Part 4, G/C: Why this is the year to draft a center
Teams typically wait at this valuable position. But 2026 may be the time for teams to strike. Iowa's Logan Jones is head of class. Scouts dish to Bob McGinn.
This is the 42nd year, and the fifth at Go Long, that Bob McGinn has written a position-by-position series previewing the NFL draft series. Previously, it appeared in the Green Bay Press-Gazette (1985-’91), the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (1992-2017), BobMcGinnFootball.com (2018-’19) and The Athletic (2020-’21). Until 2014, many personnel people were quoted by name. The series reluctantly adopted an all-anonymous format in 2015 at the request of many scouts. Listed times in the 40-yard dash reflect the average of hand-held clockings from the combine and pro days. Electronic times from the combine aren’t compatible with most pro days and thus weren’t utilized.
Fourth of 12 parts: guards and centers.
By Bob McGinn
He’s the only player on the field that must touch the ball on every play. He’s the only one that often times has his head down when the pads begin to pop. And the mental requirements of the position are almost as critical as the physical.
Nevertheless, for the 58th year in a row, no center will have his name called as a top-10 selection in the NFL. In fact, it would be totally unexpected if a center were selected in the first round.
This isn’t a bad year for centers by any means, but it’s entirely possible none will go in the first two rounds.
“There’s some centers I like but they’re not high guys,” said one executive in personnel. “There’s nobody like up high.”
Was it ever thus? Almost.
In 1968, the Cincinnati Bengals were baptized as the 10th member of the American Football League. Paul Brown, who had been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his glorious tenure with the Cleveland Browns, headed the new franchise’s ownership group as coach and general manager.
After the Minnesota Vikings made tackle Ron Yary the No. 1 overall choice, Brown stepped to the telephone in the Bengals’ headquarters on the 18th floor of the downtown Carew Tower and informed the NFL office in New York that a center, Bob Johnson of Tennessee, would be the No. 2 pick and the first in the team’s history.
“Without the men upfront you have nothing behind,” ‘PB’ informed the assembled sportswriters and sportscasters in a room overlooking the fog-shrouded Ohio River just across from Kentucky. “Johnson has tremendous speed and quickness. He’s a class person, the kind you build with. He can get the ball back there on punts and placekicks, too.”
Brown kept popping back into the press room to discuss his decision to take three linemen early in the draft. The scene was described by beat man Dick Forbes of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“You start out in football with first things first,” he said. “Taking a center … is like building down the middle on a baseball team. He’s like getting a good catcher in baseball to work with your standout pitcher. And it doesn’t make any difference how good your backs are, you’ve got to have the personnel up front.”
Johnson, 6-feet-5 inches and 245 pounds, was everyone’s All-America. He toiled as the team’s pivot for 12 seasons, starting 136 of 154 games and making one Pro Bowl. Oakland’s Jim Otto and Boston’s Jon Morris were named at center on the AFL All-Time team and Johnson fulfilled his promise and then some. It wasn’t his fault that the Bengals never won a playoff game (0-3) during his days at Nippert and Riverfront stadiums.
But, as the years passed by, Jan. 30, 1968 stood as the last day a center was selected among the top 10 picks of an NFL draft. In fact, no one else ever came remotely close to Brown’s choice of Johnson.
Since 1960, often regarded as the start of the modern era and distinct offensive and defensive platoons, just four other centers were top-15 choices: Forrest Blue (No. 15, 1968), Pete Brock (No. 12, 1976), Steve Everitt (No. 14, 1993) and Mike Pouncey (No. 15, 2011). By the way, “PB” in his initial remarks wanted the press to know that Blue “was the first choice of the San Francisco 49ers.” The Prospectors took Blue 13 picks later.
In all, 29 centers have gone off in the first round in 66 years of the modern game, including seven in the last decade. Among the seven were Pro Bowlers Ryan Kelly (No. 18, 2016), Frank Ragnow (No. 20, 2018) and Tyler Linderbaum (No. 25, 2022).
“This is really the time to take a center,” one personnel man said. “These teams that need centers … this is a good year to take one. There’s some centers.”
Links:
Part 2, TE: Kenyon Sadiq and the hunt for matchup nightmares
Part 3, OT: Why Francis Mauigoa ‘n co. may define the 2026 NFL Draft
GUARDS
1. VEGA IOANE, Penn State (6-4, 323, no 40, 1): Compared by one scout to the Colts’ Quenton Nelson, the No. 6 choice in 2018. “I don’t think he’s quite that dominant but probably more athletic,” one scout said. “Nelson was a better technician. Ioane is a freak talent for a big, thick man. Guards historically don’t go that high but if you value a starting guard and you’re in the middle of the first you jump all over this guy.”