GREEN BAY — Jordan Morgan did not hold back Wednesday. 

Not on how much it means to him to be the Green Bay Packers starting left tackle.

Not on how difficult it was for him, both physically and mentally, to play out of position the past two years.

And not in his self-assessment of his individual performance.

For Morgan, to say his first two NFL seasons didn’t go according to plan would be an understatement. From the moment he set foot in the locker room after the Packers selected him in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, he’d repeatedly said that he wanted to play left tackle — the position where he’d spent his entire football life.

Instead, he played just about every offensive line position except left tackle. And by his own admission, he did not do it well.

“I got in here expecting myself to play left tackle. But, like I’ve said a lot of times before, I’m a team player. Wherever they needed me to be and to play, I’m going to try to do my best at it,” Morgan said between organized team activity practices on Wednesday.

“Playing those other positions for the first time in my life — and I’ve got to play at a professional level — it’s just … I mean, when you’re not good at it, it’s hard on you mentally, obviously. And when you want to be good and you want to be a perfectionist, it’s really hard.

“So, those first two years, it was a struggle for me — for sure.”

After playing exclusively at left tackle both at Marana High School in Tucson, Ariz., and at the University of Arizona, the 6-foot-5, 311-pound Morgan played right guard and left guard in his six games of regular-season action as a rookie in 2024 before a shoulder injury that dated back to training camp landed him on season-ending injured reserve.

Last season, Morgan played in all 17 of the Packers’ regular-season games, starting 12 — seven at right guard, two at left guard, two at right tackle and one at left tackle. And that one start at left tackle came in the meaningless regular-season finale at Minnesota, where only a few of the Packers’ front-line players saw action.

As a result, of the 24-year-old Morgan’s 1,035 career regular-season NFL snaps, just 51 have come at the position he’d prefer to play.

“You go out there and you just get beat [repeatedly],” Morgan said. “I mean, these guys out here, they’re good. I came in here, I had to play against [three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle] Kenny Clark [in training camp].

“It’s like, ‘OK, I’m playing left guard, right guard against Kenny Clark. I’ve never played this position before against a vet that’s going to probably embarrass me every day.’ So, I mean, it’s character development. At the end of the day, you just go out there and just try to do the best you can do, and just grow from that.”

His efforts did not go unnoticed or unappreciated — “Quite frankly, his first couple years in the league, we’ve had to move him around and do what’s best for the team [which was] probably not what was best for him,” general manager Brian Gutekunst acknowledged during the offseason — but now, with 50-game left-tackle starter Rasheed Walker leaving in free agency, Morgan is finally feeling like he’s where he belongs.

“I’m excited about him being over there,” said Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, a former offensive line coach. “I thought last year he showed flashes of being able to be a good left tackle in this league when we had him out there, so I’m excited to get him out there [and] just get him comfortable playing on the edge, protecting the blindside.”

Stenavich isn’t the only one who likes Morgan’s potential.

Last month, Pro Football Hall of Fame left tackle (and University of Wisconsin legend) Joe Thomas visited Lambeau Field during Phase II of the Packers’ offseason program and spent time with Morgan, critiquing his film and watching him practice.

He came away impressed by Morgan’s footwork, hand placement and overall technique in practice and struggled to find too many flaws in the film.

“He’s a great athlete. He’s got exceptional footwork. He’s powerful,” said Thomas, who was a 10-time All-Pro and eight-time Pro Bowler in 11 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. 

“I mean, I was sitting there waiting to give him a bunch of tips about things that I thought he could do a better job of [while] we watched film that morning, and I said to him, ‘Honestly, buddy, there’s a couple little things that I would do differently if it was me, but that’s more specific to just how I played, and it’s not like it’s better or worse than what you’re doing.’

“We talked about a few things in general, but overall, I really was impressed with how he moved the fastidiousness with which he approached his craft.”

Asked on Wednesday what it meant to him to get such positive feedback from Thomas, Morgan replied, “I mean, that’s a Hall of Famer, right there. He sees that I’m intentional with my work, and I’m trying to be the best player that I can be for myself and for my teammates. So, it feels really good to be noticed by a Hall of Famer like that.”

For his part, Morgan said it hasn’t been overly difficult to reacclimate himself to the left tackle position, acknowledging there were not-so-great reps at the start of OTAs but that he feels at home again.

“It does take a little bit when you’ve been away from it for so long,” said Morgan, adding that he’s focused on various technical aspects of left tackle, particularly setting a low base while improving his strength, agility and lateral movement. “You’re rusty for a little bit, and then you knock the rust off, and you just keep going and going and going, and every day you just keep building and building. And it’s just second nature to me now.”

And how does that feel?

“It feels good. It feels really good,” Morgan said with a smile. “I finally get the spot that I like, that they know I’m good at, and that they drafted me at.”

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