GREEN BAY \u2014 From all appearances, Elgton Jenkins isn\u2019t upset that the Green Bay Packers gave ex-San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Aaron Banks a whopping $77 million, four-year contract \u2014 including $27 million in a guaranteed signing bonus.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And by all accounts, Jenkins isn\u2019t even upset that they gave Banks his old job \u2014 left guard, where Jenkins has twice been a Pro Bowl pick (2020, 2022) \u2014 and asked him to move to center to accommodate his new teammate.<\/p>\n
Instead, according to multiple sources, the reason Jenkins skipped all of the voluntary sessions of the offseason program \u2014 and reported for the mandatory minicamp without actually participating to avoid being fined \u2014 is that he\u2019d like some of the remaining $30.2 million left on his contract to be guaranteed, giving him a measure of security amid his position switch and with his 30th birthday arriving the day after Christmas.<\/p>\n
Considering Jenkins\u2019 shift to center is the linchpin of the Packers\u2019 reconfiguration of their offensive line \u2014 and the fact that general manager Brian Gutekunst himself said that the team believes Jenkins has the ability to be an \u201cAll-Pro\u201d center \u2014 Jenkins isn\u2019t out of line to want that.<\/p>\n
With a base salary of $11.7 million this year and $18.5 million in 2026 \u2014 and no guarantees left in his deal \u2014 there\u2019s nothing keeping the Packers from dumping him after the 2025 season and after he hits the not-so-magical age of 30.<\/p>\n
As camp approaches, Jenkins is the second-oldest scrimmage player on the roster, behind only defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who\u2019ll turn 30 on Oct. 4. The only players on the roster who\u2019ve already celebrated their 30th birthdays are 33-year-old kicker Brandon McManus and 30-year-old long-snapper Matt Orzech.<\/p>\n
Whether Jenkins will suit up for the first practice on July 23 without his contract being adjusted is unclear. He spoke with head coach Matt LaFleur while watching practice during the minicamp and LaFleur emerged from the conversation with optimism.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince he\u2019s been back here, the communication\u2019s been great between him and I. I expect him to be ready to go when we come back,\u201d LaFleur said at the time. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that I really respect, how he works. The product obviously that he\u2019s put out there from an individual standpoint has been pretty impressive. He\u2019s fought through some adversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s going to be a big part of this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
So is Banks, which is why getting them settled in next to each other \u2014 and Banks assimilating to the rest of the group \u2014 is vital. Although Banks played in a similar system with the 49ers, the Packers\u2019 blocking scheme has evolved during LaFleur\u2019s first six seasons, and running back Josh Jacobs\u2019 preference for the Duo scheme over the Outside Zone scheme is an additional wrinkle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to get to block for him. He’s a really good back,\u201d Banks said. \u201cI think he makes our jobs easier and, vice-versa, we make his job easier. It’s really about working together and all being on the same page, trusting him to set up our blocks and trusting him to, when it comes down to it, make a guy miss, he\u2019s going to make a guy miss and he\u2019ll score. So, it\u2019s a good balance between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n
It’s worth noting that a closer look at Banks\u2019 deal shows a contract that the Packers could get out of after the 2025 season if for some unexpected reason Banks flops.<\/p>\n
According to Spotrac<\/a>, his 2026 base salary is $7.7 million, and he\u2019s also due a $9.5 million roster bonus on the third day of the league year.<\/p>\n If the Packers were to decide he wasn\u2019t a good fit, they\u2019d be out roughly $29 million in 2025 pay but, oddly enough, his dead cap charge ($20 million) would be less than his scheduled 2026 cap charge ($24.85 million).<\/p>\n Banks, of course, isn\u2019t expecting that to happen. He believes the Packers are a perfect fit for him and his skill set, and Green Bay reminds him of his college days at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to school in South Bend, Indiana, so it’s not much different. Very similar there,\u201d Banks said. \u201cSo, not a huge change for me. I’m not really a guy that’s out and about and partying and stuff, anyway. I have a family, so I like to come in, play football, and I like to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n About our \u201cMost Important Packers of 2025\u201d Series:\u00a0\u00a0When the Packers kick off their seventh training camp under head coach Matt LaFleur on July 23, they\u2019ll do so with a host of players facing pivotal seasons. LaFleur clearly believes he has ample talent to be a Super Bowl contender \u2014 even if he didn\u2019t want to say so as the offseason program came to a close \u2014 but turning that belief into reality will require many of those players to produce at higher levels than they have in the past. This series, which began in 2010 on ESPNWisconsin.com<\/a>, examines each of those players and how the team\u2019s success hinges on their contributions. The list is compiled with input from team observers, former players and NFL sources.<\/p>\n \u200bCOPYRIGHT 2025 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREEN BAY \u2014 From all appearances, Elgton Jenkins isn\u2019t upset that the Green Bay Packers gave ex-San Francisco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[3504,15095,2945,15906,7,41,345,2514,2513,4129,5394,3031,43389,122,6,428,505],"class_list":{"0":"post-207796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-aaron-banks","9":"tag-brandon-mcmanus","10":"tag-brian-gutekunst","11":"tag-elgton-jenkins","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-green-bay","14":"tag-green-bay-packers","15":"tag-greenbay","16":"tag-greenbaypackers","17":"tag-josh-jacobs","18":"tag-kenny-clark","19":"tag-matt-lafleur","20":"tag-matt-orzech","21":"tag-national-football-league","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-packers","24":"tag-super-bowl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114854733052285078","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}