Tuesday Cheese Curds: Elgton Jenkins takes over at center

Tuesday Cheese Curds: Elgton Jenkins takes over at center
Acme Packing Company Acme Packing Company

The long-time Packers lineman is ready to man a new spot, which is technically an old spot.

The Packers spent most of Josh Myers’ career in Green Bay publicly propping up the former second round pick. Offensive line coach and then Adam Stenavich repeatedly defended Myers’ performance on the field, as did Matt LaFleur.

Myers never really lived up to the high praise, though, and his departure from Green Bay was telling. If the Packers were really so high on Myers, why weren’t they interested in matching the paltry one-year $3.5 million contract the Jets offered him?

Instead, they now turn to Elgton Jenkins at center. He’s played the spot before, even starting a game there in 2024, but hasn’t been a multi-game starter at the spot since 2020. Why think that now is the time to make the move?

Part of it has to do with options elsewhere. The Packers have options at guard — free agent signing Aaron Banks on the left side, and 2024 starter Sean Rhyan, 2025 draft pick Anthony Belton, and 2024 draft pick Jordan Morgan on the right — that they simply don’t have at center.

And then there’s the fact that Jenkins has been excellent pretty much wherever he’s played. The Packers have needed him to solve problems at both tackle and guard spots in his career, and it seems appropriate that now that they’ve moved on from Myers, they’d give Jenkins the first look as his replacement.

If nothing else, the Packers probably won’t have to do the same public relations campaign for Jenkins as they did for Myers.

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