Who will start on the Packers' offensive line in 2024?

The turnover isn’t as extreme as the safety room, but the Packers will feature a new-look offensive line in 2024.

Fresh off the departure of David Bakhtiari and with potential competition at left tackle, center, and right guard, the Packers could open the season with as many as three different starters from their 2023 Week 1 lineup. Depending what they do with Zach Tom, there could be more.

There’s a lot up in the air right now, but I think we have every reason to believe the Packers will have a solid offensive line in 2024. The talent is there, even if it’s still a bit shallow on the interior. There will be no shortage of options, though, as the Packers attempt to put their best five guys out there.

I don’t know, however, how it all fits together, but in an effort to figure that out, I’m going to talk (write?) through a few different alignments and see how we feel about them. Each of these five lists the players from left tackle to right tackle in order. 

The actual best five — Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jordan Morgan, Zach Tom

I think these are the best five linemen on the Packers right now, and aligning them this way gets them all on the field together. The Packers seem to prefer Morgan at tackle, which makes sense; that’s what he did at Arizona and he certainly has the athleticism to get the job done on the edge, even if length is a bit of an issue. But I think he’s a better fit inside than Walker, and I think Walker is better at tackle than, say, Sean Rhyan is at guard. This is probably my preferred lineup right now.

Most likely — Jordan Morgan, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Sean Rhyan, Zach Tom

Even if putting Morgan at guard gets the actual best five linemen on the field, the Packers want him at tackle. This also makes sense: they spent a premium pick on him, so put him at the premium position. That’s tackle, and I think in a position battle Morgan beats Walker, if only because of the motivated reasoning involved in getting a rookie you paid a heavy price for on the field. 

That means the Packers need a right guard, and I’d guess that means Sean Rhyan gets a crack there. He finished as one of the Packers’ two options at right guard, though not their primary option, it should be noted. But if a depth chart came out today, he’d almost certainly be at the top at right guard, and I think the Packers could do worse there.

Zach Tom goes to guard — Jordan Morgan, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Zach Tom, Rasheed Walker

What if you didn’t want Sean Rhyan at guard, though? Well, then you put Zach Tom there. Tom has played guard before, logging 14 snaps as a right guard in 2022 in addition to another 96 at left guard, so this isn’t exactly a foreign position for him, and I think he could thrive inside. I also like this alignment because it gets the best five linemen on the field, same as in the very first proposal.

Zach Tom goes to center — Jordan Morgan, Elgton Jenkins, Zach Tom, Sean Rhyan, Rasheed Walker

But guard isn’t the only possibility for Tom. He could also end up at center, as many, myself included, have wondered about this offseason.

I don’t think this is likely, in part because I think it weakens the more important position of right tackle and in part because, as Tom Silverstein outlines here, the Packers seem really high on Josh Myers. If there’s a change at center, it probably won’t happen until 2025.

This alignment also means Sean Rhyan is on the field as well, potentially opening the door for a fairly weak right side. Rasheed Walker has played right tackle a bit, but only in the preseason. 

Rookie heavy — Jordan Morgan, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jacob Monk, Zach Tom

Finally, there’s one last configuration I don’t think we can count out. If Jordan Morgan beats Rasheed Walker for the left tackle job and the Packers don’t want to move Zach Tom, there’s one more competition we should watch: right guard. If Sean Rhyan loses to anybody, I’d bet on Jacob Monk. Curious water allergy notwithstanding, I think Monk is going to be a real player inside and will be a key depth piece at both guard spots and center this season. I think there’s a real chance he takes the job over Sean Rhyan in an open competition.

Overall, I don’t think I’d have a real problem with any of these five alignments. Putting Zach Tom at center brings me the most questions, but given what we’ve seen from the Packers during the Matt LaFleur era, even strange groupings can be effective. They certainly have enough versatile athletes to make nearly any combination work, and whatever they put on the field this fall should be very, very interesting.