Zach Tom is staying put in Green Bay.
The right tackle agreed to a four-year, $88 million extension with the Packers, ESPN reported Monday. The deal includes a $30.2 million signing bonus, the largest-ever for an offensive lineman.
The two sides came to the agreement a day before Packers veterans report to training camp.
There had been some external concern that Tom might hold out of offseason activities while awaiting an extension, but the 26-year-old took part in OTAs and was slated to partake in training camp before signing his deal.
“I don’t really think it’ll do me any good to sit out,” Tom told reporters during OTAs in early June. “I’m trying not to worry about the contract situation. I’m just trying to do what’s best for the team. And being here with the guys, I think that’s worth a lot more than — the contract situation will take care of itself. So, I’m just here working and grinding with the guys. If I wasn’t here, I’d probably be somewhere just not doing anything, I don’t know. So, yeah, I want to be here obviously.”
Now, that conversation is moot.
Standing at 6-foot-4, 304 pounds, Tom has developed into one of the NFL’s best offensive linemen and a critical protector of quarterback Jordan Love.
A Baton Rouge, La. native, he has started all 17 games in each of the last two seasons, and finished third in All-Pro voting among right tackles, behind only the Lions’ Penei Sewell and the Eagles’ Lane Johnson.
He played his college football at Wake Forest, and was a fourth-round pick of the Packers in the 2022 draft.
“I think he can play any position,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters in June. “So it just happened to be that he kind of found his home at right tackle, but I think his versatility is one of the things that makes him special. I think he can play all five, and there’s not a lot of guys that can do that, but I would say that he’s got the athleticism. I think he’s a very intelligent football player, and he’s played pretty consistent over the course of the last few years.”
