backup who can start a few games without hurting your team.
The issue at tackle is what would happen if Morgan doesn’t play well at left tackle or becomes unavailable due to injuries. There are options, but none of them are ideal. The first is to shift Tom to left tackle and have Kinnard start at right tackle. Tom has graded out as the team’s top offensive lineman in the last two seasons so moving him to left tackle would make some sense although because of his physical build, he’s better on the right side. That would have the benefit of putting your best offensive lineman at the most important position along the line and allowing your most reliable backup to fill in on the right side.
Another option would be to move Belton to left tackle. He played tackle in college and could make the switch. Of course, you’re counting on a second-year player with limited experience to protect Jordan Love’s blind side and we don’t yet know if Belton is ready to take on that job. It would also create a need guard which also has significant depth questions.
At guard, the Packers are relying on Banks to return to full health and to return to the form he showed in San Francisco. Belton only played a handful of games at right guard late last season and needs to show he can handle the job full time. He is talented but still considered green. The Packers are hoping a full offseason of preparation at guard means he is ready to start.
If either of the starters get injured, there are no truly experienced backups. Jacob Monk has played all of 57 offensive snaps his first two seasons in the NFL and has yet to show he is ready to take on a starting job. Rookie fifth-round pick Jager Burton is available as well. While the Packers have had success with rookie interior offensive linemen stepping in and playing, it remains to be seen how ready Burton would be to step in and start for the Packers in 2026.
Another option would be to move Rhyan back to guard from center, but then either Monk or Burton would have to step in and play center. Because centers typically have more responsibilities for calling signals for the offensive linemen, it may not be the best idea to move Rhyan back to guard but that is something the coaching staff would have to determine.
If Rhyan went down, either Burton or Monk would be the top candidates to replace him. Rhyan took over at center after Jenkins was lost for the season due to an injury last year. His grades from Pro Football Focus were not impressive, but he did play better as the season progressed and the Packers are hoping he will develop into a quality starting center in 2026.
The Packers have talent on the offensive line, but the lack of depth is a cause for concern. Could GM Brian Gutekunst add an experienced swing tackle or interior offensive lineman before the start of training camp? That may depend on how the group looks at OTAs in the coming weeks. He certainly has the cap space available to add some more players. But with the season three months away, the Packers have more questions than answers when it comes to offensive line depth.
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Comments (18)
Guam
May 30, 2026 at 10:45 am
The Packers have enough cap space to sign a veteran OL and I hope they do. Beyond Kinnard the OL depth is a hope and a prayer. Maybe Burton and Glover come through but I have a hard time counting on Monk and any of the others given how little they have shown to date. I hope Gute is shopping........
Coldworld
May 30, 2026 at 11:09 am
Of course it remains so. No meaningful football has been played or practiced since the last 10 times this was written.
One can tell very little about new/less known line players without contact, so expect this to remain the case into camp and probably August at least even if we have stellar hidden talent. Only then will we have a chance to see them meaningfully tested.
If I had to find one thing of minor interest at this point it’s that Brant Banks was number 2 LT. Keep an eye on him if you are looking for a largely unrecognized potential gem. It will be interesting to see if they try him at RT at all during the summer.
dobber
May 30, 2026 at 11:15 am
I've been beating the OL depth chart drum the last two off-seasons. I think, at least for now, the starting 5 is pretty well set, and that a couple players (Rhyan and Belton) cold see significant improvement just from being able to dedicate themselves full-time to their projected spot. Most of the coverage in case of injury comes from moving starters around. That's not ideal.
Until we see more, it looks like Tom is the second best LT on the roster. Some put Kinnard in as the backup LT, but he's only been OK at RT. There's no mention of "the other Banks" on the roster as a potential LT (Brant Banks) who was signed away by Tennessee, then brought back. Anyone they need to put at LT in relief will likely need a TE on his shoulder.
Who's the backup LG? Depending on which depth chart you look at, some sources put Glover at G. Some put him at T. Williams is back from injury, and he lists at G. Maybe its Burton...or Belton...or Rhyan. There are a lot of moving pieces here, and if they keep 9 (or maybe 10) OL, I think once you get past Kinnard and Burton as 6 and 7, the rest are almost a crap shoot.
Turophile
May 30, 2026 at 06:51 pm
Considering that most teams don't even have 5 genuine starter-level guys, let alone quality backups, the Packers aren't situated that badly. The starting 5 should be at least ok or better, if they stay relatively healthy.
The backups aren't terrible, but they are a definite step down. They need to get reasonable returns from Jager Burton and whoever else they keep as backups....and that isn't a given.
As it stands now they are not great, but they should be at least ok, if they are missing no more than one starter at any point.
I expect the O line as a whole to be mid-tier, hopefully a little above that. This line will never be world-beaters, but they DO have it in them to be significantly better than last year.
Coldworld
May 31, 2026 at 11:07 am
I agree with your take generally, but I do differ on one thing, when you say “ As it stands now they are not great, but they should be at least ok”. The way I would express it is that we, on the outside, simply don’t know what they are, good, bad or indifferent.
Some of that is recency of arrival, some injury and some coaching decisions. It’s interesting to me that the second OL in the open OTA included Brant Banks at LT, John Williams at LG, Glover at RG (surprisingly not at RT) and Karsen Barnhart at RT, someone who most have not even considered (myself included).
Some names there that haven’t been mentioned much and two we lost entirely last year. Monk and Jennings were out and none of these are new rookies, all holdovers from the prior year, so others may yet push past. We may or may not have good depth. We just don’t know.
