Green Bay Packers: We may see Elgton Jenkins sooner than later

The Green Bay Packers chose Lane Taylor over Elgton Jenkins for week one, but we still may see Jenkins on the field much sooner than later.

The Green Bay Packers escaped week one against the Chicago Bears with a narrow 10-3 victory. For the most part, it was a futile performance from the offense that struggled to move the ball both in the running and passing games.

The Bears have one of, if not the best front-seven in all of football so heading into this matchup we knew it was going to be tough sledding for the Green Bay offensive line. But overall, David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga held up fairly well, however, it was the guards that would struggle, particularly, Lane Taylor.

According to Pro Football Focus (PFF), Taylor had an overall grade of just 55.6 as he allowed a sack, a quarterback hurry, and had a penalty. Some of the poor plays that stood out included not seeing linebacker Roquan Smith bursting through the middle which led to him making a play in the backfield.

On the third play of the game, Taylor was just destroyed as the bull rusher sent him flying backwards on to his backside and a little while later, Taylor would just flat out whiff on a block as well.

There were other examples throughout the game that contributed to Taylor’s poor grade, including little things like not finding anyone to block on a screen play.

2018 was a down season for Taylor and as a result, the Green Bay Packers would spend their second-round draft pick on Elgton Jenkins from Mississippi State. Jenkins had a very successful college career that included allowing only one sack and four hurries in 351 pass-blocking snaps, as well as being ranked the 13th overall prospect in terms of run-blocking success by PFF.

Then once he arrived to Green Bay and we saw him on the practice field and in preseason games with the first and second team offenses, it was easy to see why the Packers coaching staff fell in love with Jenkins.

Like just about every Brian Gutekunst draft pick, Jenkins is very athletic for his position which makes him an ideal fit in Matt LaFleur’s outside-zone running scheme. That athleticism allows him to work well in open space against defenders but he also has the sheer strength to withstand any bull rushes.

Jenkins would play in just the first two preseason games but he was still able to show that he is ready to be a starter in this league. Over those two games, Jenkins was graded as the highest-rated pass-blocker among all offensive linemen as he would allow no pressures in 45 pass-blocking attempts.

Early on in the process, coach LaFleur made it very clear that Jenkins and Taylor were competing for the starting job at left guard and throughout the preseason, there was plenty of speculation that Taylor could end up being a surprise cut in favor of Jenkins and cap space.

However, for week one the Green Bay Packers went with the experience of Lane Taylor but you have to think that his 2018 season coupled with his performance in Chicago has him on a fairly short leash moving forward.

Early on this season, the Packers will face some of the best defensive fronts in the league and in order for their new offense to get on track, the offensive line play needs to be stellar. So if Taylor continues to have issues, we may see Elgton Jenkins on the field sooner rather than later.