GREEN BAY, Wis. – Fueled by the offensive line, the Green Bay Packers ranked fifth in rushing yards and third in sack percentage. The starting five – none of them first-round picks – played in 84 of a possible 85 games during the regular season.
With that as a backdrop, here is Part 5 of our annual series of player report cards. As we’ve done for about 15 seasons, the grades are viewed through the lens of the salary cap. Why? Because the financial component is so critical to building a team. A championship team needs its most-expensive players to be among its best players, and it needs young, inexpensive players to rise to prominent roles.
All cap figures are from OverTheCap.com. Analytical stats are from Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions.
LT Rasheed Walker
2024 salary cap: $1,005,219. Position rank: 58th.
Of the NFL’s 32 starting left tackles, 19 were selected in the first round. Rasheed Walker was taken in the seventh round in 2022.
As such, Walker was the bargain of bargains. Was Walker great? No. Could the Packers potentially upgrade the position with a first-round pick? Sure. Did Walker cost the Packers any games or cause any consistent problems?
Definitely not.
Of 68 offensive tackles with at least 300 pass-protecting snaps, Walker ranked 42nd in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-protecting snap. He allowed three sacks (down from six last year) and 35 pressures (up slightly from 33 last year). His nine penalties accepted included six for holding, but six of those infractions came during the first half of the season.
SIS charged him with four blown blocks in the run game, his blown-block rate of 0.8 percent tied with Trent Williams for second-best at the position.
Green Bay’s offensive line struggled in the playoff loss to the Eagles, but PFF charged Walker with only two pressures.
Grade: A-minus.
LG Elgton Jenkins
2024 salary cap: $14,464,706. Position rank: 3rd.
In golf, they say you drive for show but putt for dough. As an offensive lineman, run blocking is important but the dough comes in pass protection.
According to PFF’s grades, Elgton Jenkins was the best pass-protecting guard in the NFL this season. Of 65 guards who played at least 300 pass-protecting snaps, Jenkins ranked fifth in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency with one sack and 16 total pressures. He’s allowed just one sack the past two seasons.
The numbers weren’t nearly as good as run blocker. SIS charged him with 10 blown blocks, the 2.1 percent blown-block rate ranking 17th at the position. He was guilty of nine accepted penalties – one more than his combined total from 2022 and 2023 – including four for holding.
The offensive line fell apart without him when he was injured early in the playoff loss against the Eagles.
With center Josh Myers headed for free agency, Jenkins could potentially shift to center – where he played some at Mississippi State. He struggled at that position in one start this season vs. Detroit, but there’s no doubt he’d be fine in the long run.
Grade: B-minus.
C Josh Myers
2024 salary cap: $3,470,571. Position rank: 16th.
A second-round pick in 2021, Josh Myers will head to free agency following a season in which he battled through injuries.
Of 32 centers to play at least 300 pass-protecting snaps, Myers ranked 31st in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency with one sack allowed but 29 total pressures. By comparison, he allowed five sacks and 28 total pressures in 2023.
In the run game, SIS charged him with 10 blown blocks. His blown-block rate of 2.2 percent was the ninth-best at the position. His three accepted penalties included one for holding.
The Packers could have drafted Creed Humphrey in 2021; Humphrey was a first-team All-Pro in 2024 with zero sacks, seven pressures and a blown-block rate of 2.1 percent on running plays.
“I can’t say enough good things about Josh Myers, not only as a player but as a leader,” Gutekunst said. “He really does embody kind of a Green Bay Packer and what we’re looking for and how they’re wired. I thought he had a really good year.”
Grade: C.
RG Sean Rhyan
2024 salary cap: $1,378,273. Position rank: 29th.
In 2023, Sean Rhyan stole some of Jon Runyan’s snaps at right guard. With Runyan joining the Giants in free agency, Rhyan started all 17 games in 2024 but had to share some of the snaps with first-round pick Jordan Morgan.
Ultimately, Morgan’s ongoing shoulder injuries limited him to six games, so Rhyan wound up playing 88.8 percent of the snaps.
Of 65 guards who played at least 300 pass-protecting snaps, Rhyan ranked 38th in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency with four sacks and 23 total pressures.
