Packers: Elgton Jenkins Doutbful, Who Starts at LT?

On Friday, Elgton Jenkins missed his third straight practice of the week after suffering an ankle injury in the Green Bay Packers Monday Night win over the Detroit Lions.

Earlier in the week, head coach Matt LaFleur said that the team would give Jenkins the week to prepare for Sunday’s tilt with the San Francisco 49ers—and that still is the case. However, at this time, with Jenkins still being sidelined, he is listed as doubtful on the injury report.

LaFleur would also add that there is still an “outside chance” that he can go on Sunday. They’ll wait and see how the next 48 hours play out.

There is certainly no replacing Jenkins, who has held up very well at left tackle in David Bakhtiari’s absence, but the Packers will have to find a way. So what options do they have?

The most likely scenario is that we see Billy Turner slide over to left tackle, where he has 409 career snaps, according to PFF ($$), including 363 in 2020 alone, where he started in the NFC Championship Game.

With Turner at left tackle, that likely means that Dennis Kelly — who off the bench will fill a similar role as Rick Wagner did in 2020 — will be the right tackle. Kelly was the starting right tackle for the Tennessee Titans last season, where he was on the field for nearly 1,100 snaps and allowed zero sacks and 26 pressures.

Another option that the Green Bay Packers have is keeping Turner at right tackle and starting Yosh Nijman at left tackle. This, however, seems very unlikely considering that Nijman has only 15 career snaps, and making his first start against this stout San Francisco pass rush could get ugly.

Regardless of how it shakes out, this entire Green Bay offensive line will have a tall task slowing the Niners defensive front that, through two games, has tallied 52 pressures—the third-most in football.

To help slow this 49ers’ pass rush, we will likely see a lot of 12 and 22 personnel with two tight ends on the field to help with blocking, along with a Green Bay offense that should be looking to establish the run, and more importantly, stick to it.

If the Green Bay Packers end up one-dimensional and pass-heavy, they will be doing themselves no favors against the likes of Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, and Dee Ford, who when given the opportunity to pin their ears back can wreak havoc.

As LaFleur said, they haven’t completely ruled Jenkins out, but it doesn’t look good either. An already difficult game just became even more challenging.