Taking a spin through the center position in this week's offensive line article, there's a concern with the guy who was recently made the league's highest-paid player at his position. Buffalo's Mitch Morse is in the concussion protocol. Morse missed 5 games due to a concussion last season.
Given the history, it's a major concern. We've talked some about Buffalo's various running backs lately. It's going to be a significant blow to all of those players if Morse needs to miss time.
Morse is the game's highest-paid center, which doesn't always mean best, of course. Usually it just depends when guys hit free agency. In our rankings, Morse slots in at No. 8, which is still pretty good. But for the injury concern, he'd be a couple of spots higher. Health is factored into the evaluations.
NFL CENTERS, RANKED | ||
---|---|---|
Rk | Team | Center |
1 | Pittsburgh | Maurkice Pouncey |
2 | Atlanta | Alex Mack |
3 | Philadelphia | Jason Kelce |
4 | Dallas | Travis Frederick |
5 | LA Chargers | Mike Pouncey |
6 | Oakland | Rodney Hudson |
7 | Tampa Bay | Ryan Jensen |
8 | Buffalo | Mitch Morse |
9 | Jacksonville | Brandon Linder |
10 | Seattle | Justin Britt |
11 | Green Bay | Cory Linsley |
12 | Carolina | Matt Paradis |
13 | San Francisco | Weston Richburg |
14 | Indianapolis | Ryan Kelly |
15 | New England | David Andrews |
16 | Chicago | James Daniels |
17 | Detroit | Frank Ragnow |
18 | Houston | Nick Martin |
19 | Cleveland | JC Tretter |
20 | NY Jets | Ryan Kalil |
21 | New Orleans | Erik McCoy |
22 | Arizona | Mason Cole |
23 | Minnesota | Garrett Bradbury |
24 | Cincinnati | Billy Price |
25 | Tennessee | Ben Jones |
26 | LA Rams | Brian Allen |
27 | Denver | Connor McGovern |
28 | Washington | Chase Roullier |
29 | Kansas City | Austin Reiter |
30 | Miami | Daniel Kilgore |
31 | Baltimore | Matt Skura |
32 | NY Giants | Jon Halapio |
Not everything is set in stone. When Max Unger retired, the Saints signed former Viking Nick Easton to a 4-year, $24 million contract and planned to play him at center. But second-rounder McCoy has been starting there in camp, so Easton might need to play somewhere else at this point. There are other camp battles and instances of guys currently sidelined by injury (e.g., Nick Martin in Houston), as well.
As always with these, please feel free to let me know where you think I've missed the mark.
--Andy Richardson