When looking for reasons to doubt the Green Bay Packers, one consistent area that pundits have pointed to is the lack of a proven offensive line. It is a fair critique in some ways but does ignore the clear potential of the team's starting five. One that does have an injury question mark with right tackle Zach Tom coming off a serious injury that has lingered heading into the summer. However, ESPN's Rob Demovsky reported that Tom was askeda bout whether being ready for Week 1 was an option and simply replied: "It's not an option, I'm playing Week 1."
Players will always be more positive about their own ability to get back in the lineup and clearly pushing to play. Still, it is very telling that Tom is this confident as we hit August and are a little over a month away from the regular season kicking off. It seems there is little doubt from the right tackle he will be in the lineup and help stabilize a unit that will be under a microscope in the first weeks of the season.
As things currently stand, Jordan Morgan will be the left tackle while Darian Kinnard and Brant Banks are competing for the primary swing tackle role. Bank is currently on the PUP list due to a hamstring injury leaving Kinnard as the clear favorite to be the primary backup.
Packers Get Exciting Update from Injured Right Tackle Zach Tom Early in Training Camp
With this in mind, there is very little proven depth at the position making it incredibly important that Tom is healthy at the start of hte season. Having such a high level of confidence that the lineman is so willingly giving a cemented timeline is a great step in this direction and suggests underwhelming depth isn't going to be tested. This is ideal when you look at the offseason losses and realize the importance of Tom.
It is a situation to continue to keep an eye on understanding that if the injury length were to change the Packers need to bring in additional depth. There are limited free agency and trade targets remaining, but there is always the chance to add pieces after roster cuts ahead of the regular season.
For Tom, it is important to get back into the lineup before this point proving that his early camp words are accurate and taking away any chance that the starter is surpassed in what is a pivotal season to cement his importance moving forward.
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