{"id":301409,"date":"2025-11-19T15:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/301409\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T15:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:35:09","slug":"what-are-the-packers-center-options-in-the-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/301409\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the Packers\u2019 center options in the 2026 NFL Draft?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With preferred starting center Elgton Jenkins now on the injured reserve<\/a>, likely to have played his last game with the Green Bay Packers due to his 2026 cap hit, and his injury replacement, Sean Rhyan, on the final year of his rookie contract, many Packers fans are wondering who their center will be in 2026. If Rhyan isn\u2019t extended, or the team doesn\u2019t want to move forward with Jacob Monk \u2014 the only 53-man roster player who has experience at the position other than starting right tackle Zach Tom \u2014 then it will likely be a draft pick.<\/p>\n

But what does the 2026 draft outlook look like at the center position? We\u2019re gonna try to answer that question in this article.<\/p>\n

Below is a table of all of the top-150 offensive line prospects in the 2026 draft, per the consensus draft board<\/a>, and which positions they\u2019ve actually played for their college programs this year. They\u2019re tiered based on the Packers\u2019 draft choices, which are set to be #56, #88 and #124 in the first four rounds, as it stands right now. I only used the top 150, because after that, the media\u2019s ability to project the draft is pretty poor. Frequently, guys ranked in the 150s are available post-draft. For the most part, I think the top 150 is all that people outside of organizations actually making the picks should care about until selections are made in April.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Packers\u2019 center options in the 2nd round<\/p>\n

Lew is right on the edge of being considered in the Packers\u2019 range for their first pick of the 2026 draft. He does come with some baggage, though. Easily the top center in a weak center class, Lew tore his ACL back in October<\/a>. He should be ready to go by the start of the regular season, but I\u2019m not sure a team with urgency at the position, like the Packers, can turn in a second-round pick for a player who might not be able to even go through his rookie training camp.<\/p>\n

Despite the season-ending injury, Lew has yet to officially declare for the NFL draft, unlike some injured players in the past. It\u2019s also worth noting here that his head coach, Hugh Freeze, has already been fired in-season. Keep an eye on this situation, as it could go either way.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019ve talked to people in the scouting world about Jake Slaughter, the phrase that keeps coming back my way is \u201cPFF darling.\u201d That is their way of saying, nicely, that the metrics like him more than the scouts do. Some that I\u2019ve talked to have him much lower, like a mid-Day 3 option or UDFA, than the online rankings. Last season, Slaughter was a first-team All-SEC player and a first-team All-American. The redshirt senior will turn 23 years old in less than a month.<\/p>\n

Packers\u2019 center options in the 3rd round<\/p>\n

Out of the top center prospects, I\u2019ve probably done the least amount of work on Laloulu this year, which is ironic considering I\u2019m a Ducks fan. When I\u2019ve watched him live, he\u2019s seemed fine, but I have nothing to really add beyond that. It is worth noting that he\u2019s the third-ranked offensive lineman on his own team in the consensus draft board currently, as his left tackle and left guard are expected to go off the board by the mid-second round.<\/p>\n

Laloulu is only a true junior, but might be a player who actually declares early, despite the high price of NIL deals in 2025. At 325 pounds, he\u2019s the type of center that the Packers would probably like to add.<\/p>\n

Parker Brailsford, Alabama<\/p>\n

If you want to talk about the polar opposite of Laloulu, I give you Parker Brailsford, who some scouts believe is still playing at around 280 pounds. While he has gained substantial weight during his college career, there is still concern that he might be too small for the league.<\/p>\n

Considering that the Packers have rapidly gained mass on the offensive line recently<\/a>, including the 2025 additions of Anthony Belton (336 pounds), Darian Kinnard (328), Aaron Banks (325) and John Williams (322), I don\u2019t think that he\u2019s going to be Green Bay\u2019s cup of tea. Unless he comes in over 300 at the combine this offseason, I would just scratch him off the board entirely if I were trying to project what the Packers will actually do on draft day.<\/p>\n

Packers\u2019 center options in the 4th round<\/p>\n

Matt Gulbin, Michigan State<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve written about this before in our college open threads, but the Green Bay Packers have made three trips to watch the Michigan State Spartans play this year, despite the team being 3-7 and 0-7 in the Big Ten. That\u2019s really, really odd. Michigan State doesn\u2019t have very many pro prospects, but one emerging player on the roster is center Matt Gulbin.<\/p>\n

The Wake Forest transfer is 312 pounds, by no means small for an NFL center, and is a redshirt senior, so he is going to be in this draft class for sure. For what it\u2019s worth, here\u2019s how ESPN\u2019s Mel Kiper ranks<\/a> the true center prospects:<\/p>\n

