The Most Important Packers: No. 19 — LG Aaron Banks

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. 19 is left guard Aaron Banks.

Banks signed a four-year, $77 million contract in free agency in March, 2025, then struggled with injuries and inconsistency during his first season in Green Bay.

Banks suffered a back injury early in training camp that sidelined him for a stretch. Then he was inactive for Week 2 (ankle and groin) and Week 4 (groin).

Banks allowed just two sacks in 747 snaps and just one sack after Week 3. But he ranked 57th in Pro Football Focus’ pass-blocking efficiency, which combines sacks, hits and hurries allowed per pass-protecting snap.

Banks earned an overall grade of 53.5 from PFF, which ranked 64th among 81 qualified offensive guards. His pass-blocking grade of 52.2 ranked 68th among 81 guards, and his run-blocking grade of 54.6 ranked 58th.

Banks allowed 27 total pressures in pass protection, three hits by opposing pass rushers and was called for four penalties.

Banks was a second round draft pick of San Francisco in 2021 (No. 48 overall). Banks appeared in 53 games for the 49ers and made 43 starts over his four years in San Francisco.

Banks sat most of his rookie season, became a starter in 2022 and was a staple of the 49ers’ line in 2023 and 2024.

Banks allowed just one sack in 775 snaps in 2024, which was a big reason the Packers signed him to a four-year, $77 million contract in free agency. That made Banks the sixth-highest paid guard in football at the time.

According to Pro Football Focus, Banks also ranked 39th out of 136 guards in run blocking, 77th in pass blocking and 50th overall in 2024.

Banks earned rave reviews for his size, strength, and power in the run game prior to his arrival in Green Bay. His pass protection was choppy at times, though, against athletic inside rushers.

The Packers could have moved on from Banks in the offseason. Instead, they gave him a $9.5 million roster bonus in March, ensuring he’d be back for a second season.

Banks is the NFL’s seventh-highest paid guard, averaging $19.25 million per season. He also carries the fifth-highest salary cap number on the team at 12.003 million this season.

For that kind of money, the Packers need a lot more from Banks than he delivered in 2025.

Green Bay is cautiously optimistic that a healthier Banks, who’s now more familiar with the Packers’ scheme, will be far more effective. Now it’s up to Banks to prove that confidence isn’t misguided.

“He was banged up, he was in a new system, you could say all that stuff, but he’ll be the first one to tell you, it doesn’t matter. He’s going to come to work. Did we see some really good things? Absolutely. And then there’s some things we need to clean up, and that’s our job as coaches, his as a player, to have a vision of what he needs to do to get better. But it’s in there, and coming back for the second year, again, I think he’s a guy that’s going to be really good for us.” — Packers offensive line coach Luke Butkus on Banks

“Definitely a lot more comfortable. I know the offense. I think getting a second year in the offense with the guys I think is — I see us coming together and building a real tight unit. Trusting each other and just taking the next step together as a whole, not myself or anybody in particular, but as a whole I see us progressing.” — Banks on being in the system for a second year

“Aaron Banks, he really hasn’t missed much time in his career. Some of the things he went through were unexpected. I really thought he played well toward the end of the season, once he got healthy.” — Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst on Banks

This article was originally published on Forbes.com