Green Bay Packers interior offensive lineman Sean Rhyan saw his first NFL snaps against the Los Angeles Rams and played quite well. Could there be more opportunities for him in the near future?
Rhyan played 15 snaps in total against the Rams. Eight came at the end in place of Elgton Jenkins at left guard with the game out of reach, but the first seven came early on with Jon Runyan Jr. on the sidelines being evaluated for an injury.
According to PFF, Rhyan was on the field for just two pass-blocking snaps and didn’t give up a pressure, but where he really stood out was as a run-blocker. For an offensive line unit as a whole that has struggled to get the run game going this season, Rhyan’s physical style of play provided this unit with a change of pace.
He’s a people mover, and when on the field, Green Bay moved the ball via the run game with relative ease. It’s a small sample size, of course, but out of 58 eligible guards in Week 9, Rhyan’s run-blocking grade from PFF ranked 20th overall. Pack-A-Day Podcast host Andy Herman, who grades every play for every player, had Rhyan with a positive final grade as well.
“I was really proud of how he stepped in there,” said Matt LaFleur on Wednesday. “We had a bunch of productive plays, mainly on the ground. But I thought he got a lot of good movement up front. He went in there and did his job at a high level.”
Between Week 4 and Week 9, Rhyan obviously jumped Royce Newman on the depth chart. When Elgton Jenkins was sidelined for those few games, it was Newman who got the start at left guard over Rhyan–a head-scratching move, to say the least. At this point, the Packers know what they have in Newman, but Rhyan is a 2022 third-round pick who is under contract for two more seasons; why not see what you have in him?
”It’s been a competitive situation,” said LaFleur on the decision to put in Rhyan instead of Newman. “He’s done it in practice. It was good to see that when he went out there he was able to do his job at a really high level. We’re always going to evaluate though and try to put the best guys out there that we feel the most confident are going to help us move the ball.”
But I digress. Outside of the offensive line’s performance against the Rams, the Packers have really struggled to get the run game going this season. They entered Week 9 averaging just 3.8 yards per carry, and even that figure is bolstered by a number of scrambles by Jordan Love.
There isn’t any one player along the offensive line that has been the sole contributor to these issues–it’s been everyone. However, Runyan, in particular, has struggled this season. Out of 87 eligible guards, Runyan ranks 73rd in run-blocking grade–although he has been better in pass protection.
As we saw on Sunday, having a run game to lean on does wonders for this young Packers offense. It helped keep them out of obvious passing situations, set up play-action, and took the playmaking burden off the passing game. Not surprisingly, Jordan Love had a very efficient day.
So given the importance of the run game for this offense, Runyan’s struggles, and the fact that this is an evaluation year and Runyan is a free agent after this season, while Rhyan – an aforementioned third-round pick – still is under contract, you could very easily make the case that he needs more opportunities. But with that said, I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.
The continuity aspect of offensive line play is a very important element, and the Packers have had more of that as of late. There was a month-long stretch earlier in the season where the Packers were without Elgton Jenkins in practice consistently, while Runyan and Zach Tom also either missed practices or were limited. Josh Myers was recently limited in practice as well.
Truth be told, while the Packers starting five in games has been somewhat consistent this season, they haven’t had the same opportunity to work together in practice for a large portion of the year. A key contributor to the offensive line’s performance on Sunday was that they were all on the same page.
“All of us being on the same page,” said Zach Tom on Monday when asked about what was different this week compared to others. “The past few weeks, it has been one guy here or there, like everybody else is good, then one guy here or there not doing their job. Then, it messes up the whole play. But I thought yesterday we did a good job of all five of us being on the same page, and the tight ends, and the running backs, and you saw the results.”
All of this isn’t to say that there might not come a point in the season where Green Bay wants to take a closer look at Rhyan to get a better idea of what potential role he could fill in 2024. As I mentioned, it makes sense, but I don’t see that happening now.
The offensive line is coming off its best performance since Week 1. The continuity factor is important to the Packers, and for an offense that overall has struggled to get going and find some sort of consistent rhythm, more change isn’t something this unit needs right now.