The Most Important Packers: No. 8 — RT Zach Tom

Green Bay Packers guard Zach Tom (50) operates during the first half of an NFL game against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Green Bay Packers were arguably the most disappointing team in football last year. And perhaps no one did less with more than Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur.

Green Bay headed into the 2025 season with one of the NFL’s top rosters, then traded for star defensive end Micah Parsons 10 days before the year began. Suddenly, Packer Nation was dreaming of their first Super Bowl appearance since 2010.

Instead, Green Bay went a remarkably unsatisfying 9-8-1 overall and was the NFC’s No. 7 seed for a third consecutive year. The Packers then blew a 21-3 halftime lead in the Wild Card round against Chicago, gave up 25 fourth quarter points and eventually suffered a shocking 31-27 loss to the arch-rival Bears.

“No way you should lose games in this league when you’re up that much,” running back Josh Jacobs said.

Green Bay, which began the year 9-3-1, finished the season with five straight losses. The Packers now enter 2026 with the league’s fourth-longest losing streak.

Collapsing late in games was the story of Green Bay’s 2025 campaign.

Green Bay had double digit leads in the final minutes twice against Chicago and also vs. Cleveland and somehow went 0-3 in those games. The Packers’ odds of losing all three contests were 1-in-250,000, yet they somehow did it.

“That (expletive), it’s starting to get damn-near embarrassing,” safety Javon Bullard said.

Rebounding won’t be easy as the Packers were hit hard in free agency and didn't have a first round draft pick.

Green Bay’s first training camp practice is July 29. Between now and then I will count down the ‘30 Most Important Packers’ heading into the 2026 campaign.

At No. 8 is right tackle Zach Tom.

Last season

Tom signed a four-year, $88 million contract extension with the Packers last July. He then battled through a frustrating season in which he missed six games and couldn't finish three others due to injury.

Tom was Green Bay’s best lineman in the 12 games he played. Tom earned an 83.5 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked seventh among 89 qualifying offensive tackles. Tom’s pass-blocking grade of 78.5 ranked 15th and his run-blocking grade of 81.9 ranked 12th.

Tom allowed no sacks, one hit and 16 total pressures in pass protection. He was also flagged for just one penalty through the season.

Tom missed all but one snap, though, between Weeks 2-4 with an oblique injury. He then exited Green Bay’s Week 15 loss at Denver with a knee injury, which sidelined him the rest of the season.

Tom suffered a partially torn patellar tendon against the Broncos that needed offseason surgery. He’s expected back, though, sometime during training camp.

“I mean, I want to be full go by the start of camp, but I have to be cleared by the doctor,” Tom said. “I guess it really all depends on how I feel. I feel like we're making good progress, but we'll see how I feel in late (July), see where it goes from there.”

Career to date

Tom, a fourth round draft pick in 2022, started five games and played in nine as a rookie. Four of Tom’s starts came at left tackle and the other was at left guard.

Tom gave up just one sack in 489 offensive snaps in 2022 and finished with a grade of 68.3 from Pro Football Focus.

In 2023, Tom beat out veteran Yosh Nijman for the starting right tackle job during training camp, then delivered a terrific season.

In 1,068 snaps that year, Tom allowed just two sacks, had only three penalties and ranked 18th out of 89 eligible offensive tackles in Pro Football Focus’ pass-blocking efficiency metric.

Tom held his own that season against elite pass rushers such as Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson (twice), San Francisco’s Nick Bosa, Maxx Crosby of Las Vegas, Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt, the Los Angeles Chargers’ Khalil Mack and Minnesota’s Danielle Hunter.

Tom suffered a torn pectoral muscle while lifting weights at the Packers’ facility in April, 2024. He made it back by training camp, though, started all 17 games in 2024 and was named a first-team All-Pro at right tackle by PFF.

Tom’s overall Pro Football Focus grade of 87.5 in 2024 ranked fourth among the 140 tackles in football. His run-blocking grade of 90.0 ranked third among all tackles and his 82.1 pass blocking grade ranked 12th.

Outlook

Tom is the Packers’ best — and most important — offensive lineman. So there’s no way Green Bay will rush him back to the field this summer.

Tom is already a savvy veteran who doesn’t need practices in July to be ready for Week 1 in Minnesota. In mid-June, though, Tom said his recovery was moving along well and he expected to be back on the practice field sometime this summer.

“The goal, with the progress I'm making on the field and in the weight room, the goal should be that I'm at least doing something at the start of camp,” Tom said. “Hopefully I can get at least a couple of joint practices in, at least. Practicing against our guys is cool and all, but I mean, once you go against another team, that's real, that's more like real football, so hopefully I can get a couple joint prices.”

Green Bay had its poorest performing line of the Matt LaFleur-era in 2025. Tom’s return would be a big step towards fielding a high-level unit in 2026.

They said it …

“He’s so knowledgeable about his body, how he can set, how he can pass pro. He’s working the fundamentals we talk about football, but he is, looks like a smaller guy and he’s playing right tackle in the NFL. Still amazes me sometimes when I see him line up, especially next to (right guard) Anthony Belton. Just the recoverability, the strength that he has to be able to play at this level and the level he’s playing at. He’s going full-bore ahead.” — Packers offensive line coach Luke Butkus on Tom

“It's just one of those things where, it's the NFL. Injuries happen, and ... I think one thing you have to kind of come to the realization of is you're not going to be able to play through everything, and it happened, so there's really nothing you can do about it now. You know? There was no way I could play through it last year, so I’ve just got to come back better this year and restart, basically.” — Tom on battling back from injury

“He’s a pretty resilient guy, pretty steady Eddie and then he's overcome some things, too … and come back and played great football.” — Packers head coach Matt LaFleur on Tom