Connor Lew, AuburnLogan Jones, Iowa (we\u2019ll get to him in a second)Jake Slaughter, FloridaIapani Laloulu, OregonMatt Gulbin, Michigan StateParker Brailsford, Alabama<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, Kiper also has Oregon\u2019s Alex Harkey ranked over Laloulu, which makes Laloulu the fourth-ranked true center in college football but also the fourth-ranked offensive lineman on his own team, to give you some perspective on how this offensive line class is shaping out.<\/p>\n

Despite coming into the program in January, Gulbin was named a captain for this year\u2019s Michigan State team. He had previously started 23 games at Wake Forest, 22 at guard and 1 at center. In 2024, he was the second-ranked guard in the ACC by Pro Football Focus, and in 2023, he was ranked fourth in the conference.<\/p>\n

Jones is a little bit on the smaller side at an expected 300-ish pounds, but he has the athleticism of a defensive tackle\u2026because he was one. Prior to Tyler Linderbaum (2022 first-round pick) going to the NFL level, Jones was actually a defensive lineman for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Once Linderbaum went pro, though, he flipped sides and has been the team\u2019s long-term starter at the position since.<\/p>\n

He was a third-team All-Big Ten player in 2023 and a first-team player in 2024. I\u2019m not sure how much the Packers will be interested in him, if they really do want to be bigger up front, but he\u2019s a name to remember just in case. Certainly, his size is not as big an issue as Brailsford\u2019s, but even Jacob Monk, who has been the smallest drafted Green Bay offensive lineman in recent years, was 308 pounds at the combine. Jones will need to prove that he\u2019s over the three-bills number for the Packers to consider him.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some info I got from a Big Ten coach who played against Jones this year:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got after us quite a bit. Struggled to hold the scoops when he was combing our interior guys.<\/p>\n

We aren\u2019t world beaters inside but I think he\u2019s definitely worth a look, classic Iowa OL.\u201c<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the class, if you\u2019re looking at true centers who are almost certain to get drafted. I\u2019d bet against the Packers looking at Lew (injury\/situation the team is in), Brailsford (size) and Jones (size) as of now, meaning that Green Bay\u2019s best bet is one of Slaughter (who is expected to go later than his projections), Laloulu (if he declares) or Gulbin in the third or fourth rounds.<\/p>\n

Now, there is an X-factor: The converts.<\/p>\n

Possible Center Converts in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/p>\n

When I asked about players who could potentially move to center, scouts told me that Duke right tackle Brian Parker II is a prime candidate because of his expected short arms. Parker is currently the 78th-ranked player on the consensus draft board, so he could be in play for the Packers\u2019 second-round pick if he declares. He\u2019s only a redshirt junior, so there\u2019s still some time for him to make some NIL money, if he doesn\u2019t hear that he\u2019s a top-100 lock in the NFL circles.<\/p>\n

Remember, fewer underclassmen declare than ever with the combination of NIL and the transfer portal. In 2024, only 58 underclassmen declared<\/a>, fewer than two rounds\u2019 worth of non-seniors. In 2021, there were 130 early declarations. In this world, I wouldn\u2019t just assume that juniors who are projected to be mid-round picks are absolutely going to come out, like they have in the past.<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, Kiper had Parker ranked as his ninth tackle on his board.<\/p>\n

The other player who was brought up to me as a potential center convert is Texas A&M tackle Trey Zuhn III, who actually played some center for A&M during training camp this year and is already attempting to cross-train at the position for the next level. For whatever reason, scouts seem to like him a lot more than media analysts, who only have him ranked 230th on the consensus board at the moment.<\/p>\n

Like Parker, Zuhn is expected to measure in at the combine with short arms (under 32\u201d), which will force him off the tackle position. Zuhn is more of a Packers lineman than Parker, though, as Zuhn is expected to be a legit 6\u20196\u201d, 319 pounds, despite his arm length.<\/p>\n

Kiper must be hearing the same stuff I\u2019ve heard, too, because in his interior offensive line rankings (he did not split guard and center), he has Zuhn ranked only behind Lew, Jones and Slaughter among centers, ahead of Laloulu, Gulbin and Brailsford. Look for Zuhn to be a draft \u201criser\u201d (the media catching up to what has already been realized in scouting circles).<\/p>\n

Including the possible converts, I would say that the Packers\u2019 draft day options, if I were to project it right now, would look like this at their draft slots:<\/p>\n

2nd round: Connor Lew (if they\u2019re okay with his ACL tear and recovery) or Brian Parker II (if they\u2019re okay with his weight and the position conversion).3rd round: Iapani Laloulu (if he declares) or Matt Gulbin.4th round: Matt Gulbin, Logan Jones (if they\u2019re okay with his weight) or Trey Zuhn III (if they\u2019re okay with the position conversion).<\/p>\n

A lot can change between now and April, but that\u2019s how I see it right now, after asking around. I\u2019ve seen little of these players so far, so please don\u2019t ask my personal opinion of these prospects, because I cannot give you a sincere answer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With preferred starting center Elgton Jenkins now on the injured reserve, likely to have played his last game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,156905,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-301409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-green-bay-packers-draft","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}