Acme Packing Company
Signing Banks bolstered the offensive line, but raises questions elsewhere.
A little over a week ago, the Green Bay Packers signed guard Aaron Banks to bolster their offensive line heading into 2025.
Banks is a big, burly, bruiser, and at 325 pounds. He gives the Packers another powerful blocker to throw into their increasingly gap- and inside zone-oriented running scheme — at least in theory. We’re a long way from seeing it on the field.
But in addition to what he offers as a blocker, Banks also creates a ripple effect across the rest of the offensive line. And how that shakes out could have a bigger effect on the Packers than anything Banks does as a blocker.
For starters, Banks’ arrival reportedly will shift Elgton Jenkins to center. This isn’t necessarily a surprise; Jenkins was considered a center when he was drafted and has played there before (including, it should be mentioned, a pretty disastrous start at center last season when Josh Myers went down for a game). Even if the Packers wrote incentives into Jenkins’ last contract extension related to him getting season-ending honors at tackle in addition to guard, there’s always been a good chance that center was where Jenkins was going to end up in Green Bay. there’s plenty of precedent for it.
But is it a good idea? Run blocking has never been Jenkins’ forte; he’s much more a finesse and athleticism blocker than a road-grading brute. But he’s been elite as a pass protector the last two seasons. In both 2023 and 2024, Pro Football Focus graded Jenkins as a top-three pass blocking guard (among players who played at least 500 snaps). Banks has never ranked above 35th as a pass blocker in the same pool of players. For that matter, he’s never ranked better than 24th as a run blocker, either. The Packers’ goal is always to get their best five linemen on the field, and that remains true here, but it does appear that there are some tradeoffs already to moving Jenkins.
Beyond that, Banks muddies the water at two other spots as well, starting with right guard. The Packers probably needed another lineman this season, regardless, but they could have achieved the same result they did by signing Banks with players who were already in-house. With Josh Myers down last season, the Packers started Sean Rhyan at left guard and 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan at right guard. Obviously, that lineup was still available to them prior to signing Banks, but they didn’t go that route.
Maybe there are good reasons; it’s certainly possible that Jordan Morgan just can’t play. But now they’ve got a logjam at right guard and possibly left tackle. Brian Gutekunst indicated earlier this offseason the plan is to keep Jordan Morgan inside for now, putting him into another competition with Sean Rhyan. Morgan appeared to be an early winner of that competition last year before shoulder injuries essentially ruined his season. Now, he’ll have to start...
