Study: How Does Graham Barton’s College Center Experience Compare To Other NFL Starters?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are heavily eyeing the center position this year, and for good reason with their starter of the last two seasons no longer on the team. Of the consensus top three centers in the 2024 NFL Draft class, Duke’s Graham Barton might have the highest ceiling, but his lack of experience at the position makes it difficult to call him a day-one starter at center. He primarily played left tackle, but did play 430 snaps at center in his freshman season in 2020.

The Steelers have shown some interest in Barton, with a formal meeting at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, and a contingent at the Duke pro day including Arthur Smith, Dan Rooney and Zach Crockett.

Barton measured in at the combine at 6053, 313 pounds, and with 32 7/8-inch arms. His arm length is what will probably prevent him from playing tackle at the NFL level, so naturally people are assuming he will kick back inside to center where he has at least some experience. He could also be viewed by many teams as a guard, and very well could be drafted to play that position.

This made me wonder how many starting centers in the NFL entered the league with similar (or less) experience at the center position. The answer is not that many.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the only teams that have no obvious option at the position, so their “starter” is omitted from this chart, but of the 31 other projected starters across the league, just six had less center snaps in college than Barton. All of the top center prospects in this draft class are bolded in the chart below.

Outside of Frazier, Van Pran-Granger and Nugent, this is a relatively inexperienced class of center prospects. Many of them played other positions at the collegiate level.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the NFL starters with less center experience in college than Barton and their paths to become starting centers in the league.

Hjalte Froholdt – 6-5, 306 pounds, 31 1/4″ arms

Froholdt was a fourth-round pick by the New England Patriots in 2019. His primary position in college was guard, though he did log 260 center snaps as well. He didn’t see the field much until 2022 when he played some center and some guard for the Cleveland Browns. Then in 2023, he became the Arizona Cardinals’ full-time center and logged 1123 snaps.

Ted Karras – 6-4, 307 pounds, 32 1/2″ arms

Karras was a sixth-round pick by the New England Patriots in 2016. His primary position in college was guard, but he logged 29 total snaps at center. He was a depth player for his first three seasons, filling in at any of the three interior OL spots. He became the full-time starter at center in 2019 for the Patriots. He then went to Miami and played center there before circling back to New England as a guard. He has been the starting center for the Bengals for the last two seasons.

Mitch Morse – 6-5, 305 pounds, 32 1/4″ arms

Morse was drafted in the second round of the 2015 draft by the Kansas City Chiefs. He is one of the few on this list to be an immediate starter at the position as a rookie in the NFL. He actually fared pretty well, with a 68.2 overall grade including a 71.7 pass-blocking grade by PFF as a rookie. Like Barton, he was a tackle at the college level, but was projected to kick inside with shorter-than-ideal arm length for tackle. He successfully made the transition, and didn’t have to redshirt a season or two to figure things out.

Andre James – 6-4, 299 pounds, 32″ arms

James was an undrafted free agent signed to the (then) Oakland Raiders in 2019. He was a tackle in college and played zero center snaps, but ended up filling in at center due to injuries for two games in his rookie season. In 2020, he didn’t see the field much but rotated in as a tackle. He took over as a full-time starter in 2021 at center and has played there ever since.

Austin Corbett – 6-4, 306 pounds, 33 1/8″ arms

Corbett was a second-round pick to the Cleveland Browns in 2018. After playing exclusively tackle in college, the Browns used him as a tackle-eligible in certain packages as a rookie in very limited snaps. They kicked him inside to guard in 2019. He has played as a guard for the last five seasons, but the Panthers reportedly plan to move him to center in 2024.

Robert Hainsey – 6-4.5, 306 pounds, 32 1/8″ arms

Hainsey was drafted in the second round of the 2021 draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After playing tackle in college, the Buccaneers used him as a center in limited snaps his rookie season off the bench. For the last two seasons, he’s been their starting center. Once again, the arm length just wasn’t long enough to cut it as a tackle.

CONCLUSION

Of the 31 other teams’ projected starters at center, almost all of them had more center snaps coming out of college than Graham Barton. None of them were drafted in the first round, where Barton is projected to go, so you could argue he is a better OL prospect than anyone listed above. You could also argue that there isn’t a ton of precedent for a conversion prospect like him to be a rookie starter. The only such player listed above is Morse.

Plenty of these players were drafted to play one position, but ended up being solid starters elsewhere along the line. With Barton, you could draft him to play center, and if it doesn’t work out, he is likely to succeed at one of the guard positions. But the Steelers need a center, and they need one now. He could end up like Morse and hit the ground running as a center, but this research suggests he might need time before he steps into the starting lineup out of his natural position.

Centers aren’t highly drafted in the first round to begin with, so a prospect that is a bit more of a projection might be more likely to land in the second round. His first-round path likely includes a team viewing him as a guard and moving him to that position in the NFL.

If you are looking for experience in one of the top center prospects, Zach Frazier and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger are unmatched.