GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur is still sorting through potential offensive line combinations as he addresses a position group that ranked among the Packers’ biggest concerns last season.
That uncertainty lends some intrigue to the Packers’ preseason schedule that begins Thursday at Pittsburgh.
“I think there’s a ton of value in the preseason games and getting those guys out there to kind of work out some of the kinks,” LaFleur said Monday.
Green Bay has a new look on the offensive line after losing Rasheed Walker to Carolina in free agency and releasing center Elgton Jenkins, who ended up in Cleveland.
The most likely starting five heading into training camp included Jordan Morgan at left tackle, Aaron Banks at left guard, Sean Rhyan at center, Anthony Belton at right guard and Zach Bako-Bewele at right tackle.
That isn’t necessarily the case anymore.
Belton, who started seven games as a rookie last season, criticized his lack of consistency after the Packers’ Family Night workout on Friday. He has spent the last couple of days working primarily at tackle, where Morgan and Bako-Bewele are the clear-cut starters.
With Banks recovering from a knee issue and Belton working at tackle, Jacob Monk and rookie fifth-round pick Jager Burton got most of the first-team reps at guard. That right guard situation might not sort itself out anytime soon.
“We have many more opportunities for these guys to showcase what they can do, and ultimately, when it comes down to it, we will make a decision after the preseason concludes,” LaFleur said.
Belton says he must improve his pass blocking, whether he’s at guard or tackle.
“My main focus is just getting through camp – not just getting through camp, but showing up every day with improvement,” the 2025 second-round pick from NC State said. “I’m not really worried about how things are going to look Week One because I’ve got to get better days ahead of me in camp.”
Monk, a 2024 fifth-round pick, is eager to see how far he’s come after dealing with a hamstring injury for much of last season and then tearing his biceps in Green Bay’s playoff loss at Chicago.
“I’m excited to go out there this week and play a game,” Monk said. “I think that’ll be a better gauge. I’m really just worried about one day at a time, not really looking back in the past, but focusing on today and being where my feet are.”
At the other guard spot, the Packers are awaiting the return of Banks, who says he’s making incremental progress but doesn’t know when he’ll be practicing fully again.
“Kind of hard to set a timeline, but not concerned for Week One of the season,” Banks said.
Green Bay must stabilize a line that allowed only 29 sacks – matching the NFL's seventh-lowest total - but struggled to create running room last year. After gaining 4.7 yards per rush in 2025, the Packers slipped to 4.1 last season for their lowest average since 2012.
Part of the problem last year stemmed from injuries that impacted Green Bay’s cohesiveness.
Jenkins played just nine games last year before having a season-ending ankle injury that caused Rhyan to take over at center. Bako-Bewele, who announced last week he was changing his name from Zach Tom, partially tore his patellar tendon in mid-December and just started practicing in team drills Sunday. Banks missed two games and dealt with groin and ankle issues.
“It was just a lot of moving pieces last year,” Banks said. “So for us to be able to go out there and just gain reps together and just continue to close that fist and be one fist is huge for us.”
How soon that will happen remains unclear.
“I think it takes games for that to happen,” LaFleur said. “The more these guys can play together, then the faster it will happen.”
NOTES: WR Chris Hilton Jr. was claimed off waivers from the Washington Commanders. ... S Javon Bullard didn’t practice Monday and was wearing a boot on his right foot but said he’s dealing with “just a little bruise.” “If we had a game tomorrow, I’d play,” Bullard said.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt Lafleur watches as players run a drill during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
Green Bay Packers center Jacob Monk (62) pushes a young fan in a wheelchair as he heads to the NFL football team's training camp, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
Green Bay Packers offensive tackle Anthony Belton (71) and guard Karsen Barnhart (61) run a drill during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
CALI, Colombia (AP) — A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people, damaging hundreds of buildings and leaving many trapped under debris while their loved ones and rescue workers searched through rubble.
Search teams and civilians picked through the remains of destroyed buildings in the country’s third-largest city, Cali, passing large pieces of concrete and other rubble down a long line of volunteers.
“Our building has basically been left in ruins, and the building next to ours? Completely collapsed,” said Álvaro López, who cradled his dog as he watched the search. The desperate scene recalled the searches still ongoing in neighboring Venezuela weeks after that country was devastated by two powerful earthquakes.
Besides Cali, the quake ravaged cities across western Colombia, including Pereira, Quibdo and Manizales, and was felt in neighboring Ecuador and Panama. The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Bogota, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Colombia’s President Abelardo de la Espriella said at least 87 people were injured and around 1,600 buildings were damaged, including at least 61 that completely collapsed. He declared an emergency to expedite funding for the quake recovery while saying he would visit the disaster zone.