SIS charged him with eight blown blocks in the run game, his blown-block rate of 1.8 percent a bit better than Jenkins’ mark. Of seven accepted penalties, two were for holding.
Grade: B-minus.
RT Zach Tom
2024 salary cap: $1,111,084. Position rank: 50th.
There isn’t a “third-team All-Pro” but Zach Tom finished behind only the Lions’ Penei Sewell and the Eagles’ Lane Johnson in All-Pro voting.
A fourth-round pick in 2022, Tom is a foundational part of the offense. Of 68 offensive tackles with at least 300 pass-protecting snaps, Tom finished 21st in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency. He allowed three sacks and 24 total pressures in 2024 compared to two sacks and 33 total pressures in 2023. His five accepted penalties included two for holding.
Tom had three blown blocks in the run game, a big improvement over 10 in 2023. His blown-block rate of 0.6 percent on running plays was second-best in the NFL among all linemen.
Right tackle is a premium position. While Tom picked a bad day to have a bad day as he struggled with the speed of the Eagles’ Nolan Smith, it’d be a major risk to have him potentially fill Myers’ spot at center.
Grade: A.
Jordan Morgan
2024 salary cap: $2,579,199. Position rank: 23rd among right guards.
Jordan Morgan missed the second half of the season following shoulder surgery. His 185 snaps included 120 at right guard and 65 when he started at left guard as part of a shuffled offensive line against Detroit in Week 9.
PFF charged him with zero sacks and seven total pressures. Four came in that game against Detroit. Had he met our 300-pass-protecting-snaps threshold, he would have ranked 57th out of 65 guards in its pass-blocking efficiency.
SIS charged him with two blown blocks (2.5 percent) in the run game. His one accepted penalty was for holding.
Maybe the Packers would have beaten the Eagles if Morgan would have been the next man up. It’s not his fault that he was injured, and the grade is not indicative of what Morgan become.
Grade: D.
Andre Dillard
2024 salary cap: $1,125,000. Position rank: 50th among left tackles.
Andre Dillard, a former first-round pick, was Rasheed Walker’s backup at left tackle. Because Walker started every game, Dillard barely played with 13 snaps on offense – all at the end of blowout wins over the 49ers and Saints – and 50 on special teams in 10 games.
Because of limited position flexibility, Dillard was inactive for the playoff loss to the Eagles. His cap charge was more than Walker’s.
Grade: F.
Kadeem Telfort
2024 salary cap: $795,000. Position rank: 66th among left guards.
Telfort, a former undrafted free agent, during the regular season played 23 snaps on offense with 13 at left guard, eight at right guard, one at right tackle and one as an extra tight end. Why he wasn’t the first man off the bench when Elgton Jenkins was injured in the playoff loss is dumbfounding.
Ultimately, Telfort played the final 39 snaps against the Eagles at left guard. PFF charged him with two pressures in the pass game. His run blocking was solid.
Grade: C-minus.
Travis Glover
2024 salary cap: $837,845. Position rank: 61st among right tackles
A sixth-round pick in this year’s draft, Travis Glover played 13 garbage-time snaps on offense as a rookie – four at right guard against the 49ers and nine at right tackle against the Saints.
When Elgton Jenkins was injured early in the playoff loss to the Eagles, Glover was wholly unprepared for what was to come. He played 23 snaps at left guard before he was benched, then played the final five snaps at right guard after center Josh Myers was injured. According to Pro Football Focus, he didn’t allow any pressures but was guilty of three penalties (two for holding) and didn’t get anything done in the run game.
Is it Glover’s fault that, as a late-round rookie from Georgia State who was playing the first meaningful snaps of his career, he was overwhelmed by the Eagles’ dominant defensive front? Not really, but those were the cards he was dealt.
Grade: F.
Jacob Monk
2024 salary cap: $870,404. Position rank: 47th among centers.
The Packers used a fifth-round pick on Monk. Was he the potential heir to Josh Myers’ throne at center?
Based on this season, no way.
Monk played in 10 games but didn’t get any snaps on offense. When Myers was injured in the waning moments against the Eagles, the Packers could have finished the game with Monk at center but instead chose to move Sean Rhyan to center and re-insert Travis Glover at right tackle.
That should provide a measure of the huge leap that will be needed for Monk to potentially contend for a starting job in 2025.
Grade: F.
