Competition, along with depth, will need to be added to the guard position this offseason by the Green Bay Packers. If Brian Gutekunst chooses to do so through free agency, 11 guards made PFF’s top 150 free agents list.
As the roster currently sits, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan, and Royce Newman are the only guards that the Packers have. It’s also possible that Newman ends up as a salary cap casualty in the coming weeks, a move that would save roughly $3 million in cap space for the Packers.
Regardless of whether the Packers keep Newman or not, adding to the guard position will be a must. At the bare minimum, the Packers need bodies to get through training camp and to build out the 53-man roster with. But on top of that, it was competition that helped turn around the play of the offensive line unit last season–and I’m not sure Newman can be counted on to provide that.
Through the first half of 2023, contributing to Jordan Love’s and the offense’s struggles was inconsistent offensive line play. However, in Week 9, when the Packers began a rotation at left tackle, with Rasheed Walker and Yosh Nijman, and at right guard with Jon Runyan and Rhyan, things began to turn around.
By the playoffs, the unit as a whole was playing its best football and collectively was operating as one of the best offensive line groups in the NFL. Running lanes were consistently opening up while Love had time in the pocket despite defenses blitzing the Packers quite heavily. If you ask Matt LaFleur, Adam Stenavich, or Luke Butkus, it was that competition that provided the spark and helped elevate the play of the offensive line.
We know that Jenkins will be the starting left guard, and as of now, Rhyan will enter training camp as the favorite to start at right guard, but he isn’t going to be handed that starting role. Rhyan is going to have to earn it over the summer.
Where Rhyan was at his best was as a run-blocker, bringing some added size and strength to the offensive line and generating real push. To put it simply, he’s a people mover, an element that this Packers’ offensive line doesn’t have a ton of.
With that said, overall consistency and holding up better in pass protection are two areas where Rhyan has to improve if he is going to be a regular starter at the position. Out of 84 guards, Rhyan ranked 52nd in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric, allowing eight pressures in just 128 pass-blocking snaps.
“He’s still got a ways to go,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich late in the season. “I like what I’ve seen from him from a physicality standpoint. He does a good job in the run game at the point of attack. But he still has a ways to go in pass protection would be his biggest thing moving forward.
“If he wants to be a staple guard of this league, you obviously have to excel in this realm. So that’s one thing we are going to focus on with as we move forward just to elevate that part of his game.”
With five selections in the top 100 of this year’s draft, the Packers will have options when it comes to bolstering their guard depth and providing Rhyan with the competition. But for a team with Super Bowl aspirations in 2024, if Gutekunst wants to add some experience to that position group, he could turn to free agency.
From a salary cap perspective, the Packers will have more flexibility this offseason, but there is still work to be done to be cap solvent and by no means do I expect Green Bay to go on a spending spree. However, as Gutekunst mentioned in his season-ending press conference, if the right impact player is available, the Packers do have the means to make an addition.
For a closer look at the Packers’ salary cap situation, click here.
If Gutekunst does decide to explore free agency when it comes to addressing the need at guard, below you will find the 11 players that made PFF’s top 150 free agents list, along with contract projections for a few of them from Spotrac.
23. Kevin Dotson ($16.4M per year)
27. Robert Hunt ($11.8M per year)
32. Kevin Zeitler
65. Dalton Risner
67. Ezra Cleveland ($13.3M per year)
84. Damien Lewis ($7.4M per year)
92. Jon Runyan
94. Jonah Jackson
110. John Simpson
122. Graham Glasgow
123. Greg Van Roten
