Is it crazy to move Zach Tom from right tackle to center?
ESPN reported some people with the Packers think Tom can be a "Hall of Fame" center, replacing Josh Myers. Does it makes sense to move him from a more valuable position?
Good morning!
In just 10 days separate us from the 2024 NFL Draft and the Packers’ plans might be telegraphed by a report from Rob Demovsky that some people in Green Bay believe the succession plan for Josh Myers at center already exists on the team. But that does make sense? And how does it impact the draft plans if they move him?
Today's edition of The Leap attempts to answer these questions as silly season enters overdrive less than two weeks out from draft day.
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Report: The Packers view Zach Tom’s best position as center. Does it make sense to move a Pro Bowl-caliber tackle?
Peter Bukowski: ESPN’s Rob Demovsky sent a mini-shockwave through Packers Twitter over the weekend when he mentioned in an interview there are people inside 1265 Lombardi who believe right tackle Zach Tom is a Pro Bowl-caliber tackle, an All-Pro-caliber guard, and a potential Hall of Fame center.
The long-time Packers beat writer stated explicitly he believed Tom will move to center long-term and Green Bay drafts his replacement, rather than attempting to find an interior offensive linemen to take that center spot.
When Tom came out, I compared him to J.C. Tretter, a collegiate tackle with terrific athletic gifts, but sub-optimal traits to be a tackle in the NFL due to size and anchor concerns. Move him to center; case closed. Tom has vastly outplayed those expectations as a Day 3 pick, but could still be on the move to center.
Tom boasts a 9.59 Relative Athletic Score as a tackle, but a cool 10 as a center where his lack of height and mass don’t hurt him nearly as much and his arm length suddenly makes him look like a Pterodactyl center as opposed to a T-Rex at tackle.
As for the positional value conversation, if Tom truly is as good as Green Bay reportedly believes he is at center, then he’s a vast upgrade over Josh Myers. Whoever they draft to replace Tom likely won’t be as good as Tom, but could he be as good as Myers was at center: a slightly below-average player at a non-premium position?
Offensive line is a weak link system, so you’re only as good or bad as your worst player. Having your worst player be a tackle is an easier fix with tight end alignment and chip help, but it’s still not ideal. Luckily for Green Bay, if they draft a tackle at 25 or 41 and he is not ready to play, they have Tom. They don’t have to move him unless and until they have a suitable replacement for him.
If Tom is seen as the future of the interior offensive line, how does that change draft plans?
PB: It changes the plan more along the interior than at tackle. Drafting a tackle at 25 or 41 would have been a wise move under any circumstances. The possibility of moving Tom inside if a tackle hits entered into that equation before we believed the Packers preferred that route, and the upside of finding a good player at that position remains more valuable than at an interior spot.
But now the value of a player like Duke’s Graham Barton, whose five-positional versatility was part of his appeal, plummets. He projects best at center in the NFL and although he can play tackle, it’s not where he best fits. If he’s not playing center, he suddenly doesn’t look like a no-brainer pick in the first round, even if he can compete right away with Sean Rhyan at right guard.
The same is true for Arizona’s Jordan Morgan who would fit seamlessly into the zone run schemes with Green Bay, but he’s never played center, so he was banking on four-positional versatility … except he’s probably not a preferred tackle either. He’s a guard. So is that as valuable if Tom moves inside?
What the Packers likely have to do under these circumstances is find a no-doubt offensive tackle at the top of the draft and try to make it work with him before moving Tom inside. Myers’ contract situation complicates that plan however, because he’s up in 2025, which means the Packers will have to do know by then if the tackle can play if Tom isn’t already starting at center by then.
Who are some players the Packers could target at the top of the draft to fill the hole at tackle if Tom moves?
PB: Top-30 visits with Georgia’s Amarius Mims and Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton make far more sense in this new reality, and even give credence to the report in a way. In a normal year, we could all but write off these guys. Green Bay tends to draft tackles with two years of starting experience and those two players don’t have two full seasons combined. Mims started just eight games in his Georgia career!
But each is also an outlier athlete at their size, and though each has plenty of room to grow with their technique, played right tackle in college. They aren’t raw, upside prospects who also have to switch sides at the next level. Guyton in particular fits the Packers if we remove the playing time stipulation as he put together one of the most impressive athletic profiles in the entire draft, hitting Green Bay’s preferred model of tackles despite standing almost 6-foot-8 and bending the scales at 322 with over 34’’ arms.
A 7.5 3-cone at almost 6-foot-8 is a bananas number. But those are just the first-round projected players. BYU’s Kingsley Suamataia, Yale’s Kiran Amagadjie, and Washington’s Rodger Rosengarten are potential options on Day 2 as well (Don’t sleep on King Sua at 25 either).
Looking under every rock, and even extending beyond their typical preferences at the position, to maximize a player the team thinks has hall of fame potential fit together like a beer and a brat.
History says if a team wants a quality offensive tackle, drafting him in the first round is the best way to do it, the Packers own history notwithstanding. In other words, just because Green Bay found David Bakhtiari and Zach Tom on Day 3 doesn’t mean it’s the best way to find the next Bakhtiari or Tom. If they’re going to move Tom, prioritizing tackle, and doing it early makes the most sense.