The Green Bay Packers went into the offseason with a few objectives and one of them was to upgrade the offensive line. The Packers didn’t have a bad offensive line in 2024, finishing sixth in Pro Football Focus’s offensive line rankings and some would have considered a strength with Rasheed Walker, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom earning high praise.
But like many teams, the Packers wanted to eliminate the weak link. Signing Aaron Banks to a four-year, $77 million contract was a step in the right direction and moving Jenkins to center was another. But the biggest move may have been getting rid of a player that’s already failing with his new team.
Former Packers Center Josh Myers in a Losing Situation with Jets
Josh Myers had a rough end to his time in Green Bay, allowing 59 total pressures and six sacks according to Pro Football Focus. Both numbers ranked among the most allowed by a center last season and were key reasons why the Packers chose to move on. But after landing with the New York Jets, Myers finds himself in a losing situation.
Myers has been just as bad with the Jets as he was in Green Bay. In his lone preseason game, coincidentally against the Packers, he played 22 total snaps and didn’t allow a pressure on 10 pass-blocking snaps. But he was non-existent in the running game, posting a 46.4 grade on 12 run blocking snaps.
This could be dismissed as a small sample size, but Myers’s struggles continued during this week’s joint practices with the New York Giants. The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt noted that the Giants defensive line “definitely won most of its battles with the Jets offensive line” during the workouts. While he tried to paint it as a positive, going up against an elite group of edge rushers such as Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter, he also described a rep where Dexter Lawrence “trucked through” Myers and changed the description to “KILLED” when watching the film.
It sounds like a scene Packers fans remember well from the past two seasons and wouldn’t surprise many if it wound up costing him the starting job to former Wisconsin standout Joe Tippmann. But somehow, Myers is still in the mix to be in the starting lineup when the Jets host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 7.
Nick Faria of the “Jets X Factor” website tried to put the puzzle together. He believes that one reason could be how Myers controls the offensive line and his status as a respected veteran in the locker room. The other is that the Jets promised Myers a fair chance at winning the starting job and may be letting the decision drag out through camp to fulfill that promise.
While Faria could not confirm either theory, the Jets could also want to give Myers the nod due to his chemistry with Justin Fields dating back to his collegiate career at Ohio State.
But it wouldn’t be a great idea to toss Myers into the starting lineup based on his performance the past two years and during training camp where the veteran has been losing 1-on-1 matchups and missing run blocks.
Regardless of the reason, it doesn’t seem like Myers is being put in a position to succeed and it could lead to the same things that led to his departure from Green Bay.