Packers Lose Yosh Nijman to Panthers in Free Agency, Leaving Hole at Tackle
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers suffered an understated blow to their roster on Monday, with offensive tackle Yosh Nijman agreeing to terms with the Carolina Panthers, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
With that, the Packers do not have an experienced offensive tackle to work behind left tackle Rasheed Walker and right tackle Zach Tom. The Packers were going to draft an offensive tackle, anyway. Now, unless they land one of the few veterans available – Denver’s Cameron Fleming would make sense – they’ll almost certainly have to draft a tackle early.
Luke Tenuta, Caleb Jones and Kadeem Telfort combined to play exactly zero games in 2023. Tenuta, a sixth-round pick by Buffalo in 2022, spent the year on injured reserve. Jones, an undrafted free agent in 2022, spent the year on the gameday inactives list. Telfort, an undrafted free agent in 2023, spent the year on the practice squad.
The Packers were incredibly fortunate in 2023. Once Walker replaced David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins shook off a knee injury, the No. 1 line played the final 15 games together (including postseason). That doesn’t happen every year. That doesn’t happen most years.
The Packers badly need depth. While he had a disappointing season, Nijman provided that depth. He started 21 games at the tackle spots in 2021 and 2022, helping quarterback Aaron Rodgers stay on his feet during Bakhtiari’s odyssey. When healthy, he almost never was overmatched or outclassed.
For what it’s worth, according to Pro Football Focus, Walker in 515 pass-protecting snaps in 2023 allowed six sacks and 33 total pressures. That’s 85.8 snaps per sack and 15.6 snaps per pressure. Nijman allowed 10 sacks and 58 total pressures in 943 pass-protecting snaps in his three seasons. That’s 94.3 snaps per sack and 16.3 snaps per pressure.
However, perhaps the Packers felt it was time to move on, that they had gotten the max out of Nijman. Out with the old, in with the new is the law of the NFL jungle.
During training camp, Nijman’s battle with Tom to be the starting right tackle lasted about 2.3 seconds. From there, it was Nijman, who was coming off a season of 13 starts, against Walker, who played zero offensive snaps as a rookie, to be the swing tackle.
It should have been a mismatch, especially with Nijman playing under the $4.3 million restricted free agent tender. Instead, the job went to Walker.
“Right now, he’s a backup tackle for us,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said at the end of training camp. “That’s where he’s at. Football is a very competitive sport, and some guys rise to that competition and some guys don’t, so that’s basically what I have to say about that.”
It was as blunt a statement as any coach has delivered about a player since the team started streaming its press conferences instead of holding them in a hallway for reporters to talk to coaches individually, and it didn’t sit well with coach Matt LaFleur.
Nonetheless, what was said was said.
Nijman played 230 snaps during the regular season in 2023, mostly in a rotation with Walker. He started the Week 8 game against the Rams. Nijman played 35 snaps while Walker played 37. A week later at Pittsburgh, Walker played all 68. His playing time dwindled down the stretch, including zero snaps in the win at Carolina. With Tom suffering a concussion in the playoff loss to San Francisco, Nijman struggled in 26 snaps.
The Packers lost veteran guard Jon Runyan on the first day of free agency, so they’re down two key contributors with no additions. If the Packers had to play a game today, they’d line up with Walker at left tackle, Jenkins at left guard, Josh Myers at center, Sean Rhyan at right guard and Tom at right tackle. The depth? Royce Newman is the only one with more than seven snaps of regular-season experience.
So, now what? Along with the aforementioned Fleming, who has plenty of experience at left and right tackle, the Titans released 2019 first-round pick Andre Dillard. He was awful last year with 12 sacks allowed in 16 games (10 starts) but he’s 28 and experienced. Former Packers tackle Billy Turner also is available, but he’s 32 and only managed to start two games for the blocking-impaired Jets last year.
