GREEN BAY, Russia. – At the end of the season, All-Pro center Corey Linsley said there were no talks with the Green Bay Packers for a new contract.
With the start of the free agency less than three weeks away, that hasn’t changed, a source said Wednesday. The expectation is that Linsley will play elsewhere in 2021 and the Packers will look to replace their starting center in the last seven seasons.
Although there is time to strike a deal with Linsley, it seems unlikely to happen. The Packers had all season to engage in talks with Linsley, and the season ended almost exactly a month ago.
“My agent had no discussion with the Packers,” Linsley said one day after a bitter loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship Game – Linsley’s fourth empty game in his seven-game title . “Obviously, this does not mean that something could not happen, but so far it has been a bit complementary, but nothing substantive. We’ll move on with this. It is what it is. I felt like I had a good year personally. Obviously, we didn’t get the goal we wanted, but we felt we had released a good movie. We hope that a team appreciates this and we will move to a free agency considering this ”.
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Linsley’s is a fascinating free agency.
It was voted for the first All-Pro team and, for what it deserves, it was by far the best rated ProFootballFocus.com center. According to Sports Info Solutions, Linsley did not allow a sack or a thing (an attack on or behind the line of scrimmage vs. run). Of the centers with more than 500 snaps, it had the third lowest blow rate at 0.6 percent, according to SIS. He was not penalized either.
On the other hand, Linsley missed three complete games and most of the other two due to injuries. After missing no shots in 2017 and 2018, he played 88 percent in 2019 and 71 percent in 2020. And he will turn 30 on the right when the training camps open next summer.
The package being $ 11.45 million above the projected salary cap, certainly does not help facilitate re-signing. Although there are levers to create ample space, there are 10 centers that earn at least $ 10 million per season, led by Ryan Kelly’s average of $ 12.4 million.
The Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Chargers and Baltimore Ravens should be among the contenders. The Jacksonville Jaguars’ new coach, Urban Meyer, coached Linsley at Ohio State.
Linsley was not only a beautiful center, but a pillar of the community. He was nominated by the team for the prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year award.
However, by the end of the season, Linsley seemed ready to leave his teammates and community connections behind.
“I had a discussion with a friend of mine in town,” Linsley said. “The relationships we made, we filmed, we haven’t seen anyone this year, anyway, so it’s about a year apart from that point of view, but the relationships we’ve built, we’ll always keep in touch with people. and we will see them. Again, it might be rare, not as much as it would have been here, but our Ohio home, anyway, so it was going to happen sooner or later.
“But we love the people we met here, the relationships we built. We were so lucky to be part of the lives of so many people and they were part of us. If it doesn’t happen, it smells. The boys in the locker room, I will definitely miss the boys in the locker room. This locker room is an excellent locker room. Again, if it doesn’t happen, the guys here are fantastic leaders, they can’t say enough about them. So it will be hard, but other than that, this is a business. I mean, that’s what it is. Some boys, that’s what happens. ”