The Green Bay Packers have looked brilliant at times through five games of their 2023 NFL season. They have also looked lost and bewildered at other times and are 2-3. While there are plenty of fingers being pointed at Jordan Love and the numerous injuries that the team has suffered, there is one glaring hole that needs more attention from the coaching staff: the offensive line.
Losing left tackle David Bakhtiari was a crushing blow. Ever since Green Bay’s Week One 38-20 win over the Chicago Bears, the offensive line has struggled. While pass protection remains a relative strength, run blocking is lacking and the young offensive linemen have started to lose more and more battles.
Going into the season, head coach Matt LaFleur and offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said that center and the right side of the line were all open for competition. Now that Bakhtiari is out for the season, the Packers’ starting offensive line, from right to left, is Zach Tom, Jon Runyan Jr., Josh Myers, Elgton Jenkins, and Rasheed Walker.
Coach LaFleur is always adamant about putting out the best starting five on the line; but is that really what he is doing? One NFL analyst does not think so.
NFL Analyst Calls for Yosh Nijman to Get More Playing Time with the Green Bay Packers
Through five weeks of the NFL season, it is pretty clear what players are the weaknesses on their respective teams. Prior to the NFL’s Week Six games, David Kenyon of Bleacher Report wrote an article in which he named which player he believes each NFL team should bench.
When it came to the Packers, he did not necessarily call for a particular player to be benched, but rather for Yosh Nijman to get more playing time:
“Since left guard Elgton Jenkins has returned, the concern with Royce Newman has eased. But why is Yosh Nijman hardly playing? For the last two seasons, he’d been a fine blocker at left and right tackle. David Bakhtiari is out for the year, and neither Zach Tom nor Rasheed Walker have excelled. Nijman should get more chances, though that’s not to say Tom or Walker should be straight-up benched.”
Nijman, indeed, has not seen much of the field since the season started. He also did not get any snaps with the starting unit during the preseason game. Many believe that Nijman is in LaFleur’s doghouse, though no one knows why.
Yosh Nijman Does Deserve More Playing Time with the Green Bay Packers
In Green Bay’s 17-13 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, Nijman was a hero of sorts. He gave the Packers a chance to win the game by blocking Daniel Carlson’s field goal attempt in the fourth quarter.
However, it is not his special teams play that should earn him more time on the field. According to PFF, he is the Packers’ highest graded pass blocker among their offensive linemen (79.3). He also has the second-highest run blocking grade among offensive lineman (61.3).
If Yosh Nijman Plays More, Whose Spot Will He Take on the Green Bay Packers Offensive Line?
Contrary to what Kenyon wrote, right tackle Zach Tom is probably the Packers’ best all-around blocker. He has a PFF pass blocking grade of 72.9 (third among healthy offensive linemen on the team) and a run blocking grade of 75.7 (highest on the entire team).
Walker, the left tackle, is definitely a better pass blocker than he is a run blocker. His pass blocking grade of 76.5 is the highest among starting offensive lineman, but his run blocking grade of 43.8 is the worst on the team.
On the surface, it may seem like an easy decision: bench Walker (or at least cut his snaps) and insert Nijman at left tackle. After all, he played that position well over parts of the past two years.
However, the goal is to have your best lineman out on the field in positions where they can be successful. If LaFleur was serious about this, he would insert Tom as the center, a position at which he got experience during training camp and preseason. Walker would stay at left tackle and Nijman would play right tackle.
Of course, the odd man out in this case is Myers. While Myers has improved as a pass blocker, he is still woefully inept in the running game. Putting Tom, the best run blocker on the team, in at center may also give the running backs the boost they need to get more yards.
It is not a simple solution, but Kenyon is right: Nijman needs to play more.
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