A good center is the unheralded captain of an offense. While we all talk about skill position players, and maybe throw in the names of a few marquee offensive tackles if we’re feeling particularly smart, interior offensive linemen are crucial to the implementation of any offensive design.
And centers are just as important as anybody. Not that it’s a pleasant job at times. Imagine you’re an NFL center. You have to have all the plays in your head as much as (or more than) your quarterback does. Most often, you’re in charge of the adjustment calls that tell other blockers how to switch their blocking patterns to merge with defensive line changes. You have to know all your single-blocks, all your combo blocks, and you have to be ruthlessly accurate when hitting the second and third levels of a defense to block linebackers and defensive backs on certain plays — sweeps, screens, and more.
Oh, and there’s also the matter of getting the ball to the quarterback, whether he’s under center, in the pistol formation, or in straight shotgun, with at least one gigantic defensive tackle aligned to one of your shoulders or head-to-head. You have mere milliseconds to snap the ball before those one or more gigantic defensive tackles come down on you with the hammer of the gods.
Few jobs in sports test one’s mental acumen and physical endurance on every play more than this one. Centers never get the attention they deserve, but at Touchdown Wire, we’re out to change that. Here, after poring over advanced metrics and watching a lot of tape, are the top 11 centers heading into the 2020 NFL season.
Honorable Mentions
Rodney Hudson was Kansas City’s center from 2011-2014, Mitch Morse replaced Hudson in that role in 2015 and held it through 2018, so we should definitely keep an eye on Austin Reiter, who helped the Chiefs win their first Super Bowl in 50 years as Morse’s replacement. Both Hudson and Morse are on this list, and Reiter could certainly find himself there soon — he allowed just 11 total pressures on a league-leading 835 pass-blocking snaps in the 2019 season, and if he’s able to improve his run-blocking, the sky’s the limit. The Jets signed former Broncos center Connor McGovern (not to be confused with current Cowboys guard Connor McGovern) to a three-year, $27 million deal this offseason, and McGovern should be a great addition to a line in desperate need of help just about everywhere. For all their quarterback issues, the Bears have two linemen — James Daniels and Cody Whitehair — who have been excellent centers through their times in the Windy City. Washington’s Chase Roullier, a sixth-round pick out of Wyoming in the 2017 draft, is another young center to watch. Tampa Bay’s Ryan Jensen was a particularly tough omission, as he pass-blocked very well in an unpredictable deep-passing offense, and should be even more efficient in the switch from Jameis Winston to Tom Brady.
Now, on to the top 11.