The Green Bay Packers will open its NFC North schedule without one of the most expensive pieces of its rebuilt offensive line.
Left guard Aaron Banks, signed to a four-year, $77 million contract in March 2025 after four seasons in San Francisco, has been ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Packers announced the decision Sunday afternoon after Banks managed only limited work in Wednesday and Thursday practices while dealing with a knee injury that lingered through the summer.
The absence is more than a routine Week 1 scratch. Banks started 14 of 15 games last season and was expected to supply veteran stability between new left tackle Jordan Morgan and center Sean Rhyan.
In 2024, with the 49ers he posted a 91.7 percent pass-block win rate and a 69 percent run-block win rate, numbers that helped sell Green Bay on the free-agent investment. Replacing those snaps on short notice against a Brian Flores defense known for pressure and disguise is a tall order, especially on the road.
The Packers at least prepared for this exact scenario. Fifth-round rookie Jager Burton took first-team left-guard snaps throughout training camp while Banks was limited to individual work. By mid-August the team itself was saying a Burton start in Week 1 would no longer qualify as a surprise.
Head coach Matt LaFleur therefore has a rehearsed option rather than a last-minute emergency. Donovan Jennings remains listed behind Banks on the unofficial depth chart, but Burton’s camp work at the position gives the staff a clearer path forward.
There is one piece of better news along the line. Right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele, who entered the weekend with his own injury concern after offseason surgery, is active. That keeps the right side intact with Jacob Monk at right guard. The left side, however, will feature Morgan next to a first-year player in a hostile environment.
Minnesota also added veteran pass rusher Kyle Van Noy to the practice squad shortly before the opener, giving Flores another experienced piece familiar with his scheme.
Last season Green Bay’s line finished tied for seventh in the league with 29 sacks allowed and ranked second in third-down conversion rate at 48.8 percent. Those figures were built with Banks as a regular starter.
Jordan Love will now operate behind a front that has already undergone significant change—Morgan at left tackle, Rhyan at center, Monk at right guard—and is missing its highest-paid interior lineman for the first meaningful snaps of 2026.
The Packers spent August treating Banks’ availability as an open question rather than a certainty. That foresight is about to be tested.
Whether Burton can hold up against Minnesota’s front will go a long way toward determining how cleanly Green Bay’s offense can function in its division opener.
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