The #Chargers are signing C Corey Linsley to a five-year, $62.5 million deal, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. He is the new highest-paid center in the league and will get $26 million over the first two years.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 15, 2021
An All-Pro season in a contract year helped Corey Linsley become the highest-paid center in the NFL.
According to Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Los Angeles Chargers are signing the former Packers center to a five-year deal worth up to $62.5 million.
The deal averages $12.5 million per year, surpassing the $12.4 million number set by Ryan Kelly of the Indianapolis Colts.
The Packers wanted Linsley back, but the team had no chance at matching the deal he signed with the Chargers.
According to Over the Cap, Linsley will become the eighth center in the NFL with a contract averaging at least $10 million per season.
A fifth-round pick of the Packers in 2014, Linsley earned the massive new deal with a steady and consistent 7-year career in Green Bay that culminated with a career-best season in 2020.
According to Pro Football Focus, Linsley played 734 snaps for the Packers at center last season. He allowed four total pressures and one sack, and he didn’t commit a penalty. He was the site’s top center by overall grade and run-blocking grade.
Linsley, 29, was the Packers’ nominee for the Walton Payton NFL Man of the Year award in 2020.
According to Nick Korte of Over the Cap, the Packers are expected to receive a fourth-round compensatory pick in the 2022 draft for losing Linsley, assuming they don’t make a signing of an unrestricted free agent that would cancel out the loss.
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