Packers Jordan Morgan Finally Finds a Home at Right Guard After Rocky Start to NFL Career

It hasn’t been a smooth transition to the NFL for Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Jordan Morgan. The former first round draft pick has dealt with injuries and multiple position changes that have slowed his development as a pro. But Jordan Morgan has finally found a home at right guard after a rocky start to his NFL career.

Packers Jordan Morgan Finally Finds a Home: A Rough Start

The Packers selected Morgan in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The former Arizona star played left tackle in college, but NFL scouts were divided on his best position in the pros. Some felt he had what it took to play tackle, while others believed he would do better at guard. The main reason some scouts thought he’d make a better guard was arm length was a tad shorter than scouts prefer for tackles.

In his rookie season, the coaching staff announced they would cross train Morgan at tackle and guard. The Packers prefer offensive linemen who can play multiple positions and Morgan fit that bill. He split time at OTAs at left tackle and at right guard. That experiment ended shortly after training camp started. Head coach Matt LaFleur announced Morgan’s best chance of starting as a rookie would be at right guard. He spent nearly all of his practice time there from that point on.

Early in the season, Morgan rotated in for several series per game at right guard. He did get to start one game when center Josh Myers suffered an injury and guard Elgton Jenkins filled in for that contest at center.

But Morgan suffered what turned out to be a season-ending injury after six games and spent the rest of the year on the injured reserve.

Healthy Again

Morgan was healthy again and ready to compete for a starting position along the offensive line this season. He again competed at tackle, seeing time on both the left and right side at different times during the preseason. He also took reps at guard again but stated he preferred to play tackle, the position he played in college.

But injuries to other players on the offensive line again forced him to fill in at different positions. Since training camp, starting right tackle Zach Tom has missed significant time with an oblique injury. Left guard Aaron Banks missed games due to a bad back. That caused LaFleur to shuffle the starting spots as players filled in where necessary. So, Morgan played both guard and tackle, at times, even playing both positions in the same game.

LaFleur grew concerned about moving Morgan around so much. “I think there’s some merit to that, for sure,” LaFleur said last month when asked about Morgan playing multiple positions. “Especially when you look at playing multiple spots in one game [versus Cleveland]. I don’t think that’s easy on anybody, especially a guy who’s still a relatively young player. That’s something we’ve got to certainly look at.”

Morgan primarily played at right guard, rotating in for several series per game behind starter Sean Rhyan. That changed in Week 6 against the Bengals. With Tom and Banks healthy again, Morgan took over as the starting right guard. He played 49 of the 61 offensive snaps in the game. Rhyan rotated in for one series and played 12 snaps.

Packers Jordan Morgan Finally Finds a Home: Winning a Job

It appears Morgan has finally found his position and earned a starting job. He has graded out better than Rhyan according to Pro Football Focus and the coaches were pleased with his play against Cincinnati.

“[Morgan] has moved so much throughout his time here,” LaFleur admitted. “I didn’t feel comfortable going into the game with doing musical chairs up front throughout the whole week of practice.  I think in order for a guy to go out there and play their best, they’ve got to get the reps at that position. So, I made a decision, and it was truly up in the air with some of those guys. We didn’t know if they were going to be able to go. So, it was going to be somebody else at that position, like [Darian] Kinnard at right tackle, if need be, and we went with the decision to play [Morgan] at right guard.”

Morgan allowed just one pressure in 28 pass blocking opportunities in this game. He also scored his highest run blocking grade of the season according to PFF.

With Rhyan in the final year of his contract and Morgan settling in at right guard, the job appears to be his to lose. Now, he needs to put together a string of consistently good performances. The former first-round pick will return to Arizona this week as a starter. It could be the start of a new home for Morgan if he can stay healthy and take advantage of the opportunity.