Who's ready for some offensive line discourse?!?!
In perhaps the most thrilling development of the Packers' season so far, there's a fun battle brewing at guard in Green Bay. It's the kind of controversy that makes you forget about Aaron Rodgers and Robert Saleh entirely.
It's the kind of controversy that makes you look up guard stats and pretend like you have strong opinions about them.
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Through the first half of the season, Packers fans have quietly ignored the fact that Jordan Morgan, who was Green Bay's 2024 first-round pick, can't quite win the job.
The Morgan pick was widely applauded by everyone in the NFL Draft community, and he came to Green Bay ranked as The Athletic's 29th-best prospect in last year's class.
And yet, Morgan can't seem to take the job away from third-year vet Sean Rhyan, who's played almost 300 more snaps at right guard this year. Morgan had previously rotated with Rhyan. In Week 6, he played 38 snaps to Rhyan's 40. That changed last week, with Morgan only playing 13 snaps and Rhyan getting 45.
You wouldn't normally think we're quite at panic levels yet, but Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich wasn't subtle about how things have gone at RG this year. It almost makes you panic just a little, as a treat.
Packers OC doesn't hold back on how Jordan Morgan is playing this year
Adam Stenavich on Sean Rhyan/Jordan Morgan: "I think Sean definitely is playing better than him right now."
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) October 24, 2024
He's not wrong. According to Pro Football Focus, Rhyan currently ranks as the 38th-best right guard in football. It's not great, but it's certainly better than Morgan, who hasn't played enough snaps to be ranked yet but has a much worse overall grade. Through the first half of his rookie season, both of PFF's run and pass block grades for Morgan are below 60 (that's bad). Rhyan, on the other hand, has a poor run block grade (58.9) but has been strong in pass protection (70.6).
And really, everyone besides Zach Tom has been somewhat underwhelming so far. It's admittedly not a great look that someone who came to the Packers so highly-regarded can't beat out a third-round pick from two years ago, but it's not like he didn't get the chance to.
The good news for Morgan is that it's literally been seven games, and there will almost certainly still be opportunities for him at RG, or elsewhere, this season. If nothing else, Morgan's inability to win the starting job is a testament to Rhyan, who's already looked much better than at any point during his last two seasons. Having too many talented offensive linemen at one time has never hurt.