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True or False: Packers Saved Season By Signing Kevin Zeitler, Laken Tomlinson

Have the Green Bay Packers salvaged their season by fixing their offensive line? Let’s take a closer look.
Bill Huber|
Nw Packers guard Kevin Zeitler is shown at practice on Wednesday.
Nw Packers guard Kevin Zeitler is shown at practice on Wednesday. | Bill Huber/Packers On SI

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Some years, the savior is an in-his-prime All-Pro named Micah Parsons. Other years, it’s a 36-year-old guard named Kevin Zeitler.

General manager Brian Gutekunst, whose No. 1 job should be setting up quarterback Jordan Love for success, completely botched the construction of his offensive line.

Don’t take my word for it. Actions speak louder than words, anyway. What other way is there to construe his flurry of signings that started with Laken Tomlinson on Saturday, continued with Mekhi Becton on Monday and was capped by Zeitler on Wednesday?

Gutekunst created the problem by signing Aaron Banks to a monstrous contract last offseason. But what’s done was done. After releasing Elgton Jenkins in March, he compounded the problems by adding only one offensive lineman, Jager Burton with a fifth-round draft pick.

Gutekunst literally bet the season that Banks would stay healthy and some combination of Donovan Jennings, Jacob Monk, Anthony Belton and Burton would be ready to play key roles for a championship-contending team with a $220 million quarterback.

Instead, there are probably college football teams with better guards than the Packers played with for most of the first three games. Combined, Monk (11), Burton (10) and Jennings (two) allowed 23 pressures in the first three games, according to Pro Football Focus. There are entire lines that have allowed fewer pressures than Green Bay’s guards.

Sure, but the run blocking has been awesome, right? Yeah, not so much. On runs straight up the middle, the Packers are averaging 0.44 yards per carry, according to league data. That’s the worst in the league, you’ll be shocked to know. As a team, the Packers are last in rushing per game and per carry.

Finally, Gutekunst admitted defeat. Will his belated decision save the season? Let's dig in.

Better Late Than Never

The big negative here is that Gutekunst didn’t address the situation long ago. None of the three players he signed were on a roster for training camp, so all had been available.

Tomlinson signed to the Cowboys’ practice squad a few weeks ago, so he should be ramped up physically and ready to go on Sunday against the Buccaneers, so long as he can learn the playbook. Zeitler and Becton were on the couch, so to speak. While they’ve been training to get ready for this opportunity, they will need to get into football shape before either can be counted on to be a full-game factor. They also will need to learn the plays. 

But, again, what’s done is done. The Packers are 1-2, thanks in large part to their horrendous guard play, but at least Gutekunst tripled-down on the solutions by signing three former first-round picks.

Better late than never, sure, but it’s only three games and it’s not as if the Packers are 0-3.

Laken Tomlinson Will Sure Up Left Guard

With Tomlinson, the Packers now have a real Plan B behind Banks. Or maybe even a Plan A ahead of Banks. When healthy, Banks is a solid player. He’s not a $77 million player, but he’s certainly good enough to help the Packers win games.

The problem, of course, is the performance fell off a cliff during his repeated absences. The running game was 0.79 yards per carry better during Banks’ first-half performance against the Jets than it’s been the rest of the season. He didn’t allow any pressures in protection, either. But he missed the second half of the Jets game, didn’t play against the Falcons on Thursday and didn't practice on Wednesday.

Jennings, an undrafted free agent in 2024, had played six snaps on offense entering the season but was forced to start in Week 1 at Minnesota. Burton is a rookie who started in Week 3 against Atlanta. Both players were in over their heads.

Now, there’s a legitimate option with Tomlinson. Whether Tomlinson starts and Banks is the backup or the other way around for the remaining 14 games, the Packers will have a real starting-level player to provide the interior power and awareness the offense has lacked.

“I feel like I can come in and provide some stability, some toughness, some leadership, as well,” Tomlinson said. “Obviously, going into Year 12, I’ve played a lot of ball. I feel like I still got a lot left in the tank. I feel like I can bring a lot to the team.”

