Paul Bretl | 3/13/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Now former Packers’ center Josh Myers is signing with the New York Jets on a one-year prove-it deal. Green Bay, meanwhile, signed guard Aaron Banks to a four-year contract worth $77 million. The question at hand right now is not only whether the Packers’ offensive line improved with these moves, but did it improve by roughly $74 million?
Myers is signing a one-year, $3.5 million contract to join the Jets. While using the total contract values between Myers and Banks isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison because Banks may not get all that money, for some added context, Banks is getting a $27 million signing bonus. He also has the opportunity to earn $9.5 million during each of the 2026 and 2027 seasons just as roster bonuses as well.
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Internally, the Packers have spoken incredibly highly of Myers and what he brought to this team. Matt LaFleur last season would say that Myers was the one “driving the ship up front” and called him a “heart and soul” type of player on the team. GM Brian Gutekunst also called Myers’ 2024 season the best of his career.
“I can’t say enough good things about Josh Myers, not only as a player but as a leader,” said Gutekunst after the season. “He really does embody kind of a Green Bay Packer and what we’re looking for and how they’re wired. Again, I thought he had a really good year, fought through some things. . . “I look back at that one, and I’m really glad we’ve had him for the last four years.”
However, the NFL market felt differently. A one-year, $3.5 million deal is one, as described above, where the player has to prove himself and showcase why he deserves a more lucrative and longer-term deal.
While Myers brings a lot of the intangible qualities to the table that teams desire, from leadership to rapport with Jordan Love to pre-snap communication, the results once the ball was snapped weren’t there consistently enough, and his recent contract reflects that.
This past season, one that Gutekunst thought was Myers’ best, out of 41 eligible centers, he ranked 36th in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric. He also surrendered the third-most pressures. In run-blocking grade, Myers ranked 38th. Those metrics are just one evaluation tool and aren’t the be-all-end-all, but they do provide some context around Myers’ play compared to his counterparts.
Obviously, the Packers believe that by signing Banks to be the team’s left guard and presumably moving Elgton Jenkins to center, that the offensive line play is going to improve over if they had kept the status quo. But again, will it improve as significantly as the contract discrepancy between Myers and Banks illustrates it should?
Although Myers had his ups and downs, it’s not like the Packers’ offensive line play was bad last year. During the regular season, no quarterback was blitzed more often than Love, according to PFF’s metrics. However, in terms of how often he was pressured, Love ranked 23rd in that category. Overall, the Packers’ offensive line finished seventh in ESPN’s pass block win rate metric.
Then, in the run game, Josh Jacobs was one of the most productive backs in football, and the Packers’ offense leaned heavily on that element to lead them to victory in a number of games.
“I thought our offensive line, particularly in pass pro, played really, really well all year for the most part, with the exception of a couple games,” Gutekunst said. “But I think all those guys had really solid years and improved.”
However, having said that, there is very much room for growth. Banks has been at his best in the run game during his career, and while, as just mentioned, the Green Bay run game was productive last year, where they can improve is in generating explosive, chunk runs on the ground.
According to PFF’s metrics, Jacobs ranked 32nd in breakaway rate last season, which measures how often a player produces a run of 15-plus yards, and roughly 75% of his total rushing yards came after contact. For some context, Derrick Henry and Saquon Barkley were in the 50-55% range.
The addition of Banks also bolsters the Packers’ depth and flexibility. Now, Jordan Morgan can continue to compete at right guard with Sean Rhyan or he could potentially see snaps at left tackle to push Rasheed Walker. Either way, one of Morgan, Ryhan, or Walker will be coming off the bench next season.
“Versatility is everything, right,” said Gutekunst. “And we really do have a versatile group. So we’re going to try to get the best five out there. We didn’t see him (Morgan) as much at tackle, which is obviously what he played in college, and what we vote he was drafted as, just because at the time, going into the season, and the opportunities were going to we’re going to lie inside.
“So I think this offseason, just depending on kind of how everything you know takes place, through free agency, the draft and those things will kind of probably go into it the exact same way. Wherever we think he’s going to best fit is where he’s going to see his snaps.”
Only time will ultimately answer the question posed at the start of this article. But these two moves signify that improvement along the offensive line was a must in Gutekunst’s eyes. More explosive runs are needed, and the depth of this group was exposed in the playoffs, but will the juice be worth the squeeze? Paying big at one position means going light elsewhere.
“Those big guys are hard to find, so that’s never something we’re not going to address,” said Gutekunst after the season. “Like we’ve been pretty consistent in our time here. We very much believe that, with the exception of quarterback, winning in the trenches is how we need to get it done.”