With Elgton Jenkins and Rasheed Walker leaving in free agency, the Green Bay Packers showed long-term commitments to Sean Rhyan and Aaron Banks. They brought back the first and reworked the latter’s contract so that moving on from him after this season would leave them with a $26.29 million dead cap hit in 2027, which would drop to $16.34 million in 2028, per Spotrac.
As such, one can only assume that they have high hopes for him, even after his glaring struggles last season. And with no obvious replacement on the team since Jordan Morgan will likely finally move to left tackle, it looks like Banks is under no pressure to lose his job. Whether that’s positive remains to be seen, but he’ll need to put in the work to turn the narrative around in 2026.
Aaron Banks Must Take a Huge Leap in 2026
The Packers gave Banks a four-year, $77 million deal in free agency last offseason. He responded by missing two games due to injuries and failing to create rushing lanes. That performance earned an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 53, which ranked 66th among 81 eligible guards.
Banks was dreadful as a pass protector, allowing 28 pressures, three QB hits, and two sacks. His pass-blocking grade (50.8) was the 13th-worst in the league. If that wasn’t bad enough, he was also flagged for penalties four times.
The Packers’ offensive line was a major issue last season. Injuries and subpar play put Josh Jacobs in a tough spot more often than not, with most of his carries leading to hits at or even behind the line of scrimmage.
Despite being stacked with talent and having an offensive-minded head coach, Matt LaFleur’s team ranked in the middle of the pack in most offensive categories. They ranked 16th in total yards per game (346.0) and points per game (23.9), 17th in passing yards per game (212.8), and 15th in rushing yards per game (119.8). That’s not what a Super Bowl-caliber team looks like.
Granted, blaming Banks for all of the team’s offensive struggles would be unfair and inaccurate, but he didn’t do much to help the offense’s case. The Packers can only hope that he’ll step up now that he’s healthy and will have another full training camp under this coaching staff. That said, he’s been in the league for five years with similar results, so this is probably as good as it will ever get with him.
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