What caused Aaron Banks' 2025 struggles and is there hope for 2026?

When the Green Bay Packers signed Aaron Banks to a four-year, $77 million contract last offseason, there were plenty of cynics over that decision. Based on the 2025 season, the doubters were proven right, as Banks failed to live up to being paid like one of the best guards in the NFL.

In fact, he could not even produce the same level of performance he had done in San Francisco the year prior. Banks’ percentile ranks among guards in 2024 and 2025 respectively show the decline.

2024 was the best statistical year of his career, as on balance he was right around a league average guard in pass protection and a legitimately good run blocker.

Finding even passable offensive linemen remains one of the most difficult tasks in the NFL, so when league average players get to free agency, they get paid handsomely, and that is what happened with Banks.

The understandable way to look at his signing in a positive sense was the fact he had improved year on year, would help bring a presence in the run game that the Packers had not previously had, and having played in Kyle Shanahan’s offense, would be a seamless scheme fit.

Perhaps the negative spin was that there are few, if any, play callers around who are better than Shanahan, and if Banks was not a top tier guard in his system, it was unlikely he would ascend to a new level elsewhere.

Still, if Green Bay had paid sticker price for a playable guard they did not need to worry about in pass pro, and who would help them exert their will in the run game, they would have probably been more than satisfied with that outcome. That is not what happened.

Banks had arguably the worst year of his career in pass pro, and while he maintained his level in gap scheme run blocking, his zone blocking fell off a cliff according to PFFs grading, going from a 69.4 in 2024 to 50.7 last season. For reference, a 60 grade is average.

In the interest of applying context which could explain some of this overall decline, the biggest mitigating factor is injuries.

He suffered a back injury during training camp, which will not have helped him hit the ground running on a new team, and was also hampered by ankle and groin issues early in the season.

Banks’ pass protection did improve from Week 6 onwards, when he put the injuries behind him, although he was still below average in PFF’s pass block efficiency metric.

While the injuries may in part excuse some of his struggles, it will not make the Packers feel any better. They need him to be healthy this year.

Playing next to a left tackle in Rasheed Walker who did not have a strong year, as well as a center situation which changed midseason, as Elgton Jenkins went down with an injury and was replaced with Sean Rhyan, will not have helped matters either.

Having Trent Williams as your neighbour, as he did with the 49ers, is certainly an environment more conducive to success.

Looking at Banks’ decline in zone blocking, it may be fair to suggest the Packers offense had something to do with it, as it was a precipitous drop off from his performance in any previous season. That is something that needs exploration.

Whatever the reasons for Banks’ disappointing 2025 campaign, he must be better this year given Green Bay’s goals and his hefty paycheck.

With veterans like Walker and Jenkins gone, it is also incumbent on Banks, as well as Zach Tom to lead by example as the most experienced O-linemen on the Packers roster.

Regardless of whether Banks ever plays well enough to truly justify his price tag, which seems unlikely, he needs to at least provide the league average play they were probably expecting in a worst case scenario.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: What caused Aaron Banks’ 2025 struggles and is there hope for 2026?