The writing is on the wall for Elgton Jenkins. The center’s salary jumps from $12.5 million to $20 million in 2026, and that’s higher than the average of every player at his position in the NFL, and his recent play doesn’t justify the investment.

Over the weekend, Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber reported that Jenkins is, in fact, expected to be released before the new league year in March.

“At age 30, coming off a season-ending injury and failing to get anywhere close to All-Pro expectations,” Huber wrote, “Jenkins is widely expected to be released before the start of the league year.

Financial repercussions

The decision to cut Elgton Jenkins is undoubtedly financially driven. If he’s released, the Packers would have $4.8 million in dead money, but $19.529 million in cap savings in 2026. His $24.329 million cap hit is unrealistic based on how he played over the past two years, but particularly last year after moving to center.

The only realistic chance for Jenkins to stay in Green Bay would be if he accepts a significant paycut.

Roster repercussions

While money makes the release almost inevitable, a potential cut will have deep repercussions on the roster because there isn’t a natural replacement at center at the moment. Sean Rhyan, who played after Jenkins got hurt in 2025, is set to hit free agency — and his performance was solid, but nothing more than that.

The Packers could opt to extend Rhyan, but that will depend on the market. Right now, the only center on the offseason 90-man roster is Jacob Monk, a former fifth-round pick who’s entering Year 3 in the NFL but has barely played.

Theoretically, Green Bay could move right tackle Zach Tom to center, but that doesn’t make sense for several reasons — he’s paid like a tackle, RT is a more valuable position than center, and moving him would just create another issue that’s probably harder to solve.

Releasing Elgton Jenkins makes sense, but general manager Brian Gutekunst will have a lot of work to do to solve an issue he’s had a lot of trouble finding a definitive solution since Corey Linsley left the team in free agency back in 2021.