Kevin Zeitler To the Rescue at Right Guard

Zeitler, meanwhile, is the real season-changing addition because he’ll be the no-doubt-about-it starter once he’s ready physically and mentally.

Yes, he’s 36. No, he’s maybe not the Pro Bowl player he was in 2023.

However, a scout on Wednesday said Zeitler is an “above-average starter” while the man he’ll eventually replace in the starting lineup, Monk, “wouldn’t start for any team” in the NFL.

Zeitler, indeed, is a quality starter. Sports Info Solutions has a stat called blown blocks. It’s any time a lineman fails to successfully block the man he’s engaging with, giving defender a chance to negatively impact the play. Zeitler’s blown-block rate last year was 1.6 percent. That tied for eighth among all guards and tied for first among right guards.

“Whatever it takes to get my job done,” Zeitler said on Wednesday. “However it looks, whatever it takes, I’m just going to go out there and play after play get it done no matter what happens and, game after game, it just keeps getting better.”

SIS charged him with three sacks allowed last season. PFF charged him with four sacks allowed and 16 pressures in 16 games last season. In the first three games, Monk was charged with one sack and 11 pressures, or a pace of about six sacks and 62 pressures.

This is an infinite upgrade, with Zeitler turning a major weakness into a strength – and perhaps a significant strength.  

Saving Jordan Love Required To Save Season

Before the Week 2 game against the Jets, Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was asked about the pass-rushing ability of defensive tackle Karl Brooks. He turned that question into a lesson about interior pass rush.

“Interior pass rush is a huge thing to me because if you can collapse the middle of the pocket, that’s in the quarterback’s lap,” Gannon said.

The interior pass rush has been in Jordan Love’s lap. And in his face. And in his rib cage.

And now, it’s in his head.

Love is off to a dismal start to the season. He is last in the NFL by a wide margin in completion percentage. He was the best clean-pocket passer in the league last year. He’s one of the worst this year. It’s hard to play quarterback when your head is on a swivel as you look for the next defender about to hit you into the middle of next week.

“Going back and watching this last game, there’s definitely some plays – especially later in the game – where we talked about my feet are just getting a little bit off, and that definitely is some of the pressure being a factor in that,” Love said on Wednesday.

If Love has time, he can make things happen. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden are off to fantastic starts. Tucker Kraft will round into form at some point. Jayden Reed’s season-ending injury is going to be difficult to overcome, but Watson, Golden and Tucker are good enough so long as they have time to get open and Love has time to find them.

Plus, Tomlinson, Banks and Zeitler are proven run blockers. Green Bay’s dormant running game should show some signs of life. That, too, will help Love.

“We always talk about having a complementary offense,” he said. “Being able to lean on the run game is going to take some of the pressure off some of the pass protection and not let the D-line just know we’re in pass situations.

“It’s something that we’ve got to improve. We can’t have a game where we have nine rushes and to that we’ve got to improve in the run game. That’s everybody. That’s O-line, running backs, receivers, everybody plays a part in that.”

True or False: Packers Saved Season

Added together, signing players like Zeitler and Tomlinson aren’t as sexy as big-splash trades for elite players like Parsons. But Zeitler and Tomlinson are difference-makers in their own understated way. 

They can set off a season-changing domino effect for the Packers. They will run the ball and protect the passer better than they had the first three weeks. That means the offense will be more efficient and more explosive. That means they will score more points and keep the defense fresh. That means the defense can play from ahead.

It all works together. And, the guess here is it will all work together. So, the answer is an overwhelming yes.

Putting in on the Confidence Meter, with a zero being no confidence at all and 10 being peak confidence that the Packers have saved their season (and with the caveat that injuries – such as the one to Reed – will offset the gains on the offensive line), we’ll give these moves a …

7: For the Packers being Super Bowl contenders again.

8: For the Packers being in position to win the NFC North.

10: For the Packers having a really good chance of returning to the playoffs.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.