The Green Bay Packers are likely to have a new home center to start the 2021 season.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber, the Packers and All-Pro Corey Linsley have had no contact since the end of the season, taking home the expectation that Linsley – holder at the center of the Packers for the past seven seasons – will move on. during the free agency.
Your contract with the Packers will expire next month. At that point, he will become an unrestricted free agent, giving him the ability to sign with any team.
After losing the game for the NFC title, Linsley said he had not spoken to the Packers about a new deal, setting the stage for a possible exit. At the very least, Linsley will have a chance to reach the open market and see what kind of business awaits him from other teams.
The Packers worked out Linsley in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. He became an immediate newcomer to the center, a position he has held at Green Bay since then.
The 2020 season was Linsley’s best as a professional. Once again dominant as a pass blocker, Linsley emerged as a key part of the Packers’ zone blocking scheme. He ended the year with the best overall score among all Pro Football Focus centers.
Packers have internal options to replace it in the center. Lucas Patrick has experience playing the position, choice of 2019 second round Elgton Jenkins was a longtime pivot in the state of Mississippi and played there while Linsley was injured last season, and the choice of the sixth round of 2020, Jake Hanson, started all four seasons in central Oregon. It is possible that even Jon Runyan is an option at the center, based on how the Packers want to train the positions and set up the five starters without Linsley and potentially David Bakhtiari, who is recovering from an ACL injury.
Linsley, who turns 30 in late July, may close a deal of $ 10 million or more a year on the open market. According to Over the Cap, the highest-paid center in football is Ryan Kelly of the Indianapolis Colts. His four-year contract is worth $ 12.4 million per season. Overall, five different centers earn $ 11 million or more a year, so a salary increase is coming to the first team’s All-Pro center starting in 2020.