Packers’ Matt LaFleur Calls Out Starter After Week 6 Benching

The Green Bay Packers sound like they are preparing to have a new starter at right guard in Week 7 after attempting to bench Royce Newman last week.

The Packers replaced Newman with backup Jake Hanson late in the second quarter of their 27-10 loss to the New York Jets after Newman struggled once again to properly pick up his blocks and keep pressure off of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Unfortunately, Hanson suffered a biceps injury and played for just one series before Newman had to come back in to relieve him for the remainder of the game.

Had Hanson not gotten injured, though, the plan was to leave Newman on the bench.

“Yeah, you rarely make a switch and then go the other way on it unless he wasn’t getting it done, so that was unfortunate for Jake,” LaFleur told reporters during his Monday press conference on October 17. “It was a tough one.”

Even tougher was watching Newman play out the rest of the game. The 2021 fourth-round pick allowed a season-high five pressures in Week 6’s loss, including three hurries and one sack on his 48 pass-blocking snaps. Newman has now allowed a sack and at least three pressures in four of his six games this season, per Pro Football Focus.

Newman’s performance was so bad that LaFleur — who rarely singles out his players for their mistakes — called him out while describing a situation where mental errors hurt the Packers against the Jets.

Newman’s Mental Mistakes are Costing the Packers

The Packers had many things going wrong many times through their home loss to the Jets, but the play of the offensive line was, perhaps, the most noticeable. Rodgers was sacked four times and constantly working under duress as Green Bay allowed a season-high 13 pressures on their quarterback.

To the credit of the Jets, their defensive line ran a number of stunts and twists that kept the Packers’ offensive line off-balance and effectively limited their passing game. The problem was, even when the stunts were recognized, Newman couldn’t figure it out. One play, in particular, exemplified Newman’s ineffectiveness for LaFleur, even if the coach did concede he was far from the only one committing mental mistakes.

“They ran a corner blitz on us and Elgton saw it, communicated that it was coming and we didn’t pick it up,” LaFleur said. “He did, it’s just that we need Royce to come with him and he didn’t come with him. That was just one example. There were many examples of where all 11 guys weren’t on the same page with some mental errors. That’s what’s so discouraging.”

Packers Can Still Change OL Without Hanson

The Packers have not disclosed the extent of Hanson’s biceps injury, but there is a good chance he won’t be available as a backup plan for Newman in Week 7 considering it was bad enough to shut him down for the entire second half against the Jets. The good news, though, is that the Packers can still make some adjustments at right guard that involve moving Newman to the bench.

One of the most-discussed options is moving Yosh Nijman — who started at left tackle for a large chunk of 2021 and has been alternating with David Bakhtiari since his return — to the right side and allowing Elgton Jenkins to slide inside again. Jenkins has drawn some praise for his ability to play any of the five spots, but he has looked rough at right tackle thus far and was previously playing at a Pro Bowl level at guard.

If Jenkins moved inside, he would most likely reclaim his former role at left guard and leave the Packers to move Jon Runyan Jr. over to the right side. The Packers could, however, choose to leave Jenkins at right tackle and instead replace Newman with fourth-round rookie Zach Tom, who stood out in the preseason.

“I think everything is up for discussion,” LaFleur said on Monday.