Some of these are credibly better than journeymen backups we have had in the past. Let’s see what camp shows once contact begins before we start panicking about the unknown over the known-but-not-great veteran alternatives out there. There may come a time to panic, but there are a lot of bodies competing, especially inside, and we only need a couple to take a step to be actually quite deep.
Handsback
May 30, 2026 at 11:29 am
Green Bay seems to have a depth issue in their Oline. You need a backup at OT-check, OG-?, C-?. They may have them on the roster, but it didn't appear that their backups were sufficient last year. Maybe last year's trials and another year of training they will have the capability to back-up the starters.
JMHO
GreenandBold
May 30, 2026 at 01:13 pm
Not only the depth but the starters raise a sense of concern for me . They all have a lot to prove this season .
stockholder
May 30, 2026 at 01:33 pm
There is only one way to fix the depth issue.
Don't start Tom at RT. Start Kinnard instead.
Let Tom be the versatile back-up.
Tom is the packers lightest OL. 304#
He's also 27 now, and his durability sucks at RT.
Tom can play anywhere.
And the only way to turn a
weak into a strong,
Is by moving Tom around.
And letting him be the player he once was.
golfpacker61
May 30, 2026 at 07:07 pm
So, you want to take our best starting O-lineman and make him a reserve? And throw Kinnard in as a weaker starter? Yeah let's make all the starters reserves and the reserves starters. This is so easy, why didn't the Packers coaches think of this?
stockholder
May 31, 2026 at 06:09 am
No- your using the whole OL
as your argument.
I'm only using Tom and whats best for HIM!
jaxpackfan
May 31, 2026 at 07:02 am
Now that's an interesting take! Not sure if it makes sense, but A+ for out of the box thinking.
Turophile
May 30, 2026 at 06:06 pm
The O line was just not good in 2025.....but how much of that bleeds over to 2026.
LT is now Morgan over Walker last year. should be an upgrade.
LG is still Banks, but he was injured much of last year. He was fine when he was actually healthy.
C is now Rhyan, a better spot for him than RG last year.
RG Belton should take a second year leap....and he is talented enough for the Packers to have spent a 2nd round pick on.
RT Tom will be better than last year if he stays healthy, unlike in 2025. He is light in weight, so i have no idea why he was never tried on the left side. He survives (thrives even) at RT, because of his excellent technique.
Packers added C/G Jager Burton (round 5) to the room.
What does all of this mean ? None of the expectations I listed above were unreasonable - and I expect most of them to play out like that, assuming decent health which will always be a wild card.
I think they can cope with one injury anywhere and adjust ok. More than that and the overall line quality degrades more deeply. To expand on that, If the O line suffers no more than one long-term injury to a starter, I think they are significantly better than last year. If they suffer two or more starter injuries, it's in the lap of the gods.
golfpacker61
May 30, 2026 at 07:14 pm
I looked this up to see where they played the most games in college.
Anthony Belton-LT
Travis Glover-LT
Donovan Jennings-LT
John Williams-LT
Dalton Cooper-LT
Kind of a pattern here.
Are none of these players good enough to be a backup swing tackle? If they are no good why are we keeping them?
They were all good enough to start multiple seasons in college, so they must be somewhat good.
Throw in
Sean Rhyan-LT-All American
Morgan-LT-All American
Most of these backups have played very little for GB so how do we know that can't play? They all played and took a lot of snaps in college @ the most important position on the OL. We might have a great group of backups and nobody knows it.
Lare
May 31, 2026 at 06:41 am
To me, the biggest need they have on the OL is at coach.
Turophile
May 31, 2026 at 10:28 am
The big problem is whether this is down to the coach........or the players given to the coach.
I lean more towards Lare's contention, that it is more about the coach than the players, but it isn't easy to separate coach and player......
LambeauPlain
May 31, 2026 at 08:44 am
"Barring injuries, the Pack will line up Jordan Morgan at left tackle, Aaron Banks at left guard, Sean Rhyan at center, Anthony Belton at right guard, and Zach Tom at right tackle."
That would be the status quo "preferred 5" for the OL coaching battery too. Every year the same coaches state they will start the "best 5" (rarely do) after rigorous in camp competitions (that never happens).
What if Burton comes in and just kills it at C. Would Stenovich, Butkus, and LaFleur start him? No, doubt it.
Suppose during camp and preseason the combination of Morgan LT, Banks LG, Tom C, Burton RG, Belton RT clearly outperforms the "preferred 5"...would this OL coaching staff start them? No, also doubt it.
OL starting jobs are not "won" in camp and preseason in Green Bay under this staff. They always go with their "preferred 5" and if there is doubt as to who is better at a position, then the decision is punted and musical chairs is the status quo fall back.
NFLfan
May 31, 2026 at 09:02 am
There are very few position groups in GB that are not relying on hope and a prayer. DL, the RB room, O-Line, LB's xcept Cooper etc.
THESZOTMAN1
June 01, 2026 at 12:26 pm
Timely article, Gil.
I'm one of those "It's all about the O-Line" guys. (former center on BAD high school team.)
So here goes: IF the starting line you put forward plays the whole season without major injuries, I think we'lll be all right. (PLEEEEASE tll me that Morgan can play LT!)
BUT if anybody goes on IR for any lenght of time, we're in trouble.
Maybe Kinnard can hold up, BUT Monk at Center? A 5th round rookie anywhere? Not good.
If these nightmares do happen, we'll be stuck with the short passing game on O. Or screens. Or prayers.
But we must hope for the best and pray there's no worse.
Or maybe find a serviceable lineman in UDFA or after cuts. That's cutting it kind of close, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
As the O-Line goes, so goes the team.
GPG
The Szotman