Jordan Morgan will probably start at left tackle for the Green Bay Packers next season.
Rasheed Walker, who started 52 games at left tackle the last three years in the regular season and playoffs, is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent. The 2022 seventh-round pick is a serviceable starting left tackle in the NFL, and those don’t grow on trees. That’s why Walker’s next contract projects around $20.3 million per year, according to Spotrac, a number the Packers appear unlikely to entertain.
Morgan is Green Bay’s 2024 first-round pick who played left tackle in college at Arizona. He said shortly after arriving in Green Bay that he wanted to prove he could be an NFL left tackle. Through his first two regular seasons and playoff appearances, however, Morgan has only played left tackle in Week 18 this past season (51 snaps), when the Packers rested starters. Instead, he’s played 256 offensive snaps at left guard, 478 at right guard and 219 at right tackle, according to Pro Football Focus.
Morgan impressed at left tackle last preseason while Walker dealt with a groin injury, but the incumbent kept his job once healthy before the season started. After Morgan spent his first two seasons playing four different positions, the Packers will work him strictly at left tackle this offseason in preparation for next season, right? Not so fast.
“I think it would be ideal,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said last week, while adding, “I think it’s unrealistic. I think we’ll probably have to cross-train all these guys. I do sometimes think if you can keep a guy on a side, left or right, it’s helpful for him a little bit. But his versatility certainly has helped us, and it was one of the reasons that drew us to him in the draft, and certainly his ability to play all those spots has been a benefit to us.”
The Packers believe in their reserve offensive linemen being able to play at least three positions, but Morgan is unlikely to be a reserve next season. He still could practice at multiple spots in case of emergency, but it might be wise to work him solely at left tackle if he hasn’t protected quarterback Jordan Love’s blind side yet. Love didn’t play last preseason, or in Week 18, so Morgan’s sparse in-game reps at left tackle have come with others behind him.
The Packers planned for Morgan to start at right guard in each of the last two seasons — that was the position at which they figured he’d have the best chance to start as a rookie — but Morgan ended up splitting time as a rookie with Sean Rhyan and getting benched as a second-year player for rookie Anthony Belton. Morgan started at right tackle against the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens late this past season after Zach Tom’s knee injury, and head coach Matt LaFleur said of Morgan after those games, “He’s playing consistent football. I thought it’s at a winning level. He definitely looks more comfortable on the outside. Hopefully, we can build upon that.”
But left tackle is different from right, where Tom figures to start again next season after rehabbing his surgically repaired, partially torn patellar tendon. Belton figures to start again at right guard and Aaron Banks at left guard, while Rhyan’s impending free agency leaves a question at center, though Morgan isn’t a candidate to play there. That leaves Morgan’s most likely starting spot — yes, he needs to start next season as a first-round pick in his third year, or else entirely different conversations will be had — as left tackle. It could very well be his best position, but the only way to know for sure if Morgan can hold up at his college spot in NFL games that matter for a consistent stretch is to watch him try.
If the Packers don’t think Morgan playing left tackle is part of their best five, whether that means he starts elsewhere or doesn’t start at all, who might be in contention for that spot? Would they switch their best offensive lineman, Tom, to left tackle? He seems entrenched at right tackle. Can Belton play left tackle? He did so as a rookie but only for six offensive snaps, and he was North Carolina State’s starting left tackle for three seasons. The latter scenario seems more likely, but it’s also possible the Packers want him to pick up where he left off at right guard and try their first-round investment at the offensive line’s most important position. What about a free-agent left tackle? Walker is the top-rated free-agent offensive tackle, according to ESPN’s top 50 free agents, so it would make little sense to spend money in free agency at the position if it’s not on him.
“Certainly he’s going to get a lot of opportunity,” Gutekunst said of Morgan. “I thought he played really well in the preseason at that spot — probably did enough to win that job — but then we had some injuries and had to do what was best for the team. So we’ll kind of see how it goes, but I think he’s excited, probably, to hunker down in one spot, as well, but that’s not always the case in the National Football League.”
Gutekunst’s comment about Morgan not starting at left tackle in Week 1 because of injuries doesn’t quite make sense since there were no injuries to begin the season that would’ve kept that from happening, with Morgan or elsewhere on the line. A more plausible explanation, which Gutekunst would never admit publicly, is that Walker and Morgan were close in performance, but the Packers needed Walker to play and play well for compensatory pick purposes.
Whatever the reason for Morgan not playing any meaningful snaps on Love’s blind side so far in his career is, he’ll need to play catch-up over the next seven months to ensure the Packers’ franchise quarterback remains upright. Love is one of the best quarterbacks in the league when he has time. For Morgan to adequately fill Walker’s shoes, it would behoove the Packers to keep him there for sufficient training before getting thrown into the fire.