8. Corey Linsley, Green Bay Packers
A fifth-round pick of the Packers out of Ohio State in 2014, Linsley played very well from his rookie season as the team’s starter in the middle, and he’s done so with over 1,000 total snaps in four of his six seasons. He’s been a paragon of consistency with 1,074 snaps in each of the last two seasons. In 2019, he gave up just 22 total pressures, per Pro Football Focus, and only the Saints and Eagles had a better Adjusted Line Yards rate than the Packers to the mid/guard area.
That said, when you have a player dinged for allowing five sacks in a season — the highest for anyone at Linsley’s position — you want to go back to the tape and see if the player is really responsible. Sometimes, it’s a matter of a blocker getting overpowered. At other times, there are clear blocking adjustment issues at play.
i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that somebody missed an adjustment call here pic.twitter.com/HsNnvxrDyo
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 21, 2020
On the other hand, I brought up this play when writing up Packers guard Elgton Jenkins as one of the best players at his position coming into the 2020 season, but watch how Linsley handles the reach block in the middle.
Packers rookie LG Elgton Jenkins showed great strength, mobility, and acumen in his first NFL campaign. Here he is looking for work against Bobby Wagner, and catching up to Aaron Jones after a 23-yard run. Future star? Nah. He's there already. pic.twitter.com/17RfqX35Ob
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 20, 2020