The Packers cleared up a small part of their roster picture this weekend, sending a 2027 sixth round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for offensive lineman Darian Kinnard. The move solidifies the bottom end of the offensive line depth chart, probably sealing the fates of linemen Kadeem Telfort and Donovan Jennings in the process.
But who is Kinnard, and what does he bring to the Packers? Here’s the background on the Packers’ newest offensive lineman.
Though he has yet to live up to his billing in the
pros, Kinnard has been a heavily decorated prospect dating back to high school. An all-state lineman in Ohio, Kinnard was ranked as a four-star recruit by ESPN and was named the 101st best prospect in the country by 247Sports. With offers from 16 FBS programs, Kinnard chose Kentucky over Penn State, UCLA, and Tennessee.
Kinnard appeared in nine games as a true freshman during Kentucky’s 2018 season, starting two of the final three games at left tackle. That would be the last time in his college career he’d be anything close to a backup. Kinnard started every game in which he appeared for the rest of his time at Kentucky, establishing himself as a mainstay on the right side of the offensive line.
During the 2021 season, he played under offensive coordinator Liam Coen, now the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. That ended up being Kinnard’s best collegiate season, though he received numerous accolades throughout his college career. That year, he was named a consensus first-team All-American, becoming just the 12th player in the history of Kentucky football to receive that honor.
Kinnard will never be confused for a svelte, finesse-oriented lineman, but he was especially big at Kentucky, tipping the scales at more than 370 pounds at times during his college career. He slimmed down prior to the 2022 NFL Draft, though, weighing in at 322 pounds at the NFL Combine, where he posted decent but certainly not outstanding measurables. His 10-yard split of 1.78 seconds in the 40-yard dash did clear the Packers’ typical thresholds for offensive linemen, though, and the Packers brought him in for a visit.
Most analysts regarded Kinnard pretty highly ahead of the draft that year. Dane Brugler had him as the third best guard prospect in the 2022 edition of The Beast, ranking him as a second round prospect. That’s the highest I’ve seen anyone project him, but it’s not that big of an outlier. Eric Edholm projected him as a second or third round pick for Yahoo Sports, esteemed offensive line evaluator Brandon Thorn had him as a third round pick for Bleacher Report, and Lance Zerlein had him as a third rounder for NFL.com. He was the 66th ranked prospect on the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board.
But when the draft rolled around, Kinnard wasn’t selected until the fifth round, likely due to concerns about his ability to play tackle at the NFL level given his middling overall athleticism. Both teams for whom he has played so far seem to share those concerns as Kinnard has spent the entirety of his career bouncing between guard and tackle. The Chiefs, who selected him with the 145th pick in 2022, lined him up exclusively at tackle during the 2022 preseason according to charting data from Pro Football Focus. He took no snaps on offense during the 2022 season (appearing in one game and logging six snaps on special teams), and by 2023 he was lining up at guard. He was cut at the end of training camp that season, spending the year on the Chiefs’ practice squad.
Kinnard signed with the Eagles in February 2024, and Philadelphia moved him back to tackle. He played there exclusively during the Eagles’ 2024 preseason games and made the lone start of his NFL career at right tackle late in the 2024 regular season, though he did play three snaps at left guard in Week 8.
And of course, we’re obligated to note that Kinnard has been a member of three straight Super Bowl teams, though the fact that he didn’t play a single snap in any of them diminishes that historical nugget a bit.
This year, the Eagles had split Kinnard’s time between right tackle and right guard, though most of his time came inside. 70 of the 101 snaps he played in this year’s preseason games came at right guard, possibly an indication of what the Eagles had planned for him this year. He got a bit of time with Philadelphia’s first team at left guard this summer and seems to have been in line to make their 53-man roster out of camp.
Where does that land him with the Packers? Green Bay is flush with tackles right now; Zach Tom, Rasheed Walker, Jordan Morgan, and Anthony Belton give them about all they could ask for at that spot. But if there’s any uncertainty with the Packers’ offensive line, it’s with the three interior spots, specifically guard.
Jordan Morgan is probably their top backup at both left and right guard right now (though if Aaron Banks goes down, they might shift Sean Rhyan over and put Morgan on the right side, as they did when they shuffled their line in Week 9 of last year to compensate for Josh Myers missing time). Beyond Morgan, things get a little hairy. Travis Glover presumably would have filled in there, too, but he’s done for the year after a lat injury that required surgery. Jacob Monk, Donovan Jennings, and Kadeem Telfort are the other serious options, but neither has really stepped up to stake their claim this preseason.
Enter Kinnard, who almost certainly knocks one or both of Telfort and Jennings off the roster with Monk’s experience at center probably saving him, at least in the short term. In any case, Kinnard looks like a guard for the Packers, though experience at another position is never a bad thing when the Packers come calling.
If nothing else, filling out any last-minute roster predictions just got a little bit easier. We know Kinnard is making the team, even if where he plays isn’t yet entirely clear.
