With ‘Ceiling Still High,’ Rhyan Earns Chance to Start

After working Sean Rhyan into the lineup last year, the Packers doubled down for the stretch run. His strong play, especially in the run game, will give him a chance to earn the starting job at right guard.

Green Bay Packers guard Sean Rhyan (75) high-fives fans at training camp in 2022. / Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Sean Rhyan isn’t going to give up the starting job at right guard without a fight.

Nor should he.

It’s not just that Rhyan split snaps with Jon Runyan last season. It’s that he split the most important snaps of the season. When it was time to make a playoff run, the Packers could have focused on Runyan, the proven veteran. Instead, they doubled down and gave more snaps to Rhyan.

Rhyan didn’t play a single snap from scrimmage until Game 8 against the Rams. After playing about 10 snaps per game for five weeks, Rhyan averaged 32.5 snaps during the final four games of the regular season, then played 26 in the playoff win vs. Dallas and 20 in the playoff loss vs. San Francisco.

“I was really able to showcase that I’m able to play at this level as well as show myself that I can play at this level,” Rhyan said recently at Packers OTAs. “In that last game blocking Arik Armstead a couple times, going back and forth with him, it’s fun. It’s good. It’s comforting knowing that I can still play the game to the level that I expect myself to. The ceiling is still high.”

Rhyan might not have been great in 183 snaps, but that high ceiling got him on the field and kept him on the field for a series of must-win games. Therefore, it was no surprise whatsoever that Rhyan took most of the No. 1 snaps through three weeks of organized team activities.

Rhyan’s power in the run game could change the face of the offense if he enters the regular season as the starter. 

According to league data, the Packers averaged 0.78 more yards per rushing attempt with Rhyan on the field compared to when he was not in the lineup. That was the best mark on the team – just ahead of Christian Watson, a field-stretching receiver, and Aaron Jones, a game-changing running back. It was also second-best among all NFL guards behind only Miami’s Isaiah Wynn.

“It was great to see Sean grow,” offensive line coach Luke Butkus said before the start of Packers OTAs. “Sean works at it. He loves football. He wants to go out and play, he wants to get a chance. When he had his chance last year, he improved. He is a big, strong kid, man. When you hold those bags for our players when you’re holding the bag for Sean Rhyan, you feel it.”

Rhyan was a third-round pick in 2022. It would have been impossible for his rookie year to have gone worse. He played in one game – he logged one snap on special teams and zero on offense – and finished the season serving a six-game suspension for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

“I brought it to everyone’s attention that I f***ed up and told them it’s never going to happen again,” Rhyan said of what he told his teammates.

Rhyan entered last year with his career at a fork in the road.

“You’re faced with a decision and you’re either going to let it tank you or let it feel you. So, I kind of did the feel aspect,” Rhyan said.

Part of that was eating better and improving his stamina.

“I think the thing that jumps out to me most is just his conditioning level is so much better than when he first got into the league,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week. “His ability to string together many plays, shoot, I remember when he first got here, a couple plays in, he might have three great plays but he was gassed. So, I think that’s something that he’s had to learn and work really hard at, and I think he’s done a really good job with that.”

Obviously, as a third-round pick, the Packers would like Rhyan in the starting lineup. This year’s first-round pick, Jordan Morgan, will challenge at that position as well as left tackle.

Rhyan’s growth last year – he allowed zero sacks, zero hits and eight total pressures in 128 pass-protecting snaps last year, according to Pro Football Focus – will give him more than a puncher’s chance.

“I’m my own hardest critic,” Rhyan said. “You know, coming into the league, ‘You’re like, ‘Oh, man.’ All the rookies, even the people who say they don’t, it’s still back there. This is the league now. After last year starting and going out there, it’s just ball. It’s definitely a confidence booster. I’m not going to say that I’m the best O-lineman in the league, but I can still play a little bit. It’s fun.”

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