Gutekunst Dismisses Morgan’s Short Story

The Green Bay Packers used their first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Arizona left tackle Jordan Morgan. Here’s what GM Brian Gutekunst had to say about him.

Packers first-round pick Jordan Morgan / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With 32 7/8-inch arms, Green Bay Packers first-round pick Jordan Morgan was almost universally considered a guard by the draft industrial complex.

Not so fast.

“He played left tackle, he’s got left tackle feet, very athletic kid,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Thursday night.

Where Morgan will start – as in his career, not in the Week 1 lineup – remains to be seen. Every snap of his college career came at left tackle. Could he challenge incumbent starter Rasheed Walker? Certainly. Could he challenge Sean Rhyan at right guard? Maybe, though that would require learning a new position and new footwork with the left-to-right transition.

“I think, obviously, a lot’s going to depend on the player,” Gutekunst said. “He’s played left tackle. He’s got 37-plus starts at left tackle, so that’s what he’s done but, at the same time, he’s a really smart kid. I think that’s one of those things, I don’t know if you really know if he can do that early on until you get him in the building and see how he grasps things and stuff like that. But we would expect he’ll be a quick learner and be able to pick up whatever they ask him to do.”

The Packers are sticklers on a lot of testing numbers but arm length for their blockers has not really been among them. The team’s starting tackles, Walker and Zach Tom, have 33 1/4-inch arms. So did Packers Hall of Fame right tackle Bryan Bulaga.

However, arm length is deemed important by scouts for a reason. As one scout said, the biggest mismatch on the field is the offense’s tackles against the defense’s edge rushers. The Minnesota Vikings traded up for Alabama edge Dallas Turner, who ran his 40 in 4.46 seconds. Long arms give offensive tackles the reach to help keep those cat-quick pass rushers at bay.

Morgan will have no such advantage. He will have to rely on athleticism, fundamentals and technique to get the job done.

“Certainly, the longer the better, but we’ve had a bunch of guys that have played outside there with not [possessing] prototypical arm length and been fine,” Gutekunst said. “I think what makes up for it usually is their feet and athleticism, and that’s what Jordan has.”

Morgan gave up one sack in 2022, when he missed the final couple games following a torn ACL. In 2023, he returned for every game and allowed just two sacks. Against a UCLA defense that featured Laiatu Latu, a first-team All-American who led the nation in tackles for losses per game and was the first defensive player selected on Thursday, Morgan allowed one pressure in 39 pass-protecting snaps, according to PFF. A team captain, Morgan was named first-team all-conference.

“Just a strong character guy,” Gutekunst said. “Going through the adversity of the ACL and coming through the other side of it. Two-time team captain. The way the people at Arizona speak of him, [he’s] the right kind of guy for our locker room. I think he’ll fit in great.

“Whenever you’re picking this high, that gives you a comfort level that whatever his ultimate potential is, he’s got the work ethic to get there and kind of put the team above himself. That was something that was obviously very appealing to us.”

The Packers had other options at No. 25, including cornerback, where Iowa’s Cooper DeJean and Alabama’s Kool-Aid McKinstry were available. But Gutekunst couldn’t pass up a chance to rebuild an offensive line that lost David Bakhtiari, Jon Runyan and Yosh Nijman this offseason. 

The Packers covet versatility among its blockers; Gutekunst said Morgan is a four-position player.

And that includes left tackle, no matter what the tape measure says.

“It’s offensive line and a guy who played offensive tackle, which is just hard to come by,” Gutekunst said. “We feel really good about our group. We did lose some depth through the process this spring. I don’t know if you could ever have enough of them.

“If you can protect your quarterback, particularly one like we have, you have a chance to win the football game. We were pretty fortunate with injuries for the most part last year, and the guys that had to step up did a nice job. We rotated some guys last year that we won’t be able to rotate this year. To me, I think we needed to add some things to this group, and Jordan just fit us.”

The NFL Draft began on Thursday in Detroit. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

2024 NFL Draft

First Round: Jordan Morgan