Anthony Belton is only entering his second season with the Green Bay Packers, so it’s way too early to label him anything close to a bust. Still, based on his 2025 performance and the long-term outlook of Green Bay’s offensive line, it’s fair to have at least some concern about where he stands.
Belton opened the season as a backup tackle but was moved to right guard after Elgton Jenkins went down with a lower-leg injury, pushing Sean Rhyan over to center. On the inside, he allowed an 8.91% pressure rate, which ranked 32nd among right guards. The tape alone doesn’t suggest a good year, and the numbers make it look worse.
“Belton looks like the right guard of the future,” ESPN’S Rob Demovsky wrote.
The team clearly still believes in the upside, even if the early returns were shaky.
The former North Carolina State guard is better suited to play tackle, given his size and frame. The issue is that the Packers have their long-term tackles. Zach Tom has become a core piece of the offense and is locked in at right tackle for the foreseeable future.
On the left side, Jordan Morgan should be the next man up for Rasheed Walker — who is about to hit free agency — as the blindside protector for Jordan Love. That makes the long-term fit a bit harder to project.
Belton could develop into a swing tackle, but the Packers didn’t spend a second-round pick on him to develop him into a backup. There should be an opportunity for him to compete inside. Green Bay will probably cut Jenkins once the new league year starts, Sean Rhyan is headed for free agency, Aaron Banks allowed the fifth-highest pressure rate among left guards, and Jacob Monk hasn’t really seen the field yet. The path to a starting job on the interior is there if he earns it.
“Really proud of him. [He] brought a different kind of physicality to us, aggressiveness, love the way he finishes,” Brian Gutelunst said of Belton during his season-ending press conference. “Really excited to see where his career takes him, I think he’s going to be an impactful player for us moving forward.”
It’s also important to remember that Belton didn’t play guard at North Carolina. He was basically a rookie learning a new position after arriving in Green Bay last year, which is a tough adjustment for any lineman.
With a full offseason focused on interior work — technique, leverage, and processing quicker looks inside — he has a chance to take a step forward and become more dependable at guard. But right now, the reality is that he hasn’t shown he’s solid there yet, and he doesn’t project as a starter at tackle either. That puts extra pressure on his development, because the interior line already has issues, and they can’t really afford another weak spot.
My early projection for Green Bay’s line in Week 1 has Jordan Morgan and Zach Tom at tackle, with Aaron Banks and Anthony Belton at guard. They’ll probably keep adding to the trenches through free agency and the draft, but Belton needs steady snaps for his development to really speed up.
He’s not going to improve sitting in a swing tackle role. The best path forward is live reps inside — let him get his hands dirty and grow through real game action.
