Bryan Bulaga, who played under Matt LaFleur and Adam Stenavich in Green Bay during the 2019 season, has an idea for helping fix the Packers offensive line moving forward: move Elgton Jenkins back to left guard.
Bulaga provided his opinion on the situation during an appearance on ESPN’s “Wilde and Tausch” show.
“If it’s me, I’m looking to move Elgton right back next to Dave (Bakhtiari), where he’s had his most success at left guard,” Bulaga said. “Then probably move (Jon) Runyan out to right guard, then who you put at right tackle, whether it’s Yosh (Nijman) or rookie Zach Tom.”
Jenkins, who is still coming back from a torn ACL suffered last season, has started the last five games at right tackle, a relatively new position for the 2020 Pro Bowler.
Although Jenkins has been dominant at times in the run game, his struggles in the passing game – especially this past week against the New York Jets – might tempt the Packers to shuffling around the offensive line. Jenkins has allowed 12 pressures and committed three penalties in just over 300 snaps.
Coach Matt LaFleur said “everything” is on the table in terms of offensive line configuration.
In 2020, Jenkins was a Pro Bowler while playing primarily at left guard next to Bakhtiari, an All-Pro. Could a switch back to guard revive his season and immediately improve the Packers offensive line?
“That’s what I would do because I know Elgton, and I know how good of a player he is, and to see him struggle a little bit, that’s not like him,” Bulaga said.
Bulaga, who is currently a free agent, admitted switching side of the offensive line is difficult. Moving Jenkins to the left side while inserting Runyan and Nijman on the right side would require a lot of moving parts in a short timespan.
And to do so against Washington’s “nightmare” defensive front, featuring the likes of Montez Sweat and Jonathan Allen, would be a “tough task,” Bulaga said. Runyan has settled in as the starter at left guard over the last two seasons, and most of Nijman’s work has come at left tackle as the backup for Bakhtiari, so asking both to flip in the same week could be extra difficult.
But the Packers need to make a change, both to help Jenkins and remove the obvious weak link at right guard.
The current configuration isn’t working. The Packers are really over-reactionary, but now is the time. At 3-3, LaFleur’s team can’t afford to throw away any more games, and the play of the offensive line is holding back the entire offense. Change could be coming.
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