The Green Bay Packers broke a 12-year streak of not drafting an offensive lineman in the first round when they selected Jordan Morgan with the 25th pick in 2024. Morgan logged 186 blocking snaps as a rookie, including 104 in pass protection, where he allowed seven pressures and no sacks.
Green Bay drafted Morgan to play tackle, but 185 of his snaps came at guard and one as an inline tight end. His last appearance came in Week 9 against the Detroit Lions before a shoulder injury shut him down for a season.
“We didn’t see him as much at tackle, which is obviously what he played in college and what he was drafted as,” Brian Gutekunst said after the 2024 season.
Now that the preseason has ended, Gutekunst has until 3 p.m. Central to finalize Green Bay’s roster, and Morgan has given his general manager and the coaching staff plenty of reasons to open the year as Jordan Love’s blindside protector, thanks to his work throughout the offseason and preseason.
“I like what I’m seeing from Jordan,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said during training camp. “He’s competing at the tackle spot and the guard spot, and he’s looking pretty solid. So we’re going to have a lot of interesting choices up front, not only with him, but with a bunch of guys.”
Morgan moved back to left tackle at the start of OTAs and went on to take first-team reps during minicamp. He logged 36 total snaps in Green Bay’s 30-10 Week 1 preseason loss to the New York Jets, with 23 in pass protection, where he allowed no pressures, sacks, hurries, or quarterback hits, finishing with a perfect 100 pass-blocking efficiency.
In Week 2 of the preseason against the Indianapolis Colts, Morgan played 25 blocking snaps, including 15 in pass protection. Once again, he didn’t allow a single pressure, hurry, quarterback hit, or sack, earning an 88.2 pass-blocking grade and a perfect 100 pass-blocking efficiency.
After two preseason games, Morgan held a 91 pass-blocking grade — the highest among over 200 offensive linemen to log a snap this preseason.
“That was the big thing, just [to] see how he goes out there and plays,” Stenavich said after the Colts game when asked about the former first-rounder.
“He played against a really good D-end [in the Colts’ Laiatu Latu] and did a good job,” he added. “It was encouraging to see him out there, and it was good to see [him play well].”
Morgan only logged 18 blocking snaps in Green Bay’s preseason finale against the Seattle Seahawks, all of them at guard. He surrendered a hurry in that game, closing out the preseason with only one pressure allowed across 47 pass-blocking snaps. He gave up no pressures in 38 pass-blocking reps at left tackle.
Matt LaFleur stuck to his plan of letting Rasheed Walker and Morgan battle for the job, and now he’s left with a welcome dilemma. He came away impressed with what Morgan put on tape throughout the preseason, and offensive line coach Luke Butkus has echoed that sentiment.
“Whoever’s going to play the best, whoever’s playing the best will have a chance to play at left tackle,” Butkus said during preseason. “It’s a competition right now. J-Mo’s getting a little more reps; Sheed-O’s been banged up a little bit. It’s a good problem to have.”
We still don’t know if Morgan opens Week 1 as Green Bay’s left tackle. Regardless of where he starts, Packers fans have plenty of reason to feel optimistic about the future of their first-round pick. There’s a chance he could begin his career on the interior, but there’s no doubt his long-term future is on the outside.