At one point last season, the Green Bay Packers had 11 offensive linemen on the 53-man roster — three of which (Luke Tenuta, Caleb Jones, and Rasheed Walker) were developmental offensive tackles. If the offensive line stays healthy, their roles again are likely to stay relatively small in 2023, but opportunity potentially awaits them in 2024.
Jones was signed as an undrafted rookie out of Indiana following the 2022 NFL draft. He brings elite size to the position, listed at 6-9 and 370 pounds with 36″ arms. In college, Jones played almost 2,000 snaps over 41 games, most of which came at right tackle. After missing the initial 53-man roster, Jones was added following Week 1.
Tenuta, meanwhile, was claimed off waivers by Green Bay in early October. The 6-8, 319-pound Tenuta was a sixth-round pick in 2022 out of Virginia Tech, where he played both right and left tackle. Outside a few snaps in a blowout win against Minnesota, like Jones, 2022 was essentially a red-shirt year for him as well.
“Well, they’ve got another year to grow,” said offensive line coach Luke Butkus. “There’s a huge jump in college football to the NFL, how big and strong the other side of the ball is. So to get the technique that we teach here and have a year of working that. Luke got in the game against Minnesota and had some clean-up time. But just his progress through the year, as well as Caleb’s, it was pretty cool to see.”
The third member of this trio is Walker, a seventh-round pick by the Packers in last year’s draft. Walker, unfortunately, missed a large chunk of training camp with an injury but impressed during his limited action, especially in the preseason. Walker played nearly 2,100 college snaps lined up at left tackle for Penn State.
“Rasheed has made some strides,” said Butkus. “Rasheed was here a lot of the offseason, he’s got a lot of talent and I’m excited to see where it goes. Again, we are in the offseason right now and we are moving that grass with no pads on, we aren’t really allowed to get after guys, so he looks great right now. His ability to move and mirror defenders, put himself in good position. I’m excited where he’s at right now.”
The Packers are taking an approach with this trio of blockers that is similar to what they did with Nijman. Back in 2019, Nijman was signed as an undrafted rookie out of Virginia Tech and slowly saw his role increase each year to where he is now a viable starter at either tackle position. It was until his third NFL season in 2021 that he saw significant playing time. For Jones, Walker, and Tenuta, their third NFL seasons will be in 2024, when there will be some unknowns around the tackle position in Green Bay.
This season it will be David Bakhtiari at left tackle, while Zach Tom and Nijman will be battling for the right tackle opening. If Green Bay finds themselves in a pinch, they also have Elgton Jenkins as an option as well, although he’s at his best when at left guard. So as already mentioned, if healthy, neither Jones, Tenuta, nor Walker should see the field. But next offseason, that could change.
As of now, Nijman is slated to be an unrestricted free agent next offseason, and his future with the Packers is up in the air. Bakhtiari could be a cut candidate in an effort to save salary cap space next offseason. If both of those scenarios unfold, that potentially leaves Tom to take one of those tackle openings, if he isn’t playing guard or center, but leaves another wide open and the Packers short on depth. Thus a potential opportunity for any one of those three players in 2024.
Offensive tackle is arguably the second-most important position on the football field and one that teams have to get right if they’re going to have any success on offense. If a quarterback doesn’t have consistent time, there isn’t much else that matters. Fortunately, for the Packers, with their emphasis on addressing the offensive line, they’ve had experienced depth at the tackle positions that they’ve been able to lean on. That, again, will be true this season, giving Jones, Tenuta, and Walker more time to develop.
