When you evaluate impact in football, several factors come into play. Level of performance, positional value, scarcity and replacement possibilities. All those aspects help determine who are the most valuable players for a team. It’s nearly impossible to supplant a quarterback, and Jordan Love is in fact the most valuable piece of the Green Bay Packers’ offense.

Outside of him, though, right tackle Zach Tom is the most transformative piece of the unit — and his realistic return against the Cincinnati Bengals, next Sunday, has the power to put the entire team back on track after two underwhelming games.

Yikes is probably not where you wanna be. The Packers need Zach Tom back. https://t.co/h8UvqFBsuM

— Wendell Ferreira (@wendellfp) October 8, 2025

The Packers have excellent pieces on the offense. Tight end Tucker Kraft and running back Josh Jacobs, for instance, add a lot of value and the splits with and without them show it. However, losing a skill position player for a unit full of them dilutes the impact of the loss.

With a high-level offensive lineman, not only is the team losing one piece, but the weakest link becomes weaker, and the overall level of the position group decreases.

According to Sumer Sports, the Packers’ offensive success rate went down from 44.5% with Tom to 35.7% without him last year. It’s a small sample size, because Tom didn’t miss much time due to injury last season, but it’s a notable difference.

This year, with a higher sample, the Packers have felt the difference as well. The offense generated 0.334 in EPA/play with Tom on the field, and it went down to 0.123 EPA/play without him. For you to have an understanding of how impactful this is, the Buffalo Bills lead the NFL in EPA/play with 0.194, while the Washington Commanders are seventh with 0.119.

While it’s difficult to precisely measure the impact of one offensive lineman, the splits with and without Tom make his importance to the offense very clear. The pressure rate allowed drops from 46.5% to 25% when he’s on the field, which improves passing efficiency to 8.0 yards to 9.7 yards per attempt. The offense didn’t allow a single sack with Tom on the field in 2025.

Yes, the offense still was able to score 40 points on the Dallas Cowboys with Darian Kinnard at right tackle. And yes, Tom was not the only missing part of the line — left guard Aaron Banks and backup tackle Anthony Belton were out as well.

However, the Packers feel who their most impactful lineman is, and this is ultimately why he received a four-year, $88 million contract extension in the offseason.

Zach Tom suffered an oblique injury during the Week 1 win over the Detroit Lions. He missed the second game, versus the Washington Commanders, and tried to return against the Cleveland Browns — his failed attempt took one play, though, and he ended up missing the Dallas Cowboys game as well.

But now it’s been more than a month since Tom got injured, and the bye week gave him enough time to rest. On Monday, the right tackle was back at practice.

It hasn’t been determined that Zach Tom will in fact play versus the Bengals, but the early indications are positive. And if he does, the implications for the offense are just massive.