One of the fiercest competitions in training camp was for the left guard position. Some of you might not get excited about a good ole-fashioned lineman battle. But as a former lineman, I fucking love it. It is always fun to see a couple of hog mollies go at it in the trenches for a starting position. Lane Taylor came out on top over Elgton Jenkins for the starting role. This surprised a few people considering some predictions for the 53-man roster had Taylor no longer on the team. Instead, he will be starting in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears. Considering the schedule, this is the right move for the Packers to make if the race was as close as the reports were about the battle.

Green Bay Packers do not ease into their 2019 season. They have to face some of the toughest defenses in the National Footbal League in the first five weeks of the season. That would have been a lot to ask for with Jenkins. Chicago and Minnesota might have been the hardest of the five. Going up against two elite front sevens in your first two starts is not exactly the confidence builder you want. Taylor didn’t have a great 2018 campaign hence the reason for upgrades at the guard position. But he has a familiarity with what he will face when it comes to Chicago and Minnesota. This will be nothing new to him.

Jenkins will get his chance this season. He is the first one off the bench for this team. I don’t think he can play tackle, but he can play both guard positions plus the center spot. For the last two years, Green Bay didn’t have that sixth lineman you felt good about if anyone went down with injury. In the past, you had players like Taylor and J.C. Tretter filling that sixth lineman position and those were good options. Jenkins is a tremendous player to have in your back pocket.

We’ll see what type of leash the Packers give Taylor. My guess is that it will be long considering the opponents in the first few weeks but if they need to make a change, they’ll do it later in the year.

Charlie.