Green Bay Packers star offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins is making headlines for the wrong reasons in the weeks leading up to the start of the team’s OTAs.
According to TMZ Sports, Jenkins was involved in a “tense dispute” at a strip club in Georgia last week that resulted in police being called to “mitigate” the situation.
The report alleged that Jenkins and his friends paid to get into the King of Diamonds strip club in Forest Park, Georgia, but started arguing with the club’s staff about getting a friend shortly after they arrived and found it “wasn’t as lively as they had been told.”
“They asked for a refund,” TMZ Sports reported on May 10. “A spat ensued — as there was apparently some difficulty in returning the money back to the footballer. The Forest Park Police Department was actually called out to the scene and in body-camera footage we obtained, you can see multiple officers arrive to get a handle on the situation.”
TMZ Sports included a little more than six minutes of body-camera footage in the report, but it revealed little about the situation other than that Jenkins was present. They also noted that police made no arrests and issued no citations for the incident.
Jenkins — a two-time Pro Bowler — will expectedly return to Green Bay in the coming weeks with the Packers beginning OTAs on May 27. He could wait until the team holds its mandatory veteran minicamp from June 10-12, though, as a long-tenured veteran.
The Packers are currently moving through the voluntary portion of their 2025 offseason program.
Elgton Jenkins Will Move to Center for Packers in 2025
Jenkins is gearing up for a significant change in his role with the Packers for the 2025 season after general manager Brian Gutekunst confirmed at the NFL owners meeting that he will move from left guard to center for his upcoming seventh year in the league.
“Yeah, we’ve had plenty of conversations with Elgton leading up to [the Packers signing veteran left guard Aaron Banks’ signing in NFL free agency] and obviously he played center in college,” Gutekunst said. “We feel he has a chance to be an All-Pro center.”
For quite some time, the Packers have known about Jenkins’ ability to competently play all five positions on their offensive line. He has dominated as their starting left guard, but he has also done well in spot work at both center and right tackle during his career.
Fortunately, Jenkins’ versatility allowed the Packers to work their way out of a jam this offseason. They needed to replace free-agent center Josh Myers as their starter, but had limited options in free agency and the draft, especially when two of the best centers on the market signed with Chicago (Drew Dalman) and Minnesota (Ryan Kelly) early on.
Rather than reach for a less impressive center, the Packers signed one of the top guards in Banks and committed to moving Jenkins to their biggest position of need, trusting that Jenkins will adjust to his new role and snapping duties while staying at a high level.
Not a bad process … if it works.
Packers to Have Multiple OL Position Battles in Camp
The Packers could have more changes on their offensive line than just Jenkins in 2025.
At right guard, the Packers will have Sean Rhyan duking it out with 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan. Rhyan started all 17 games at the spot in 2024 and showed quite a bit of promise as a pass-blocker. That said, Morgan never had much of a chance to win the job as a rookie due to injuries and could legitimately push Rhyan out of his seat if he comes into camp healthy and undeniably shows off his first-round skill set.
The Packers could also have a battle brewing at left tackle.
While Rasheed Walker is back and looking to build upon his second season as a full-time starting left tackle in 2024, the Packers also selected former North Carolina State left tackle Anthony Belton in the second round of last month’s NFL draft. Belton may need time to learn, but he could win the job if he hits the ground running, too.
However it all breaks down, the Packers are at least in a better spot in terms of depth.
