How di you figure the O line was addressed? Seems to me we got rid of a couple of starters and replaced them with our substandard depth and a 5th round draft pick.
Maybe I look at things differently there. So let’s look at our losses and gains, but before that let’s look at the effect of injury on the musical chairs.
1. Elgton Jenkins was lost to IR in Q2 of week 10 (9th game) of 2025. Elgton was very pedestrian overall after his move to Center “project” that started the prior season. He never regained his stellar 2022 Probowl season though and was very a pedestrian player at his new position. Now Rhyan came in and played admirably for someone with very limited experience at the position. IMO even a veteran OL needs a full offseason of work and a good 1/2 season of live snaps to gain momentum. That’s about where Rhyan is entering now. Even Corey Linsley struggled at Center after JC went out. That’s a starting C for OSU we’re taking about. He became a Probowler so it’s obviously not a lack of talent that had Rodgers yelling at him early on, it’s simply that that’s the captain of the OL and it’s not like playing Guard imo.
The move of Rhyan mid season thrust a Rookie OT into playing RG. Once again it’s one thing to transition from college to Pro speed and it’s another to change position, then get thrust into that new role 1/2 way into a Pro season. These are grown men they are adjusting to opposite side of the ball.
Aaron’s Banks suffered a Back injury a year ago in Camp. Then a foot injury sidelined him most of game and eventually he coupled those with a Stinger that happened mid season. He ended the season with an undisclosed illness, but it wasn’t a positive flow there. Amazingly he only missed 2 games but also missed parts of other games starting early season, including 30 snaps in Week 2 after injuring his ankle.
Zach Tom was on a similar path and playing through injury. An oblique core injury. Then an early season back flare up. Then suffered the final blow with a Patellar Tendon tear that sidelined him 5 contests to end his season. Not a good health version of Zach!
So here in 2025 we have potentially our 3 most tenured players in snaps all injured. Banks, Tom and Jenkins. That’s why we saw Kinnard and Belton so much and a constant rotation of Morgan across positions. While Morgan CAN do that, it’s not an ideal situation either.
