Jager Burton could help the Green Bay Packers in a big way if he can become anything like the player Corey Linsley was as a rookie.
The two share a draft and position background. Burton is an interior offensive lineman and the Packers’ fifth-round draft pick this year, just as Linsley was in 2014.
Linsley was drafted primarily as a center and was expected to back up JC Tretter as a rookie. But in a preseason game, Tretter fractured a bone in his knee. Linsley moved up to the starting spot, more than held his own all season and wound up starting every game for a Packers team that would advance to the NFC championship game.
He also ended up being the Packers’ starting center for seven years.
Similarly, the Packers don’t need Burton, who plays center and guard, to start as a rookie. They just re-signed Sean Rhyan this offseason to be their center, and return incumbents at guard in whom they’ve made a big financial or draft investment: Aaron Banks and Anthony Belton.
But the Packers’ offensive line depth is perilously thin. For all the Packers’ very real need for immediate help from their two highest draft picks – second-round cornerback Brandon Cisse and third-round defensive lineman Chris McClellan – the team really could use a third ready-made draft pick in Burton to improve their prospects when injury hits their offensive line.
Because if Burton ascends to the top backup job on the interior of the offensive line, he could in fact become their sixth man and take the field no matter which lineman gets hurt. More on how that would work momentarily.
He certainly will be a player to not forget about in training camp.
“I’m not going to put a prediction on him or anything,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said recently when asked if Burton could be the Packers’ top backup at interior offensive line this season. “I just want to see him come in and work. He’s gonna play guard, he’s gonna play center and we’ll kind of see how that goes as camp unfolds through this offseason program.”
As of now, the top backups at guard are probably Darian Kinnard, who doubles as a tackle, and perhaps Travis Glover, a former sixth-round pick who missed all of last season because of a shoulder injury. Stenavich said he thinks Burton’s best position, at least to open his rookie offseason, is center. In two OTA practices open to the media this offseason, he played center in one and both positions in the other.
Whether Burton is even the top backup at center at this early juncture is unclear, because Jacob Monk did not participate in the Packers’ open OTA practices May 27 and June 2. Monk is a third-year pro who might open camp as the No. 2 simply because of his experience edge. That’s how NFL teams often handle such things.
But Burton has interesting traits for an interior lineman. He’s plenty big (6-foot-4⅛, 312 pounds) and a good athlete whose 4.94-second 40 ranks in the 97th percentile of interior offensive linemen at the NFL combine going back to 1999. He also didn’t allow a sack with Kentucky last season, according to scouting guru Dane Brugler of The Athletic.
The Packers surely could use an upgrade from Kinnard, Glover and Monk. Injuries are inevitable in the NFL, and the chances of five starting linemen making it through a season without missing time are about nil.
And there’s a real chance that if Burton is good enough to beat them out, he’d be the line’s de facto sixth man.
If there were an injury at guard or center, the top backup just steps right in. If Burton is the top backup at all, it would be him.
But at tackle, the Packers don’t have a quality backup on their bench and potentially could be in big trouble if Jordan Morgan or Zach Tom gets injured. Kinnard is probably their swing tackle coming off the bench, but the truth is the Packers would be much better off if he were at least a step down the pecking order.
Their other backup tackles are Glover, Brant Banks, and undrafted rookie Dalton Cooper. The chances of any of them providing quality backup play are not good.
But the guess here is the Packers more likely will use Belton as their swing backup tackle even though he’s a starting guard. He’s a mammoth and talented 2025 second-round pick who was a starting tackle going all the way back to high school. He has the physical traits for the position (6-6, 336, 33⅞-inch arms) and draft pedigree as well.
The Packers didn’t even try Belton a guard until the middle of last season with their offensive line playing poorly and needing a boost. Now they’re trying to develop him for that position long term.
The coaching staff has said Belton is among the candidates to play tackle in case of injury, and the guess here is if they lose Tom or Morgan to injury, they’d rather move Belton to that key position than plug in Kinnard.
It’s true that’s not the way teams prefer handling injuries on the line. They generally like replacing injured offensive linemen one for one. Because when you move a starter to a different position and replace him with a backup, you’re theoretically getting worse at two spots, not just the injured one. There’s also the potential for timing and chemistry disruption when you have multiple moving parts.
But if Burton is good enough at guard right away, it would make it easier to move Belton to the open tackle position. That would be the way to get the best five remaining linemen on the field – that is, if Burton is anywhere near Linsley’s class as a rookie.
Burton had plenty of snaps at all three interior spots in college at Kentucky. He started 23 games at left guard, 15 at center (including all of last year) and nine at right guard. He said his position each season depended on which was going to be used more for pulling in the run game. Because of his athleticism, Kentucky wanted him at the position that would pull most.
“Honestly I think it’s pretty comparable,” he said of whether he’s better at center or guard. “I know that’s probably a boring answer, but I feel like I have strengths at both and obviously weaknesses at both. So just kinda ironing out both of them and being ready to compete at any position.”
Anybody who follows the Packers knows they’re looking for meaningful contribution from the top of their rookie class at a couple of positions. It would help their cornerback play a lot if Cisse is good enough to be a starter at some point. They also need McClellan to be a big part of their defensive line rotation and add some beef to their interior.
But Burton could end up being an important pick as well.
For sure, it’s asking a lot of a third-day selection to come into the NFL ready-made, and Burton will have to do it on the field with the pads on in August if he’s going to move up the depth charts.
But their offensive line was thin going into the offseason, and he was their most notable offseason addition. Brian Gutekunst, the Packers’ general manager, will have done his team a big favor if he hit in the fifth round with Burton just like Ted Thompson did with Linsley in 2014.
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Jager Burton could be key for Packers, even as fifth-round draft pick
Reporting by Pete Dougherty, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Packers News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
