Center Josh Myers is entering the last year of his rookie deal, and the Green Bay Packers don't have an obvious long-term answer at this point. Or at least that's the external perception. According to ESPN's beat writer Rob Demovsky, the Packers might see current right tackle Zach Tom as the long-term center of the team.
"In fact, I think the (long-term) starting center is on this team right now, but it's not Josh Myers. It was told by a couple people that within the organization they think Zach Tom is a Pro Bowl right tackle, an All-Pro guard, and a potential Hall of Fame center," Demovsky said on Wilde and Tausch. "There is your center."
At Wake Forest, Zach Tom played as a center in 2019, with 1,030 total snaps. In 2020 and 2021, he started at left tackle, combining 1,729 snaps.
In the NFL, he's played regular season snaps at the five offensive line positions in his first two years as a Packer. Initially, Green Bay tested him as a guard, eventually moving him to tackle. In 2022, he played 295 snaps at left tackle, 96 at left guard, 14 at right guard, and 84 at right tackle.
Last season, he surpassed Yosh Nijman on the depth chart and became the full-time starting right tackle, playing 1,064 snaps.
Curiously enough, center is the position he has played the least, with just four snaps as a backup to Myers.
Zach Tom fell to the fourth round of the draft in 2022 mostly because he was undersized by NFL standards — and moving inside to center would be helpful for him in that regard.
Questionable process
If the Packers really think Zach Tom has the potential to be a much better center than he is a tackle, it’s hard to understand what the thought process was in 2023.
On the field, Josh Myers was the worst offensive lineman of the team. They had the option to move Zach Tom to center, upgrading that spot, and keeping Yosh Nijman as the right tackle — he is a solid player, who had a good season in 2022.
Maybe they kept Zach Tom at right tackle because it’s a more valuable position, but that won’t change in 2025 and beyond. So if they understood it would be better to keep Tom at tackle, it’s hard to understand why that would be different in the future, unless they can find one or two high-end tackles in this year’s draft.
Domino effect
The problem with moving Zach Tom from right tackle to center is that the Packers are not comfortable with tackle depth either, and that's a more valuable position.
Right now, the Packers have two good starting tackles with Tom and Rasheed Walker. But after releasing David Bakhtiari and letting Yosh Nijman walk in free agency, the only backup options are Caleb Jones, Luke Tenuta, and Kadeem Telfort.
If the Packers really plan to move Zach Tom to center in 2025 and beyond, drafting a tackle early this year — and maybe more than one during the process — would become a need.
Moreover, if the organization thinks Zach Tom has the potential to be a Hall of Fame center, it would make more sense to move him inside as soon as possible. Josh Myers would have an extra year to fight for a starting job at guard, and maybe it would have been smarter to re-sign Nijman to have more tackle depth.
That wasn't the plan, though, and it seems like the Packers will keep Zach Tom at right tackle for at least one more year.
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