What are the chances the 2021 starting oline is better than 2020

[Upnorth]

Bakh is out early. Linsley is gone. That's 2 all pros on this (poor by some people's judgement) great oline gone to start the season.
Is there any chance our oline is better in week 17 of this season (assuming no injuries) than last year?
I say compared to do 17 for a reason, that way bakh is out if the equation.

Jenkins is still getting better. Our 3 2020 draft picks have more experience and a real camp. Meyers has a ton of promise. I actually think if no major injuries occur we will be better. Am I on crack? Or just too much offseason optimism?

[Spaulding]

Optimism is good, crack is bad - it's that simple. However I share your optimism as well. For some reason I think the flexibility and growth of the existing players will help offset the temporary loss of Bak and permanent loss of Lindsley. We just need a young player to push Turner for the other starting tackle position as I feel the guard play and Myers at center should be as solid.

[RashanGary]

We could easily be better than we were during the playoffs because of Bakh. The full season when we had Bakh, I think last years unit was better, but we’re set up with a unit that can finish stronger than a year ago with a health break or two.

[run pMc]

Better this year in week 17 vs. last year in week 17? APRH, it's pretty close.

I think Turner at RT is better than Wagner.
Not sure who plays RG, worst case scenario it's Lucas Patrick.
Myers < Linsley at C.
Jenkins is a pro bowl LG
Bahk at LT > Turner at LT.

If your OL is healthy it could be an improvement simply because of who is at tackle. I struggle to see Myers as a rookie playing as well as Linsley did.
I could see the line being better in weeks 16-17 than weeks 1-4 simply because Myers should get better, Bahktiari will be back, and the lineup hopefully solidified by then.

[sharpe1027]

Sure, if they all stay healthy. I think you have to expect 1-2 injuries. The odds they all stay healthy aren't great.

[texaspackerbacker]

Who can say Myers < Linsley? The team sure didn't drop off much if any without Bakhtiari last season. I hope he plays sooner rather than later, but I don't expect it to make much difference if he doesn't. Turner probably is better than Wagner, but the team also did about as well with Wagner there. Jenkins is in fact damn good, and I think a lot better at Left Guard than the other places he played. Patrick wasn't horrible at RG - either that or he was and it didn't make any difference. I think I'd rather see Runyon there, Stenavich is damn good as an O Line coach, and however he chooses to arrange them, I'm confident it will be damn good.

The bottom line, of course, as always, if Rodgers isn't there, none of this matters. The team is down the drain anyway. And if Rodgers is there, we could again get by with a much less than super O Line performance.

[King Friday]

I agree with the assessment that the OL play matters more about Rodgers bring under center than anything else. Rodgers can read the defense and make quick decisions that allow for an OL to not need to pass block for 3-4 seconds. If we have Love under center, the OL is going to look statistically worse even if they in fact were a better unit.

I have confidence in our OL coach. Most of the kids we've brought in lately have become capable players. Everyone was crying that the loss of Bulaga would be a huge detriment. I didn't see that come to fruition last year. I'm guessing the loss of Linsley will also turn out to be rather muted. To me, the OL is one of the easiest areas to plug and play if your team has a good plan on the type of linemen they need and can get those guys. To this point, the Packers have done that well in the last decade, and I'm not sure why that would change now.

[bobblehead]

If bak returns to form and Jenkins ends up at RT I think it could be subtly better, but more likely about the same. And that is with assumptions. The truth is we lost and All Pro center. If we move Jenkins we lose ground at LG while gaining ground at RT. How much we would lose and Josh Myers will determine if this line is slightly less, equal, or slightly better. And as someone above said "Better in week 17?" Yes, it absolutely can be.

[run pMc]

If bak returns to form and Jenkins ends up at RT I think it could be subtly better, but more likely about the same. And that is with assumptions. The truth is we lost and All Pro center. If we move Jenkins we lose ground at LG while gaining ground at RT. How much we would lose and Josh Myers will determine if this line is slightly less, equal, or slightly better. And as someone above said "Better in week 17?" Yes, it absolutely can be.

I think Turner is better at T than G, and Jenkins is better at G than T, so not sure why Jenkins plays at RT over Turner. I guess we can disagree there.


Who can say Myers < Linsley?
You can't say for sure, but people seem pretty certain Love < Rodgers without seeing him play a real game. I think it comes down to Linsley's been there and done that at a high level, Myers hasn't done anything yet. Expecting a rookie to step in and play at an All-Pro level is an incredibly high and unrealistic expectation IMO. Myers could turn out to be a better player than Linsley, and I think there's a very good chance that in 2 years Myers will clearly be better. Linsley's 30 next month and has had a number of injuries, including a recurring back injury. Back injuries and OL are a bad mix as they tend to shorten their careers significantly.

[smuggler]

Week 18 of '21 will presumably have Bakhtiari back up to speed. On that alone, it is probably better than Week 17 of '20.

[Fritz]

I think if one of the rooks or a second or third year guy can step up and play right tackle effectively, leaving Jenkins at LG and Turner at LT until Bakh comes back, would be the key to this happening.

[NewsBruin]

Every year since the mid-90s and Frankie Winters, we have underdrafted, underathletic offensive linemen who are playing on one shared ligament by the midseason and are crapshoots to successfully get out of bed by the homestretch, and (almost) every season we're talked about as an above-average run-setting and pass-blocking offensive line unit, and I've decided i have no idea how to evaluate offensive line play.

[Joemailman]

I think if one of the rooks or a second or third year guy can step up and play right tackle effectively, leaving Jenkins at LG and Turner at LT until Bakh comes back, would be the key to this happening.
I think the plan is to have Jenkins at LT until Bakh is back with Turner at RT and somebody, maybe Runyan, at LG. I think that's what they should have done in the NGCCG.

[Fritz]

Probably. Poor Rick Wagner just could not move quickly enough to block his guy.