If there is one thing that the Green Bay Packers have done well in recent history it is finding gems in the NFL Draft. A team notorious for not spending big in free agency has to find ways to continue reloading the roster and the Packers have done so by drafting and developing young players.
While fans always pay attention to picks made in the early rounds, it is the work that is done in the middle to late rounds that separate the great teams from the good ones. If you can unearth value with late draft picks, you are setting the franchise up for long-term success.
That is exactly what the Packers did in the 2014 NFL Draft. In the fifth round, with the No. 161 overall pick, Green Bay selected Ohio State center Corey Linsley. Solid interior linemen are usually found later on in the draft, but it is certainly rare to find a plug-and-play starter that plays at a high level for a decade.
That was good enough to land Linsley on the list of top 50 NFL Draft steals of the last decade by Matt Miller and Jordan Reid of ESPN. The former Buckeye came in at No. 46 on the list, a worthy spot for the veteran offensive line anchor.
“After being selected in the fifth round, Linsley was quickly forced into action after the Packers suffered injuries early in the 2015 season. He became Green Bay’s mainstay at center and held that spot for the next seven seasons before signing a lucrative free agent deal with the Chargers. Linsley has only been attributed six sacks allowed over the past three seasons.”
Linsley spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Packers before moving on in free agency. He signed a big-money deal with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2021 which made him the highest-paid center in the NFL at the time.
Only allowing six sacks in nine seasons is quite an impressive feat. Linsley earned that contract from the Chargers while also having a 94.7 percent pass-block win rate and 70 percent run-block rate, per Reid.
The Packers have since turned to 2021 second-round pick Josh Myers to take over as the starting center. They can only hope that he is as productive as Linsely was during his career in the green and gold.
