“He’s a left tackle all the way,” said Bill Belichick on the Pat McAfee Show after the 2024 NFL Draft. The legendary coach, owner of 8 Super Bowl rings, was discussing the Packers’ surprising-to-some first round selection of University of Arizona tackle Jordan Morgan, taken 25th overall. 

Marveling at Morgan’s abundant size and athleticism, and shunning any doubters, Belichick posited that players like Morgan “don’t grow on trees” adding, “there was no way [Morgan] was getting out of the first round. I think there are other teams that would have taken him if [the Packers] didn’t.”

Indeed, Morgan was a dominant left tackle for the University of Arizona. He started 37 games at the position, including 33 in his final three seasons. He earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors in 2022 and 2023, and allowed only two sacks in 787 snaps during his final 2023 season, when he helped lead the Wildcats' offense to top-20 national rankings in passing offense and total offense.

Yet, despite his collegiate success and consistency at the left tackle position, the Packers quickly shifted Morgan inside, to right guard. The reasoning was likely a combination of two factors. One, Rasheed Walker, a 7th round pick, had performed admirably well in relief of injured David Bakhtiari, and two, the Packers felt Morgan possessed the strength and versatility to succeed on the interior. 

Discussing Morgan’s positional switch the summer after the ‘24 draft, Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich had this to say: “I think with that with young guys, you want to start them at a spot. You don’t want to move them around as much just so they can hone in on the techniques and the assignments and all that stuff. And when you look at the big picture, where we think he would compete best this year for a starting role, we looked and we thought the right guard position was the best spot.”

In the two seasons since Stenavich’s comments, Morgan hasn’t exactly locked down the job at right guard. For sure, Morgan has been a valuable contributor to the Packers’ offensive success, but he’s been much more of a utility piece than anchor.  

Last year, Morgan made starts at four different positions. He played 358 snaps at right guard, 191 at left guard, and 148 at right tackle, and 51 at left tackle. And while he earned the most work at right guard, he eventually ceded that position to another tackle-turned-guard, 2025 draft pick, Anthony Belton. 

The frequent shifting has clearly weighed on Morgan. Speaking to reporters after the Packers Week 16 overtime loss to the Bears this past season, Morgan voiced some of that dissatisfaction. 

“Sometimes it gets frustrating, especially me being a second-year guy and not doing that in college. Being one spot in college, and then coming to the league and playing a bunch of positions, it gets to you sometimes. But overall, you’ve just got to put your head down and do it,” Morgan said. “They know what type of player I am. They know where I succeed the most at. It’s just this season, a lot of things have happened. So just got to adapt to it and play where they need you.”

This coming year, Morgan may get his wish. His musical chairs may finally shift to his comfortable recliner. Walker is now an unrestricted free agent. Still unsigned as of this writing, the coveted Walker projects to sign a lucrative deal elsewhere, netting the Packers a nice compensatory pick in the 2027 NFL draft. Absent a Trent Williams bombshell, the door appears to be open for Morgan’s return to his left tackle roots. 

Perhaps this was the plan all along. The Packers, at least in recent times, have been a team with stability at left tackle. For 21 of the last 25 years, the position was anchored by two players who never wore another team’s uniform, Chad Clifton (2000-2011) and David Bakhtiari (2013-2023). The only years where the Packers lacked that long term anchor was with Walker and the Marshall Newhouse experiment of 2012 (the result of an unanticipated Derek Sherrod injury).

Also, while Walker has certainly proven himself to be a capable starting left tackle, nobody would confuse his play with that of 2x Pro Bowler Clifton or 3x Pro Bowler Bakhtiari. With Morgan, we don't know what his ceiling is at left tackle, but it could be extremely high. His college tape was good enough for the Packers to pull the first round trigger, and Belichick and many others seemed to agree.

If Morgan can return to the dominant play of his Arizona days, he may command the position for the next decade. More importantly, he would provide the Packers with an immediate upgrade at one of the game's premier positions. Stability at both tackles could feasibly bleed into the interior, allowing Banks, Rhyan, and Belton to gel and level up their games. 

Morgan is the key to all of it – and the measure of his success this upcoming season might arguably be the biggest determining factor for the Packers’ success.