We’ve all been talking about the center position quite a bit throughout this pre-draft season and that’s obviously because the Pittsburgh Steelers appear to have a strong need for one a few weeks from now. As you know, I have long pushed the narrative that centers seemingly get pushed down in drafts overall. With two weeks now remaining before the 2024 NFL Draft gets underway in Detroit, MI, I thought it would be fun to look back at some recent draft history when it comes to the center position.
To start this post off, below is the draft history of the center position dating back to 2016. These players listed were officially tabbed as centers as their positions by the NFL in the official media releases following each draft. If you take issue with any of these players being listed as centers in the graphic below, take it up with the NFL. I have the media releases to back all of these listings up.
With the reasoning behind the graphic above now out of the way, let’s break a few notable things down.
For starters, only six centers have been selected in the first rounds of drafts dating back to 2016. Tyler Linderbaum of the Baltimore Ravens was the most recent one. The five others selected in the first round were Cesar Ruiz (New Orleans Saints), Garrett Bradbury (Minnesota Vikings), Frank Ragnow (Detroit Lions), Billy Price (Cincinnati Bengals), and Ryan Kelly (Indianapolis Colts).
Ruiz is the most interesting one of those six first-round centers as he’s mostly played guard since he was drafted. In fact, Ruiz played 884 total snaps at right guard for the Saints during his 2020 rookie season. That was the only position he played for them that season as well.
Here is also something to think about when it comes to those six first-round centers since 2016. All but one of them logged at least 1,433 snaps at center in college. The only one who failed to achieve that college snap threshold was Price, who registered just 823 snaps at center in college. He also had the least productive career of the six.
Six listed centers in the first round in eight years break down to a little less than one per year. In three of those eight years, no centers were drafted in the first round.
How about second-round centers? In total, there have been eight listed centers selected in the second rounds of NFL Drafts dating back to 2016. That list includes Joe Tippmann (New York Jets), John Michael Schmitz (New York Giants), Juice Scruggs (Houston Texans), Cam Jurgens (Philadelphia Eagles), Josh Myers (Green Bay Packers), Creed Humphrey (Kansas City Chiefs), Erik McCoy (New Orleans saints), and James Daniels (Chicago Bears).
While Daniels was originally listed as a center when drafted by the Bears in 2018, much like the aforementioned Ruiz, he’s mainly played guard in the NFL to date. In fact, Daniels has logged just 508 center snaps in the NFL to date with all of those coming in the first half of his second season.
Here’s another interesting note about those eight second-round centers drafted since 2016. Only three of them were selected before the 51st overall selection in the listed drafts. Those three were Tippmann, McCoy, and Daniels.
As far as the 10 centers selected in the third rounds of NFL Drafts since 2016, it’s quite a mixed bag of players. Several of those players have logged more time at guard in the NFL than they have at center. One of those is current Steelers guard Isaac Seumalo. And once again, Seumalo, for some reason, was officially listed by the NFL as a center when he was originally drafted. Despite it being widely speculated ahead of the 2016 NFL Draft that Seumalo would likely play guard as a pro, he was even announced as a center as part of his official selection.
There’s not much of a need to go past the third round with this breakdown in this post. The data is included in the chart for you to that on your own.
As a main takeaway here, since 2016, only nine centers have been selected within the first 50 picks of NFL drafts dating back to 2016. And once again, two of those nine players were essentially drafted to play guard. Make of that nugget what you will.
So, what about this year’s top crop of centers and their draft selection expectations? The top three on almost everyone’s boards with two weeks remaining until the draft gets underway are Graham Barton (Duke), Jackson Powers-Johnson (Oregon), and Zach Frazier (West Virginia)
Barton has had quite the discussion about him throughout the pre-draft process and mainly because most of his snaps at Duke came at left tackle. In fact, Barton’s only college center snaps came in 2020. 430 in total and in just six games. Barton’s athletic profile is incredible and the tape backs that up. Personally, with Barton measuring in at 6053, 313, there might be several teams that view him as a top guard prospect in this draft class especially with how meh the group seems to be this year. Don’t be shocked if he’s drafted later in the first round as a guard.
As for Powers-Johnson, opinions seem to be mixed on him when it comes to him being a guaranteed first-round selection. While Powers-Johnson’s 2023 tape at center was just fine, he logged just 837 total snaps in college at center over three seasons. He did play some center in high school, however, so there’s that nugget. At 6033, 328, I fully expect Powers-Johnson to be drafted as a center. He’s likely to come off the board prior to 51st overall as well and maybe even in the first round to a center-needy team.
When it comes to Frazier, who seems to be the third-ranked center overall in this year’s draft class, he is the most experienced of the bunch at the position when it comes to college playing time. Frazier logged a whopping 2,606 snaps at center in his four college seasons at West Virginia. The other 470 snaps he played in college came at left guard and in 2020. Measuring in at 6025, 313, Frazier will obviously be selected as a center.
So, now that you have all of the data, you tell me if all three of Barton, Powers-Johnson and Frazier will be selected within the first 50 picks of the 2024 NFL Draft. In the last seven NFL Drafts, three listed centers have been picked in the first 50 selections just once and that was in 2018. Will 2024 match 2018?
Let me know your thoughts on this post in the comments below.
