From Game-Changer to Question Mark: How One Position Shift Sparked the Packers’ Offensive Freefall.QQ
Back in Week 3, after the Packers‘ disastrous loss on the road to the Browns, two-time Pro Bowl lineman Elgton Jenkins was pretty brutal in his self-assessment. The offensive line was beat up, generally speaking, with injuries to Aaron Banks and Zach Tom, and certainly, there is no shame in being outdone by a defensive front as stout as that of Cleveland.
But Jenkins had rated a season-low Pro Football Focus grade of 33.6 that week, and said of his performance, “I feel like I’m playing like (expletive), honestly. I can play way better.”
In the month-and-a-half that has followed, it’s debatable whether Jenkins has, actually, played all that much better. Jenkins has been with the Packers since 2019–he was a second-round pick that year–and has gradually moved inside, from tackle to guard and now, to center in 2025, for the first time in his career.
And around the team, there is a bubbling sense that maybe moving him to the middle of the line–a move done to facilitate the signing of Banks–was a mistake.
Packers Made the Switch on Elgton Jenkins This Offseason
In fact, veteran Packers writer Pete Dougherty of PackersNews.com called the move something more than a mistake by the team. He called the Jenkins-at-center venture a “bust,” and wondered if Jenkins was not right to be lukewarm on making the move.
Wrote Dougherty: “I thought Jenkins would be really good. He’d played there his last two seasons in college, and whenever the Packers played him there because of injuries he looked promising. But he has been an average center.”
Elgton Jenkins a ‘Bust’ at Center
Jenkins, according to PFF, has not been great at center, logging a grade of 62.1, which is 21st out of 35 at the position. And there could be an adjustment period for a guy still getting accustomed to making the calls at the line.
But Dougherty was harsh in summing up the move: “Maybe his wariness of moving to center is showing up in his play. Maybe age and injury are showing (he turns 30 in December, had an ACL tear earlier in his career and a back injury in camp and early this season. The move so far has been a bust.”
Packers Run Game Struggling
At some point, the Packers simply need to improve their run blocking, which will take a raising of the game from all the team’s blockers. The Packers were among the best teams in the NFL rushing the ball last season, and finished with 100-plus yards on the ground in 16 of 18 games, including the playoffs (they had 99 yards in one other game).
With 2,496 yards rushing, the team was fifth in the NFL last year. They’re 16th with 903 yards rushing this season, and have come in with fewer than 100 yards rushing four times already.
There’s no doubt that falls to the offensive line, which is allowing far too much contact on running back Josh Jacobs far too early in plays.
The tackles–Rasheed Walker and Tom–have been doing a good job blocking for the run. But the interior linemen have struggled, in part because of Jenkins and in part because the Packers have had to shuffle linemen because of injuries.
“It’s definitely frustrating but, at the end of the day, I can only control what I can control and I can only bring what I do,” Jacobs said . “I can only trust the guys that they’re going to do what they’re supposed to do. Eventually things are going to hit. We still feel it. We be close on a lot of things. It might be one mental error here or one mental error there or whatever. We just need to be locked in and be focused on what we need to do.”
