Coming off an 11-win season where they were good enough to make the playoffs but not good enough to make a deep run, the Green Bay Packers put plenty of resources into the team for 2025. One of the biggest investments came during free agency when they signed offensive guard Aaron Banks to a four-year, $77 million contract.
Banks’s arrival has provided some mixed results, including an overhaul of the offensive line. Although Banks got off to a slow start with his new team, he’s been playing much better as of late and even had head coach Matt LaFleur admitting that he’s turning over a new leaf ahead of an important game against the Chicago Bears in Week 14 via The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman.
“I think he’s done a nice job,” LaFleur said. “I think the consistency in terms of his ability to go out there and practice has led to game day success. So I think he’s really kind of turned a corner.”
Aaron Banks’s Recent Surge Has Packers O-Line Headed in the Right Direction
By the eye test, Banks has looked more comfortable in recent weeks. While he had one of his worst games of the season in Week 10 against the Philadelphia Eagles, posting a 43.2 overall grade and allowing a season-high six pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, his Week 11 performance against the New York Giants saw him post his highest overall (83.4) and run blocking (82.1) grades of the season while allowing two pressures on 33 pass-blocking snaps.
That began a three-game stretch where Banks allowed just five pressures and a 5.3% pressure rate and started to gel with the rest of the Packers’ offensive line. Whether that has anything to do with Elgton Jenkins’s season-ending injury, he’s played better next to Sean Rhyan, and the integration of rookie Anthony Belton at right guard solidified the interior of the offensive line next to offensive tackles Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom.
PFF still isn’t sold on the Packers’ offensive line, ranking them 20th in their offensive line rankings ahead of Week 14. It also charted the Packers giving up 11 pressures on 33 pass attempts, but it did not allow a sack, perhaps due to Jordan Love’s ability to move in the pocket.
If Banks isn’t giving up catastrophic plays – and he’s allowed just one sack on the season – the Packers will probably take it. That could mean more improvement in the final five games of the regular season and an offensive line that could do some damage if they get the chance in the playoffs.