Senior Bowl’s Jim Nagy on Packers’ First-Round Pick Jordan Morgan

The Green Bay Packers use their first-round pick on Arizona offensive tackle Jordan Morgan, one of nine players they picked from the Senior Bowl.

Jordan Morgan / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

GREEN BAY, Wis. – No team drafted more players from the Senior Bowl this year than the Green Bay Packers. Of their 11 selections in the 2024 NFL Draft, nine came from the Senior Bowl. The list starts with Green Bay’s first-round pick, Arizona offensive lineman Jordan Morgan.

“He was an easy guy for us to know we want to invite, right?” Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said in a lengthy phone call to cover Green Bay’s Senior Bowl standouts. “The athlete jumps off the tape. We’ve been on Jordan for a couple of years now. We thought we would maybe get him a year ago and then he tears that ACL in November of ’22.

“I think the Packers will be getting an even better player next fall. What we just watched this year was him less than a year removed from ACL surgery. He’s going to be stronger and probably more confident next year coming back. I think you’re even getting a better player than what you saw on tape. But I think he’s a left tackle athlete. You could definitely play him out there. And then I think he could be a really high-end guard, as well.”

Nagy isn’t big on comparing one player to another. In this case, he made an exception. He compared Morgan to Matthew Bergeron, who started at left tackle for his final 2 2/3 seasons at Syracuse. A second-round pick by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2023 draft, he started all 17 games at left guard and played 1,129 of 1,130 snaps.

“Talking to the Falcons guys, they’re really happy with how we played,” Nagy said.

He’s predicting the same amount of happiness from the Packers with Morgan.

“I know the Packers wanted to address the offensive line and they got a good one,” he said.

But at what position?

While Morgan is a “left tackle athlete,” to use Nagy’s words, he doesn’t have left tackle length.

Not even close, really.

With 32 7/8 inch-arms, Morgan’s length falls below the NFL’s threshold. Some teams use 34 inches as the cutoff, or at least their preference. The Packers have been much more lenient. Former Packers first-round pick Bryan Bulaga’s arms measured 33 1/4 inches, a fact he’d bring up occasionally during interviews.

Upon entering the Packers Hall of Fame in November, for instance, Bulaga thanked the late Ted Thompson, who “took a gamble on a short-armed, small-handed guy from Iowa.”

The Packers’ starting tackles last season were Zach Tom and Rasheed Walker, who both measured in at 33 1/4 inches at the 2022 Scouting Combine.

However, if arm length didn’t matter, teams wouldn’t measure it or take it into account with their scouting and projections.

So, is Morgan destined for life at guard or can he not just survive but thrive at left tackle?

“The measurement itself is probably substandard for where teams want it, but then you put on the tape and you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Does it show up or not?’ It hasn’t. They’ve had the verified measurables on this guy since last spring, so I’m sure everyone in the league was going through the fall looking at Jordan, as we did, saying, ‘OK, that’s one thing you’re picking apart right away. We know he doesn’t have 35-inch arms, so let’s really key in on that.’”

Morgan in 2023 allowed two sacks and 13 total pressures in 477 pass-protecting snaps over 12 games, according to Pro Football Focus. Again, that’s with him tearing an ACL on Nov. 12, 2022, and being back on the field for the Wildcats’ opener on Sept. 2. That was 294 days between injury and first game.

In Nagy’s opinion, “you don’t see a real lack of length.”

That’s because Morgan is athletic and technically sound.

The Packers are banking on all the positive assets covering up for his shorter-than-desired length. While they can always shift him to guard as a fallback option, using a first-round pick on a guard – unless he’s a stud – isn’t a good use of draft capital.

Long story short, the Packers are expecting Morgan’s athletic skill-set to translate to one of the most important positions on the field.

“You can negate that with having really quick hands and quick feet and staying in front of people,” Nagy said. “And that’s where the athlete comes in. He does a really good job of recovering and getting back in position. I think if the Packers saw it as a concern, they wouldn’t have taken him where they took him. I certainly didn’t see it as a concern. I think he’s a guy that can play tackle.”

Packers first-round pick Jordan Morgan / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Packers at the 2024 NFL Draft

Ranking the undrafted free agents

Liked/Didn’t Like | Our Day 3 draft grades | Five takeaways | National draft grades

Day 3: Evan Williams | Jacob Monk and Travis Glover | Kalen King

Day 2: Javon Bullard | Edgerrin Cooper | Marshawn Lloyd | Ty’Ron Hopper

Day 1: Jordan Morgan | Short arms