3 underrated moves Green Bay Packers made in 2023 offseason

3. Green Bay Packers prevented Elgton Jenkins from hitting free agency

With the money that was flying around to some offensive linemen in 2023 NFL free agency, the Green Bay Packers did exceptionally well to prevent Elgton Jenkins from getting to the open market. They didn’t even let his agent get to shopping his name around at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.

Technically, the Packers didn’t even make this move in the 2023 offseason, but it was such a big part of their offseason plan that has gone overlooked. The Packers prevented offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins from getting to free agency with a four-year contract worth a very team-friendly $68 million and $24 million in guarantees at signing, all in the form of a signing bonus.

Jenkins has quickly become one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL after being drafted out of Mississippi State in 2019, and he’s done so by playing multiple positions extremely well. From the outside looking in, Jenkins is a pretty high-priced offensive guard, but he’s so much more than that to the Green Bay Packers.

This is a guy they can trust to play literally any position on the offensive line, and play it well. With David Bakhtiari healthy, the Packers have one of the best left sides on any offensive line in the league.

You’re not going to see the Packers’ move to re-sign Elgton Jenkins pop up on many prominent lists around football media. It’s not like they went out in free agency and made a huge splash. They kept one of their own at a fair price, and those moves typically don’t make headlines. But for the Green Bay Packers, it was arguably the most important move this team could have made in the last six months or so.