Green Bay Packers right guard Anthony Belton drops back to block during an NFC Wild Card playoff game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on January 10, 2026.
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The Green Bay Packers were arguably the most disappointing team in football last season. 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. 21 is right guard Anthony Belton.
No. 21
Anthony Belton, RG
Last season
Belton was the Packers’ second round draft pick in 2025. He played just 91 snaps the first 11 games of last season, with most coming at right tackle.
In Week 12, Belton and Jordan Morgan began the game rotating at right guard. Belton played the entire second half, though, and kept the job the rest of the season. Belton played 100% of the snaps the final seven games of the year — 423 in all — and was mediocre, at best.
His final grade from Pro Football Focus was a dreadful 49.7, which ranked 72nd among 81 qualified offensive guards. Belton’s PFF pass-blocking grade of 43.3 ranked 73rd among 81 qualified offensive guards. His run-blocking grade of 51.9 ranked 66th at the position.
He allowed 23 total pressures in pass protection, two hits and no sacks. Belton was also called for two penalties.
Career to date
The 6-foot-6, 336-pound Belton spent two seasons (2019–2020) at Georgia Military College (GMC), where he developed into a highly touted, four-star junior college recruit. He then spent three solid seasons playing left tackle at North Carolina State, where he earned third-team all-ACC honors in 2023.
Nicknamed “Escalade”, Belton has long arms (33 7/8”), big hands (10 ¼”) and can engulf defenders. The problem is his hands are inconsistent, he lacks quickness and second level targets are often able to elude his blocks in space.
Outlook
The right guard job is Belton’s for now. But he needs to be dramatically better in 2026 than he was in 2025.
The potential is certainly there, as Belton’s size could eventually make him a force inside.
“It’s the old phrase, ‘big doesn’t get small,’ especially when you play here in the NFC North,” former Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan said the night Green Bay selected Belton.
But being bigger than your opponent is irrelevant if you’re not sound in the other areas. That’s what Belton must prove, or someone like rookie fifth-round draft pick Jager Burton could pass him.
They said it …
“Last year, he was a tackle and we were just having him play swing tackle, focus on that. And then all of a sudden we lost a bunch of guys. It’s like, ‘Hey, bud, you got to go into play guard.’ And when he went out there against Detroit and played that was really the first week he’d ever played guard for us. So credit to him for going out there and doing it and playing pretty well. But I think now, again, just focusing on the little fundamentals, the little details, we can teach him, all that stuff from a guard’s perspective, I think that’ll be really good for him in his development.” — Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich on Belton
“Is there a lot to clean up? Absolutely, and he’ll be the first one to tell you that, but to get that experience of playing in the National Football League, at guard, they’re on you a little bit faster. Tackle there’s a little bit more space, so just the little details of that position. But the fundamentals of blocking, they stay the same. So just again, it’s invaluable that he had some experience to play football last year.” — Packers offensive line coach Luke Butkus on Belton
“Last year, just being able to play as a rookie, I learned a lot. I learned a lot about the process, preparation. Just what comes with it. I was able to get acclimated, so now I know what to expect going into this year. Knowing what I need to work on. There were a lot of ups and downs that I had, but now I feel like I’m in a position where I can think less and do more. Because last year was more coming in as a rookie and trying to finally figure out what’s going on versus now it’s more I can observe and take information in better.” — Belton on his rookie year
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