Zach Tom has emerged as one of the best right tackles in the National Football League. He finished the 2023 season 16th among offensive tackles in ESPN’s Pass Block Win Rate (PBWR), with 341 charted “wins” in 375 plays (91%). And when he faced off against three of the premiere pass rushers in the game – T.J. Watt, Aidan Hutchinson, and Cameron Jordan – he was stellar, allowing only nine QB pressures in 125 pass-blocking snaps. He did not allow a single sack of quarterback Jordan Love against those players and only gave up two sacks for the entire season. So while Tom is a foundational piece on the offensive line for the Green Bay Packers, is he best suited for his current position, or could he eventually move to center, a position currently manned by Josh Myers, who is set to become a free agent in 2025? 

General manager Brian Gutekunst said at the NFL Combine that “when a guy has a lot of success at one spot, it's tougher to pull him out of there,” according to Packers.com. However, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported Friday that some within the organization believe Tom’s ceiling is much higher at the center position. 

“They think Zach Tom is a Pro Bowl right tackle, an All-Pro guard, and a potential Hall of Fame center,” Demovsky said during an appearance on Wilde & Tausch. 

Perhaps the biggest question that the Packers have to answer: what is more valuable to the success of the offensive line – a Pro Bowl right tackle or a potential Hall of Fame center? Tackle is one of the premier positions in football; on the other hand, you cannot ignore a Hall of Fame caliber player at any position along the offensive line. 

Regardless, from my vantage point, the solution is simple, and it is one borrowed from head coach Matt LaFleur: find the five best offensive linemen. 

This wouldn’t even be an exercise if Gutekunst drafted center Creed Humphrey, instead of Myers, in the 2021 NFL Draft, but I digress. 

Tom, luckily, is not a stranger to the center position, having made 14 starts during his four-year career at Wake Forest. In over 3,000 total career snaps with the Demon Deacons, Tom only allowed two sacks. The Louisiana native also received some snaps at the position during last year’s training camp. 

Would Tom start at center immediately in 2024, shifting Myers over to right guard to compete with Sean Rhyan? If so, that would create a pressing need at right tackle and lend itself to Gutekunst spending a first-round pick on the position. 

The Packers are fortunate to have this type of puzzle on their hands, as this year’s draft class is loaded with talent at the tackle position. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler and CHTV’s own Joseph Randolph each have 12 offensive tackles in their respective top 100 rankings. Green Bay has five selections in the top 100. 

If Green Bay opts to use its first-round pick to address another need, selecting an offensive lineman in the subsequent rounds has worked out well for the organization. Gutekunst has found two starting tackles, Tom and Rasheed Walker, in the fourth round and seventh round, respectively. 

Speaking of Walker, another piece of this puzzle that needs to be figured out is what the organization truly thinks of the long-term prospects of Walker at left tackle. While Walker finished tied for first in PBWR among offensive tackles, he did struggle at points last season. 

With all of these question marks along the offensive line, coupled with serious depth concerns, it seems all but guaranteed at this point that Green Bay will draft multiple offensive linemen, similar to what the franchise did in 2020, 2021, and 2022. 

The Packers have been no strangers to shuffling the deck along the offensive line since head coach Matt LaFleur took over the helm, and the upcoming season is poised to be no different because, at the end of the day, it’s all about finding the five best offensive linemen to protect your franchise quarterback.