Meyers Watch

[YoHoChecko]

This might be a completely reactionary nothingburger of a thread. This might be premature.

But here's what we know:

2022: Meyers was a mediocre starting C in his sophomore season of 2022. He did not develop the way we hoped and was one of two weakest links of the line, if not the weakest (in my opinion the weakest).

2023 OTAs: Sean Rhyan started getting C work, JRJ continued rotating at C

2023 Training Camp:
- Zach Tom began taking significant C reps with the #1 offense and snapping to Love in individual drills.
- Two undrafted Cs have been signed this week
- Hansen, the de facto C2 at present, is suffering an injury and is a replacement-level player


SO.... is Meyers in a fight for his job? Is he at risk of being surpassed?

A request: we all know/remember that the hands-down consensus #1C in Meyers' draft class was Creed Humphrey and he is tearing it up as expected in the NFL and that Meyers was selected just before Humphrey. We can have all the feelings we want about that. But it happened and the past cannot be altered. I would hope and request that the conversation about Meyers focus on what is and can be, rather than what could have been.

[lupedafiasco]

Myers is 100% fighting for his job because he isnt a good player. I thought he would be good but I said during the draft I don’t know how anyone could go Myers over Creed. I think the best starting 5 is Bak, Jenkins, Tom, Runyan, Njiman. Njiman would be the weak link here but it bears playing Myers at this point. He just doesn’t have the strength and it hasn’t improved in his time in the league.

[Yoop]

I think Myers had a higher pass blocking grade then Humphries in the pre draft hype, and possibly a better zone blocker.

thing is according to reports last year we increased gap blocking a lot versus zone, does Guty and the coaches discuss this stuff prior to making draft picks.

[APB]

In total agreement with [mention]lupedafiasco[/mention].

If anything, Myers appears to have regressed. I don't know if it's his off-season habits or he just physically doesn't have it, but he has been underwhelming since last spring.

My biggest fear with that projected starting 5 is if either tackle gets injured. Then what? Are we moving Tom outside and playing musical chairs at multiple positions or are we bringing in a single liability to play tackle? I guess I want to see how Jones/Walker/Rhyan perform outside more than anything. If they're capable playing tackle, I'll feel a lot better about sliding Tom into the C position and just leaving him there.

P.S. It's Myers, not Meyers. Shame [mention]YoHoChecko[/mention]

[Labrev]

Up to this point, Myers has been subpar to put it charitably. He's got talent but his play has not been good enough. Now he's being pushed with some legitimate competition.

In short, yes, he is fighting for his starting spot.

I will also add, the connection between the QB and the Center is a very important one, and we want Love to start the year off on the right foot. A guy with years of experience at C at QB like Rodgers, maybe you can get away with Myers's inconsistent play at C. A new starter at QB, less room for error.

[go pak go]

From all accounts Myers has not had a great camp and they are brining in centers like crazy and also having a lot of players try Center at camp.

I do think there is something here. I do ultimately expect Myers to start the season but I think we are trending of having Center be an area of need in the offseason of 2024.

Center has always been a position we have had to expend little resources to get great results - Scottie Wells, EDS, Corey Linsley, JC Tretter, even Lucas Patrick are all centers who have come through here with little investment but were pretty darned good players.

It's kind of strange when we actually invest in this position with Myers and to a lesser extent Jeff Saturday that they kind of end up stinking.

[go pak go]

If anything, Myers appears to have regressed. I don't know if it's his off-season habits or he just physically doesn't have it, but he has been underwhelming since last spring.

It is concerning that our two top picks of 2021 had significant regression in their sophomore year.

Though I still think Myers primarily got the "benefit of the doubt" treatment in 2021 because he was a rookie and we have far more forgiving eyes with rookies.

[Yoop]

If anything, Myers appears to have regressed. I don't know if it's his off-season habits or he just physically doesn't have it, but he has been underwhelming since last spring.

It is concerning that our two top picks of 2021 had significant regression in their sophomore year.

Though I still think Myers primarily got the "benefit of the doubt" treatment in 2021 because he was a rookie and we have far more forgiving eyes with rookies.

according to his rookie grades, which was a smaller sampling because of injury's or what not, Myers had a better grade then Humphries as a rookie in pass pro.

I think the shifting of the OL so often last season made things harder for Myers, I'am glad though that where moving Toms around and giving him time there, I've always supported having OL ready to move to another position should that need arise

[go pak go]

Personally I don't like that we are moving Tom around between inside and outside. It can be heavily argued that moving Jenkins around hurt his progression. I get concerned we are doing to the same thing to Zach Tom.

I'm okay with interior being a backup for other interior. But the transition from interior to exterior or vice versa has a poor track record.

[Yoop]

Personally I don't like that we are moving Tom around between inside and outside. It can be heavily argued that moving Jenkins around hurt his progression. I get concerned we are doing to the same thing to Zach Tom.

I'm okay with interior being a backup for other interior. But the transition from interior to exterior or vice versa has a poor track record.

why do you say that? being versatile is what has made this OL one of the best in the league year in, year out, and we draft mostly college tackles and convert them.

Jenkins had a injured season, then we had a need for a better right tackle, he struggled with that because he hadn't worked the right side in years (if ever), the best thing we can do for a prospect is move them from side to side to see how they adapt, what went wrong was attempting it during the season and not now in training camp

seems people simply refuse to accept that it's not automatic that players are ambidextrous and can swap sides without skipping a beat, some players are never really able to, some like Toms struggle far less then others.

this is what makes Toms such a coaches treat, give Jenkins more time and he might be better, I think this is the main reason Nijman is a better LT then RT, everything ya do is 180 different from one side to the other.

