Elgton Jenkins Sends Message on Contract After Return to Practice

Elgton Jenkins told reporters Monday that he “for sure” thought about getting more financial assurances from the Green Bay Packers before making his move from starting left guard to starting center for them during the 2025 season.

A reworked contract is no longer the priority for Jenkins, though, after returning to the practice field for the Packers and making his debut at 2025 training camp this week.

“Right now, I’m not even thinking about that,” Jenkins said Monday. “It’s more so what I can do to help the team, just being present, you know what I’m saying? Getting good with the offensive line, building chemistry with the quarterbacks and the offensive line.”

Packers Activated Elgton Jenkins From the NFI List

Jenkins, a two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman, was one of the Packers’ most notable absences from the first week of camp. He had landed on the active/non-football injury (NFI) list when he reported on July 18 and stayed sidelined for their first four practices.

That changed on Monday, though, when Packers head coach Matt LaFleur announced that Jenkins would be coming off the NFI list before the team’s fifth practice and would begin to participate in individual drills as the team eased him back into the action.

“Yeah, he’ll be limited,” LaFleur said Monday. “I think he’s just doing individual. We’ll build him up.”

The Packers could take things slow with Jenkins after he skipped the entire offseason workout program in the spring. But once he returns to full-team drills and locks into place at center, the team will have a more genuine opportunity to evaluate its options for its opening-day offensive line, which will feature new starters at multiple spots.

Jenkins: Contract Not Reason Behind Skipping OTAs

When Jenkins did not attend workouts for the Packers in the spring, the belief was that he had chosen to stay away from the team while his representation worked on securing more future guarantees for him — to insulate his move to a lower-paid center role.

According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, Jenkins did not have an issue with moving to the center position for 2025, but he wanted the Packers to “make it more financially stable for him to do so” and rework the final two seasons of his current four-year, $68 million contract. He specifically reported that “Jenkins’ concerns are tied to future earnings.”

The way Jenkins tells it, though, family was the reason that kept him away.

“Honestly, I’m having changes in my family right now, so I wanted to spend more time with them,” Jenkins said Monday when asked if his contract motivated him to skip out on spring workouts with the team. “So it was best for me to spend time with my family.”

Will Packers Sign Elgton Jenkins to New Contract?

Jenkins might be turning his focus away from his contract and toward the 2025 season, but it is still fair to wonder if the Packers might rework his deal in the near future.

Jenkins has two years remaining on his current deal, but he has no guaranteed money left and is right to want at least some future assurances from the Packers as he prepares to move into a less lucrative offensive line position. The Packers could consider it if they feel Jenkins will be part of their plans beyond the 2026 season, but perhaps they would rather wait to see how he performs as their center before jumping into extension talks.

Jenkins started all 17 games for the Packers in 2024, but he did miss two games in each of his previous two seasons and a career-high nine games in 2021 with a torn ACL. He will also turn 30 in December, an age threshold that could give the team more pause.

Even still, the Packers could decide that Jenkins has served them well enough over his first six seasons in the league that he is worth extending before the end of the season. The market for interior offensive linemen will only go up the longer they wait, which means an equitable deal sooner rather than later could benefit the team and Jenkins.