In the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft, the consensus seems to be that there are three main options for teams that need a starter at the center position: Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson, West Virginia’s Zach Frazier, and Duke’s Graham Barton. The Pittsburgh Steelers are near the top of the list when it comes to teams that need a starting-capable center.
Top draft analysts Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah discussed the center position in their Move The Sticks podcast on Monday and had an interesting conversation on Barton.
“I talked to a bunch of guys around the league…and the name that came up more than any other in a weekend full of conversations around the league was Graham Barton. Where’s Graham Barton going?” Jeremiah said. “In an era now where I think position flexibility up front with the offensive line has never been more valuable.
And having a guy who literally is a five position player who is incredibly smart, who was playing center as a 17-year-old freshman in the ACC, and has played tackle, he can play any of the positions.”
As a freshman, Barton was thrust into the starting center job at Duke due to an injury to the guy ahead of him. He started five games and played substantially in six at the position before moving full-time to tackle the rest of his collegiate career.
His 6053, 313-pound frame suggests he is capable of playing any of the five positions along the offensive line, but his 32 7/8-inch arms are a little on the short side to be ideal for an NFL tackle. However, his tackle tape was very good at Duke, he has great football IQ, and is an excellent athlete for his size, registering a 10.0 Relative Athletic Score as a center.
“I think we can say that Jackson Powers-Johnson is a better center, but the versatility that Barton brings makes it where you have to say, hey, he’s going off the board first,” Brooks said. “There’s so many different roles that he could occupy for a team.”
This has the potential to complicate things for the Steelers in the draft. If a team follows this same line of thinking and takes Barton before the Steelers in the first round, they will be in a bind when it is their time to choose at the 20th overall selection. With one of the top three centers off the board, it would be difficult to pass on the position at that point. Chances are decent that the other two wouldn’t be available in the second round at pick 51.
Alternatively, if they have their pick of all three in the first round, do they take the best pure center in Powers-Johnson or go with Barton’s potential and versatility? It would be a shame to miss out on the high-level tackle prospects at the top of the draft, but they may be forced into taking a center due to the supply and demand at their biggest position of need.