“We aren’t going to leave people alone. They are in our hearts and we are going to tend to people with our full determination,” he said.
Colombia’s Geological Service said Monday's quake was the country's strongest recorded “in the 21st century,” and that it was followed by 21 less powerful aftershocks.
Colombia’s Pacific region around the quake's epicenter lies along the “Ring of Fire," the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur. The Pacific, particularly the Choco region, is one of Colombia's poorest, nestled in dense jungle. Much of Choco is only reachable by boat or plane, which may pose a problem for authorities in assessing the wider toll.
Local authorities said the death toll included at least 40 people who were killed in the Risaralda region, where Pereira is located, and 27 people in the Valle del Cauca region, where Cali is located, including three children. Authorities also confirmed nine people killed in Choco, two in the Caldas region and a 73-year-old in the Antioquia region. It was not immediately clear where the other 32 people died.
The earthquakes left many in the Andean nation unnerved after two back-to-back quakes devastated neighboring Venezuela in late June, destroying hundreds of buildings and killing more than 6,300 people.
By Monday afternoon, people had begun reporting their loved ones missing on digital databases just as civilians did following Venezuela's earthquakes. One database had more than 1,400 people, mostly in Cali and Pereira, with the number steadily climbing.
Photos of the missing included a young mother and her baby in Pereira; another showed an 80-year-old woman in Cali whose family was desperately looking for details after her building collapsed.
Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city as buildings collapsed. Residents and rescue workers were searching the rubble for survivors. The local government said that people remained trapped in a number of the city's 380 damaged buildings.
“My entire house shook. I’ve never lived through such a powerful earthquake,” he said. “We’re thanking God we’re alive.”
Little was known about the extent of the damage in Choco, a remote region where officials reported dozens of injured people and damaged buildings but few other details. Phone signals were out in many parts of the region's capital, Quibdo. The town closest to the earthquake’s epicenter, San Jose del Palmar, has no airport, and is located on top of a mountain ridge along a highway linking the cities of Cali and Pereira.
In Pereira, further south in the coffee-producing mountains of Colombia, photos and videos on local media showed pieces of the airport ceiling falling down on travelers taking shelter and screaming. People were shown running through rubble and plumes of dust and residents said that the city was lined with collapsed stores, residential buildings and homes. Pereira's mayor, Mauricio Salazar, told a local radio station there were at least 15 collapsed buildings where people were feared trapped.
In nearby Manizales, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed and fell on the nave. Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas asked residents to stay outside in case of aftershocks. Authorities said flights were suspended in the airports of Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura and Pereira as they assessed damage.
Small earthquakes, known as “temblores,” are common in central and western Colombia, but those above 6.0 magnitude are rare. In 1999, a 6.2 magnitude quake near the city of Armenia killed more than 1,100 people.
Response to the earthquake presents the first major challenge to de la Espriella, a Trump ally who was sworn in as president over the weekend. A divisive figure because of his pledge of a all-out crackdown on criminal groups, de la Espriella said Monday he had personally taken charge of the government’s response to the emergency.
“You are not alone. The state is present and taking action,” he said.
Offers of aid quickly poured in from across the Americas, including from the United Nations and the Trump administration. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum — whose countries were among the largest providers of aid to Venezuela following its recent crisis — said they were ready to assist Colombia.
"From El Salvador, we are in communication and ready to provide immediate support with our rescue teams, medical personnel, paramedics, supplies, or any other assistance that our Colombian brothers and sisters deem necessary,” Bukele said.
Chilean President José Antonio Kast said Chile, one of the region’s most earthquake-prone countries, “knows the pain and the challenge left by earthquakes” and pledged help.
——
Suárez reported from Bogotá and Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press journalists Manuel Rueda in Bogotá, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.
A vehicle is crushed by debris after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Diaz)
Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
Patients are evacuated from a hospital after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
Residents stand outside the Cathedral of Manizales after it was damaged by an earthquake in Manizales, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026.(AP Photo/John Jairo Bonilla)
Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
Government workers stand outside their office buildings in Panama City, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, after feeling an earthquake with an epicenter in neighboring Colombia. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People leave their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
A man leaves an apartment building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)
People stand outside their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
People stand outside their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
Government workers stand outside their office buildings in Panama City, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, after feeling an earthquake with an epicenter in neighboring Colombia. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
People stand outside their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
People stand outside their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/John Wilson Vizcaino)
