Expect Competition for Week 1 Starting RT Opening

Last season, in particular, we saw how important depth along the offensive line can be. Throughout the course of the season, the Green Bay Packers utilized seven different offensive line configurations as they dealt with injuries.

However, at this point in the offseason, there certainly doesn’t appear to be that same level of depth–especially at offensive tackle. Although David Bakhtiari will return, we don’t know how much time Elgton Jenkins will miss. Meanwhile, players like Cole Van Lanen and Royce Newman — former college tackles — are going to be better suited at guard.

So given the current makeup of the offensive tackle position for the Green Bay Packers, Yosh Nijman is the assumed Week 1 starter at right tackle. However, when meeting with reporters last week, both offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich and offensive line coach Luke Butkus echoed similar sentiments, saying that Nijman will “get a shot” at right tackle, but it is not set in stone that he will be the Week 1 starter.

Prior to last season, we didn’t know much about Nijman or where he was at in his development. We knew he had the physical tools, but from the outside looking in, that was about all we knew. But due to injuries, he would get an opportunity, and he held up well for the most part–with some assistance along the way.

With Nijman at left tackle and other young players scattered across the offensive line, the Green Bay passing game relied heavily on quick passes to get the ball out of Aaron Rodgers’ hands. Tight ends also played an important role in chipping as a way to help Nijman as well. As a whole, the offensive line wasn’t as dominant as they were in 2020–although that should have been expected with all of the injuries and movement that took place. 

According to PFF, Nijman allowed three sacks and 20 pressures in 356 pass-blocking snaps last season. In terms of pass-blocking efficiency, Nijman ranked 44th out of 88 eligible tackles. Again, all things considered, he held up well–the Packers did still manage to win 13 games afterall.

However, whether the decision was right or wrong, it is telling that the coaching staff opted to start Billy Turner at left tackle against San Francisco, which was his first game back from injury. Perhaps the coaching staff just isn’t as high on Nijman as many in the fan base are. 

In order to create that needed competition for Nijman at right tackle, the Packers are going to have to go outside of the organization to find it. In that same  interview with reporters, Stenavich would mention that Green Bay still needs to add a “guy or two” this offseason.

The depth at one of the game’s most important positions may be quite thin right now, with Bakhtiari and Nijman as the only healthy options on the roster, but that can change quickly. If the Packers spend one of the seven picks that they have within the first four rounds on a tackle and also sign a Dennis Kelly or Rick Wagner-like veteran in free agency, the offensive tackle depth all of a sudden goes from thin to fairly stout–especially once Jenkins returns. 

This will also create some healthy competition for Nijman as well, who hasn’t played right tackle since his final year at Virginia Tech. And while that move from the left side to the right — or vice versa — can be overlooked, as Turner has told us in the past, it isn’t that easy:

“This is something that I heard Packers legend Josh Sitton say a few years ago in Miami, and that is, ‘It’s like wiping your (butt) with your opposite hand.’ And if you’ve ever tried that, I’m sure you know,” Turner said via Packers.com. “So, being able to, in the middle of a game, go from one side to the other, it’s not necessarily the physical part. You know you’re capable of physically doing those actions, those techniques that you’ve practiced for so long.

“It’s really just the mental aspect to tell yourself, ‘OK, instead of pushing with this leg I have to push with the opposite. Instead of throwing this hand first, I have to use this hand.’ It’s the weight distribution and the mentality when you’re in sync during a game, you kind of get in the zone and you just get in this mood of doing everything in the right way. And it’s just kind of a flow. It’s hard to explain.”

You have to believe that Nijman has as good of a shot as anyone to win that starting right tackle job out of training camp, but it’s important to remember that he will have to earn it and it won’t be handed to him. And in order to earn it, the Packers are going to have to add to the position, whether that be in free agency, the draft, or both.

If Nijman, or whoever ends up as the right tackle, can provide the Packers with a reliable presence at the position, it will give Green Bay the option to keep Jenkins inside once he returns, which will then provide a big boost to the interior offensive line unit as well.

“I think [competing] is a very important thing for him (Nijman),” Stenavich said via Packer Report. “This offseason is just to take that next step forward to see if we can count on him to be a reliable starter.”