Packers have high expectations for Zach Bako-Bewele's replacement

It's going to be hard for the Green Bay Packers to replace right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele.

Sure, he was injured for much of the 2025 season, back when he was known as Zach Tom. So, in a sense, they're used to playing without him.

In 2023 and 2024, though, Bako-Bewele was one of the elite right tackles in football. He started 37 games in that span, including playoffs, and was ranked as the sixth-best offensive tackle in the league in 2024 by PFF.

You don't just replace that type of player, even if he was something of a question mark coming off an injury.

To their credit, the Packers did have a Plan B all of the season, though, and that plan is now being executed in the form of 2025 second-round pick Anthony Belton.

Belton finished last season as the starting right guard, and many expected him to retain that starting job heading into this season. The Packers played him at tackle throughout training camp, though, and the reason for that was that they felt the need to have a reliable backup plan in case Bako-Bewele was not able to come back well from the partially torn patellar tendon that required offseason surgery.

That's the same patellar tendon that he tore in Week 2 against the New York Jets.

So now, almost like a sleeper cell, the Packers have activated Belton as their new starter at right tackle.

Green Bay Packers confident in Anthony Belton at right tackle

Belton played the final 56 snaps of Green Bay's win over the Jets at right tackle

"I thought he did a nice job," offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said of Belton, according to the team website. "Obviously, we kind of kept him over there (at right tackle during training camp). I didn't want to say that we knew this would happen, but just in case and unfortunately it did happen, and he stepped in and did a nice job. Expecting him to just anchor down the right side and do a great job."

Belton is a big dude who checks in at 6-foot-6, 336 pounds. He's physical and great "in a phone booth", which made him an ideal guard. The Packers like that size and physicality at tackle, though, which is why they kept repping him there throughout the season.

He'll now get a chance to prove himself and prove the Packers' plan right, but it sounds as if Stenavich already believes that there's nothing to worry about at right tackle moving forward.

He believes Belton can be an anchor, and the Packers certainly need that type of stability right now.