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Elgton Jenkins, a two-time Pro Bowl guard, is shifting to center. Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

How Should Packers Handle Elgton Jenkins Dilemma?

Originally posted on Green Bay Packers on SI
By Jacob Westendorf | Last updated Jul 22, 2025 1:49 PM ET

So, now what?

That seems like a crazy question to be asking but, in the wake of Zach Tom’s four-year contract extension that will ensure he’s the Green Bay Packers’ right tackle for the foreseeable future, it seems like a fair question to ask about the future of Elgton Jenkins.

The first practice of training camp will be held on Wednesday, and there’s one big question hovering over the offense. When is Jenkins, the Pro Bowl guard who’s the new starting center, going to be back on the field?

Jenkins was placed on the non-football injury list last week. That comes after skipping the team’s voluntary offseason program in hopes of getting a revised contract for the upcoming season and then watching the mandatory minicamp from the sideline.

Jenkins is a smart man and can probably see the writing on the wall.

He knows his contract is out of guaranteed money, which could make him a cut candidate after the upcoming season. The Packers drafted linemen in the first round in 2024 and second round in 2025 and handed out big contracts to Tom and new left guard Aaron Banks in a three-month span.

If Jenkins’ goal is to put some pressure on the Packers to give him some more security beyond 2025, should the Packers do it?

Here’s the case for and against giving Jenkins a new contract.

Elgton Jenkins Deserves New Contract

Most of the points in giving Jenkins a new contract are short-sighted, but perhaps the Packers could afford to think in the present without looking too far into the future.

The reality is the Packers need to win, and they need to win now. There’s a new man in charge with Ed Policy taking over for Mark Murphy. With no plans to immediately extend the contracts of general manager Brian Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur, it’s an incredibly important season for both.

To win, it’s vital for one of the team’s best players to be on the field as quickly as possible.

Yes, Jenkins has played center, both in college and with the Packers. Yes, Gutekunst has said he believes Jenkins can be an All-Pro at center.

There’s still an adjustment period. He’s played one game at center with Jordan Love at quarterback, and it was last year at a rain-soaked Lambeau Field against the Detroit Lions. Shotgun snaps were an issue that night.

Josh Myers played 50 of 51 possible games to close his career in Green Bay, which means he was the one snapping the ball for all but one game of Jordan Love’s starting tenure.

Myers knew Love’s cadence, his protection calls and all the communication required between a quarterback and center at the line of scrimmage. Those are small details, but the devil is in the details, where the Packers have come up short in recent years.

The longer Jenkins is sidelined, injury or otherwise, the longer it will take for Love and Jenkins to find that chemistry.

Giving Jenkins contractual security would prevent any hold-out/hold-in situation once Jenkins is ready to come off the NFI list. It’d also keep Love and the offense from having to change centers three times in three years.

There is some precedent for teams being successful when having to change centers. The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl last season after replacing future Hall of Fame center Jason Kelce with Cam Jurgens. The Eagles’ roster, however, was loaded with top-end talent. The Packers have proven to be a good team, but they’re not a great one.

Jenkins being on the field helps push them closer to great, especially if he delivers on Gutekunst’s proclamation that he could be an All-Pro.

The other case for paying Jenkins is for team morale. Players root for other players to succeed, and that’s especially true on the offensive line, typically the most close-knit of all the positional groups in the locker room. Jenkins is the leader of that group as the elder statesman and most tenured player along the front. Getting him a new contract not only would make Jenkins happy but provide a boost to the rest of the locker room.

Age Muddles Decision

The reality of the NFL is cruel. In the real world, Jenkins is entering the prime of his life as a young man. The NFL is different, especially so under the stewardship of general manager Brian Gutekunst. Gutekunst has kept his team young, and it’s by design. As he’s said multiple times, “football is a young man’s game.” The only players on the roster who are 30-plus are specialists Brandon McManus and Matt Orzech.

Jenkins will reach that number in December.

The Packers have typically avoided keeping players on the wrong side of 30, and that’s especially true when asking for a third contract. That’s one of the reasons why the contract extension Gutekunst gave Kenny Clark last year was surprising. The Packers just don’t hand out a lot of third contracts.

Of course, they did for another offensive lineman in the not-so-distant past. That was left tackle David Bakhtiari. The extension he signed in November 2020 made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in football.

What happened next was an abject disaster, with the knee injury sustained on New Year’s Eve 2020 ultimately ruining his career. That situation was unique, but Jenkins is no stranger to injuries. He suffered a torn ACL at Minnesota in 2021, missed two games apiece in 2022 and 2023, and was sidelined for most of last year’s playoff loss to the Eagles after sustaining a stinger.

The offensive line is not a position that typically gets less injured as a player ages, and Jenkins’ NFI designation signals he’s banged up going into this season. Perhaps the Packers are willing to bet on Jenkins staying healthier since he changed positions.

Even if that’s true, they would have to consider the resources they’re using, with everything else that’s coming due on their books.

The Packers have given out megadeals to Tom and Banks. Left tackle Rasheed Walker is a pending free agent. If he plays well this season, would the Packers finally anoint him the left tackle of the future and give him an extension? What about Sean Rhyan? Would the Packers opt to keep him with another strong season at right guard?

The Packers could presumably operate inexpensively at left tackle, center and right guard if Jenkins were allowed to walk, which would help offset the big payouts given to Tom and Banks.

The easiest answer to why the Packers should not pay him is the most obvious.

They don’t have to.

Jenkins is under contract for two more seasons. Even if those years are mostly used as salary cap gymnastics and to drive up his average salary – Jenkins’ base salary and cap number for 2026 are $18.5 million and $24.8 million, respectively – they do exist. The Packers could simply do nothing and keep Jenkins.

Jenkins might want a new contract, but the Packers have no incentive to give him one other than to reduce his cap number. Jenkins is not going to sit out this season or next.

Essentially, he’s asking the Packers to do him a solid since he’s being a good soldier, moving positions without complaining.

That’s a nice idea in theory, but as Bob Sugar in Jerry Maguire said, this is not show friends, it’s show business.

The business of the NFL does not operate in doing favors.

The Packers are not, and should not be an exception here.