The Green Bay Packers made a move at right guard in the second half of their win over the Minnesota Vikings that should pay dividends for the rest of this season.

Matt Lafleur wants to run a ball-control, run-heavy offense with a side of play-action. He especially wants to do that right now because his star quarterback, Jordan Love, is a bit banged up. Love is dealing with a left (non-throwing) shoulder injury, so the fewer hits he can take over these next six games, the better.

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That makes Green Bay’s offensive line vital over this final stretch of games, and while they have been good in 2025, they haven’t been consistent. You can blame injuries for some of that. Speaking of, Elgton Jenkins was lost for the season a few weeks ago, but you may also be tempted to blame the decision to move him from left guard (where he was a Pro Bowler) to center (where he was not so much).

The Packers also haven’t gotten what they hoped for out of former No. 25 overall pick Jordan Morgan, who they have been playing at right guard despite the fact that he really profiles as more of a tackle (the position he played at Arizona).

Morgan just isn’t your typical road-grader inside. He’s more of a finesse pass blocker with quick feet and good athleticism, to the extent that you can call a 6-foot-5, 311-pound offensive lineman finesse.

That’s why the move to take out Morgan and replace him with rookie Anthony Belton in the second half of the win over the Vikings was such an interesting one.

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Belton, a massive 6-foot-6, 336 pound second round pick, noticeably impacted the movement on the right side of the Packers offensive line. When you think road-grader built for winters in Wisconsin, Belton is that type of player.

He played well enough to earn a shout out from his head coach.

“I just think it’s his style of play. He’s a mauler and he does a great job. I love the way he plays the game,” LaFleur said after the game, per Rob Reischel of Forbes. “Certainly, that’s going to be, we’ve got to look at the tape and see how it fared for us. But he’s done a great job.”

The Packers haven’t been terrible running the ball, but considering the fact that they’ve got a great one-two punch in the backfield with All-Pro Josh Jacobs and third-year back Emanuel Wilson, they haven’t been great either.

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As it stands, they’re 15th in the NFL, rushing for 116.5 yards per game. That number was boosted by Wilson’s 107 yards against the Vikings. Meanwhile, Jacobs hasn’t rushed for 100 yards in a game yet this season (he’s averaging 64.8 yards per game) and his yards per rush has dropped from 4.4 in 2024 to 3.8 this season.

Jacobs fights for every yard he can get (as does Wilson, for that matter) so that the drop in production can be directly attributed to the offensive line.

Perhaps starting Belton at right guard moving forward can help the Packers in that regard. At the very least, the team has been prepping him for this moment. Now they just need to let him loose and see what he can do.

“I know the past couple weeks I have been getting those reps at guard, so I was expecting to be in the inside,” Belton said. “Today was the day. I had the opportunity. I just wanted to put my best foot forward to try to put good stuff on tape.”