The bright side of having such a young team is that the Green Bay Packers will be able to keep almost their entire offensive roster together in 2024. As most of the pass-catchers played their first or second seasons, they still are under inexpensive rookie deals.

However, that's not exactly true for the offensive line. A starter and an important backup (and former starter) are slated to be unrestricted free agents: right guard Jon Runyan and swing tackle Yosh Nijman.

Jon Runyan

Runyan had his worst season since he became a starter in Green Bay in 2021, with a 54.7 PFF grade. He is still a useful piece, but the coaching staff started to rotate right guards in the middle of the season, with similar results from Runyan and second-year player Sean Rhyan.

In 2021, Runyan started at left guard because Elgton Jenkins had been moved to left tackle with David Bakhtiari's absence. In 2022, he split snaps on the right and left. And in 2023, he spent the entire season as a right guard. Maybe that's a problem, since he plays better on the left, but Jenkins is well established there.

The Packers would probably love to bring Runyan back — if not as a starter, as a swing interior lineman. After all, he can play both guard spots and even practiced (and had three snaps this year) at center.

The question now is the money. In free agency, Runyan will most likely find a team willing to pay him like a starter, and the Packers have no reason to do so.

Sean Rhyan is also not an ideal starter, but he's a better run blocker and has two cheap years left in his contract. Maybe the Packers will look at the draft to find a new right guard with Rhyan as the interior backup, and that would make Runyan disposable.

Yosh Nijman

The Nijman situation in 2023 was really strange. In the previous year, he started most of the season at right tackle, so the Packers used a $4 million second-round restricted free agent tender to keep him around. But he lost the starting right tackle job to Zach Tom, and then lost the swing tackle job to Rasheed Walker — who eventually became the starter at left tackle when David Bakhtiari got hurt.

Nijman alternated some games with Walker at LT and was the swing tackle after week 1, but it's hard to justify that high price for a backup lineman — especially considering how good the Packers have been to find o-line depth in the draft.

In general, though, it's hard to find viable starting tackles, and now Yosh Nijman is unrestricted. So the most likely scenario is that he finds a team willing to give him a starting job — or at least compete for one — and pay him accordingly.

If David Bakhtiari returns, the Packers will be at a good spot in terms of offensive tackle depth. If not, they might need to find new answers — in addition to an already existing interior depth issue. Maybe Brian Gutekunst doesn't need to draft an offensive lineman in the first round, but don't be surprised if he takes more than one in lower rounds.

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