In midst of some uncertainty, Josh Myers still Packers starting center

Training camp will be more revealing, but at least through offseason programs, which included five practices between OTAs and minicamp that were open to the media, Josh Myers was firmly planted as the Green Bay Packers starting center.

The main reason there is some unknown around Myers’ status as a starter is that, prior to OTAs beginning, offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said that Zach Tom would not only be taking snaps at right tackle but also at right guard and center.

However, during the five practice sessions that were open to the media, Myers was the starting center in every team drill. The only time that we saw Tom at center was during individual drills when he was working with the ball and in the last two-minute drill periods of the final minicamp practice when he was working with the second and third-team offenses. For the most part, many of his snaps came at right tackle, where he is competing with Yosh Nijman.

Myers is entering his third NFL season, although 2022 was almost like his rookie year after he played fewer than 350 snaps in 2021 after dealing with a knee injury. This past year, Myers held up well in pass protection, allowing three sacks and 13 pressures, ranking seventh among all centers in PFF’s pass-blocking efficiency metric.

But where there is room for improvement, specifically, is as a run blocker, where Myers struggled with power rushers, along with there being miscommunications on stunts, twists, and blitz pickups. Aaron Jones would average 5.2 yards per carry for the season, according to PFF, but when running between Myers and Jon Runyan, he averaged just 3.5 yards per attempt on 18 rushes. AJ Dillon averaged only 3.5 yards as well when running to that same hole.

"“I thought it was a strong year,” Myers said via SI. “There was a lot of improvement, a lot of things that I’ve been working on. I think at this point, it’s mostly just like tweaks, subtle things in my game that I’ve been working on and trying to fix. It was a solid year. Just want to be better.”"

Naturally, much of the attention this offseason is on Jordan Love and his young pass catchers. But the reality is that any sort of success that this offense might have is going to begin with the offensive line play. That, of course, includes making sure Love has time on pass plays but also being able to move the ball on the ground. A stifled run game will lead to second and third and long downs, putting the offense in predictable passing situations–a recipe for disaster for any young quarterback.

It’s not a coincidence that once the offensive line was able to get fully healthy in Week 10 of last season and there was continuity up front that the overall play of the offense began to take off.

I won’t be surprised if we continue to see Tom taking snaps at center throughout the summer–we all know that the Packers aren’t afraid to experiment as they search for their best five on the offensive line, and Brian Gutekunst did say that he thought center was Tom’s best position coming out of Wake Forest.

Ultimatley, where Tom ends up playing is likely going to be determined by what’s best for the collective unit rather than where he is at his best—which could be two different things. Offensive line play is very much the sum of the parts is greater than any one individual, given that one weak link is all it takes to make the collective unit look below average.

For now, or at least based on what I saw during the offseason programs, the starting job still firmly belongs to Myers. While Tom does have the ability to seamlessly transition from one position to the next, there is something to be said for the NFL experience that Myers does have at center, especially with a new incoming starting quarterback.

"“First year, Josh played seven games,” said offensive line coach Luke Butkus. “So last year was, again, almost like he was a rookie. Josh is doing everything he can. He’s working his butt off, I don’t think anybody works harder than Josh. He just needs to keep working like everybody else. We’re going to get better and we’re going to push each other and get better every single day. Now, (it’s not) that he (isn’t) meeting our expectations. That’s not what we are talking about. He just needs to keep working and get better just like everybody else.”"