Inserting Nijman, Moving Jenkins Comes with Risk, Reward
GREEN BAY, Wis. – In the quest to get his best five offensive linemen on the field, might Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur move right tackle Elgton Jenkins to guard and insert Yosh Nijman at right tackle?
“I think, potentially,” LaFleur said on Monday, one day after the Packers knocked off the New England Patriots 27-24 in overtime. “That is something that we’ve definitely talked about.”
Playing “the best five” offensive linemen is the LaFleur way. Given how Nijman has played in 10 NFL starts at left tackle – and his potential to get even better – it’s hard to argue that he isn’t among Green Bay’s best five blockers. Given Jenkins’ early struggles at right tackle, Nijman theoretically would upgrade that position and Jenkins would then upgrade one of the guard spots.
However, “the best five” don’t play in a vacuum. What LaFleur, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich and offensive line coach Luke Butkus must figure out is whether Nijman as a right tackle is among “the best five.”
There’s not a cut-and-dried question.
Nijman was Virginia Tech’s starting left tackle as a sophomore in 2016 and junior in 2017 before moving to right tackle as a senior in 2018.
With the Packers, though, he’s basically been a left tackle for his four professional seasons. That’s especially true the last two years. With All-Pro David Bakhtiari battling back from a torn ACL, Nijman spent all of 2021 at left tackle. In 2022, with Bakhtiari and Jenkins coming back from knee injuries, Nijman was the No. 1 left tackle from the first day of offseason practices all the way through training camp, the preseason and the start of the regular season.
That’s a lot of time at left tackle – and almost no time at right tackle. To ask Nijman to go play right tackle, where he hasn’t played in a game in four years, would be a tall order.
With Bakhtiari practicing for the last several weeks, Nijman has gotten some work at right tackle but probably not enough that he’d be instantly comfortable.
“We try to do our best to cross train these guys as much as possible, especially up front,” LaFleur said. “The reps are limited but you’ve got to do it and make the best of it.”
Without Bakhtiari last season, Jenkins went from Pro Bowl left guard in 2020 to high-level left tackle in 2021. However, he suffered a torn ACL at Minnesota in November. He made a remarkable comeback to start at right tackle for the Week 2 game against Chicago.
Coming off a serious injury and following another position change, it’s been a struggle. According to Pro Football Focus, 68 offensive tackles have played at least 50 pass-protecting snaps. Jenkins ranks 64th in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency, which measures sacks, hits and hurries allowed per pass-blocking snap. He has delivered strong blocking in the run game, though.
So, who would be better at right tackle? Nijman, with no game experience and limited practice reps, or Jenkins, with three games of experience and still trying to round into form?
And then there’s Bakhtiari. After alternating series in his return to action against Tampa Bay last week, the plan for this week against New England was for Bakhtiari to play two series and for Nijman to play one.
“We got into halftime and Dave just said, ‘I’m going,’ and I thought he was playing pretty well, so we let him go,” LaFleur said. “We’ll see where he’s at. I haven’t talked to him today, but we’ll see where he’s at throughout the course of the week. But I do think we’re going to be fluid with that. Obviously, I’ve said it before: We have a lot of confidence in Yosh, in his ability to go out there and perform at a high level.”
With Bakhtiari playing 70 snaps against the Patriots, he’s obviously trending the right way toward fully resurrecting his career. But, after three surgeries on the injured knee, who knows? Can the Packers afford to move Nijman to full-time duty at right tackle, only for Bakhtiari to aggravate the injury and Nijman be needed to move back to left tackle at a moment’s notice?
There’s no doubt moving Jenkins back to guard would be an upgrade, whether it’s back to left tackle in place of Jon Runyan or at another new spot and sliding inside to right guard to replace Royce Newman.
But who would be the better right tackle? In time, Nijman might wind up being really good. Then again, in time, Jenkins might wind up being really good, too.
“We’ll continue to do the best job we can in terms of repping these guys throughout the course of the week in practice,” LaFleur said. “But that has definitely been something we’ve talked about. Haven’t made a decision on it yet.”
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