[BSA]

This might be premature.

It most likely is.

Every year in TC, the Packers move guys around and get film on them in various positions and with various team mates. That's coaching film .
Its how you develop OL, and these days, the OL are coming into the league "undeveloped" because of all their time in spread offenses in college
Myers has had his struggles, but I think he will continue to develop and I think he's still best OC on the roster.

With regards to Zach Tom, he has OT skills- those are kinda wasted inside. He will be a very good OC, but he doesn't have the anchor or run blocking drive skills that Myers has yet - so you're downgrading in those areas- until Tom catches up.

Fans always try to attach meaning to all of these OL shuffles, but the Packers do them every year. Some fans gripe about all the TC shuffles, but this is exactly when you want to do it- so you're prepared in season

Combine that with the fact that many are down on Myers and here we are. OL take time to develop, they all have their own unique trajectory.
Bak struggled at OT initially, didn't have an anchor at all, but he turned into the best in the business- in part because the coaches were patient and he developed.

If you want to gain some insight: start with the projected starting 5 ( Bak-Jenkins-Myers-JRJ-Tom) and then one by one have each guy bust a chin strap and see how you would handle replacing him. For example, if Bak stubs a toe - Nijman is your guy. Run through the rest of the OL and one of the things you'll note is that there really isn't a good OC 2 option on the roster. Hanson sucks, Rhyan has very limited experience.

My guess is that they are auditioning Tom as OC2 in case of dire need. They just brought back OC Schneider too- but he's not here to take Myers spot- he's here to compete for OC2. Packers are deep at OT, thinner at OC and they just want 2023 film on Tom playing the pivot.

2 cents

[Labrev]

OL take time to develop,

Not really.

[Backthepack4ever]

Put the best 5 out there and I don't think Meyers in that group. Tom is the man start him at center and the wild card RT..... Caleb Jones!!! Let him and Yosh battle it out but from all accounts Jones has been impressive in camp. Let the bear eat

[APB]

seems people simply refuse to accept that it's not automatic that players are ambidextrous…

Of all the words [mention]Yoop[/mention] managed to spell correctly…never woulda guessed it.

[Cdragon]

seems people simply refuse to accept that it's not automatic that players are ambidextrous…

Of all the words @Yoop managed to spell correctly…never woulda guessed it.

But he was trying to spell, aardvarks.

[Labrev]

I'm not worried about moving Tom around. He did not miss a beat going from RG to LT to RT. In truth I think Elgton was fine when we were doing the same with him but coming back from the ACL was the real issue with him.

[CWIMM]

My biggest fear with that projected starting 5 is if either tackle gets injured. Then what? Are we moving Tom outside and playing musical chairs at multiple positions or are we bringing in a single liability to play tackle? I guess I want to see how Jones/Walker/Rhyan perform outside more than anything. If they're capable playing tackle, I'll feel a lot better about sliding Tom into the C position and just leaving him there.

If Tom ends up staring at center and one of the tackles gets injured I would move Tom to tackle and have Myers start at center.

according to his rookie grades, which was a smaller sampling because of injury's or what not, Myers had a better grade then Humphries as a rookie in pass pro.

According to PFF Humphrey had a significantly better grade in pass protection than Myers during their rookie campaigns.

why do you say that? being versatile is what has made this OL one of the best in the league year in, year out, and we draft mostly college tackles and convert them.

I believe Rodgers made the offensive line look better than they actually were often as well.

My guess is that they are auditioning Tom as OC2 in case of dire need. They just brought back OC Schneider too- but he's not here to take Myers spot- he's here to compete for OC2. Packers are deep at OT, thinner at OC and they just want 2023 film on Tom playing the pivot.

My guess is the Packers want to figure out if the combination of Tom at center and Nijman at RT is an upgrade over Myers at C and Tom at RT. I don't believe they plan on developing Tom into the backup center as he will start at tackle if he doesn't end up replacing Myers.

[Cdragon]

With 2 recent ACLs on the line I can't imagine us going into a game with less than 2 backups. Right now Tom at center might just be for versatilities sake. If you are down to a swing T at backup, you can drop Tom inside. I would take Tom with his extra 15lbs as the best RT over Tom as a slightly better C than Myers and a weaker RT.

[Yoop]

With 2 recent ACLs on the line I can't imagine us going into a game with less than 2 backups. Right now Tom at center might just be for versatilities sake. If you are down to a swing T at backup, you can drop Tom inside. I would take Tom with his extra 15lbs as the best RT over Tom as a slightly better C than Myers and a weaker RT.

did Toms add 15 lbs this off season? he was listed at 304 lbs last season, which makes him 10 lbs lighter then either of Nijman or Meyers

[Cdragon]

With 2 recent ACLs on the line I can't imagine us going into a game with less than 2 backups. Right now Tom at center might just be for versatilities sake. If you are down to a swing T at backup, you can drop Tom inside. I would take Tom with his extra 15lbs as the best RT over Tom as a slightly better C than Myers and a weaker RT.

did Toms add 15 lbs this off season? he was listed at 304 lbs last season, which makes him 10 lbs lighter then either of Nijman or Meyers

He had an interview last week where he mentioned adding weight but it was noted that the Packers site hadn't changed it yet.