When it comes to draft rankings, I think it’s important to evaluate the evaluator. To me, there’s no one in the business doing better work on offensive linemen than Brandon Thorn, who currently drops his draft prospect rankings on Bleacher Report as part of their B/R NFL Scouting Dept. series. Thorn, whom I have previously worked with on the series, works with OL Masterminds, an offseason summit that brings in college, pro and former pro offensive linemen together to work on the craft together for a week,
and is a Joe Moore Award voter, which is an award that goes to “the most outstanding offensive line unit in college football.”
I am biased. I have worked with Thorn. I also think he knows his stuff better than anyone else who is public-facing. When I have a question about offensive linemen in the draft, I go to Thorn as frequently as I go to scouts I know in the industry. Take that for what you will.
I say all of this because Thorn (who only does B/R’s offensive line evals) and company just dropped their updated top-225 for the upcoming draft. Considering that the Green Bay Packers could lose their top two centers this offseason, with Elgton Jenkins likely being a cap casualty and Sean Rhyan potentially hitting free agency, I wanted to look through Thorn’s center rankings.
So let’s do just that together, with data, info I’ve been told from scouts and help from the consensus draft board to compare and contrast Thorn’s rankings.
Center Prospect Rankings – 2026 NFL Draft
- Sam Hecht, Kansas State
- Bleacher Report: 96 (late 3rd)
- Consensus Board: 117 (4th)
- Height: 6042 (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Weight: 297 pounds (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Snaps Played: C – 1,510, 7 – RG, 3 – LG
- Jake Slaughter, Florida
- Bleacher Report: 113 (4th)
- Consensus Board: 89 (3rd)
- Height: 6044 (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Weight: 305 pounds (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Snaps Played: C – 1,817, RT – 1
- Connor Lew, Auburn
- Bleacher Report: 114 (4th)
- Consensus Board: 74 (early 3rd)
- Height: 6032 (estimated)
- Weight: 303 pounds (estimated)
- Snaps Played: C – 1,461, LG – 2, LT – 1
- Logan Jones, Iowa
- Bleacher Report: 139 (early 5th)
- Consensus Board: 98 (late 3rd)
- Height: 6026 (estimated)
- Weight: 302 pounds (estimated)
- Snaps Played: C – 1,348, LG – 1
- James Brockermeyer, Miami
- Bleacher Report: 144 (early 5th)
- Consensus Board: 307 (undrafted)
- Height: 6031 (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Weight: 297 pounds (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Snaps Played: C – 1,684, RT – 2, RG – 1
- Parker Brailsford, Alabama
- Bleacher Report: 183 (early 6th)
- Consensus Board: 100 (late 3rd)
- Height: 6020 (estimated)
- Weight: 290 pounds (estimated)
- Snaps Played: C – 2,186, RG – 131, RT – 2, LG -2
- Pat Coogan, Indiana
- Bleacher Report: 187 (early 6th)
- Consensus Board: 154 (5th)
- Height: 6051 (estimated)
- Weight: 311 pounds (estimated)
- Snaps Played: C – 1,623, LG – 645, RG – 1
On public boards, Kansas State’s Sam Hecht is rising quickly. To scouts, he’s been a known name for a while. I mentioned in my first (and so far only) mock offseason of 2026 that he wouldn’t be around for the seventh-round pick that I took him at, based on the consensus board rankings. Beyond Hecht’s “rise,” these are mostly names that have been floated on center lists throughout the 2025 season. The one exception is Miami’s James Brockermeyer, whom Thorn is significantly higher on than the consensus. I haven’t poked around on him, but I am excited to do so and watch his film. I’ll report back.
Thorn is at least a full round lower, at least in terms of B/R’s overall player rankings, than the consensus on the following players: Lew (who is coming off a torn ACL), Jones, Brailsford and Coogan. That’s over half of the draftable 2026 true center class. That’s not great for center-needy teams.
He’s significantly lower on Brailsford, by about two and a half rounds, but I’m not sure how much Brailsford would impact the Packers’ draft plans. Green Bay already is actively trying to get bigger on the line, and Brailsford is expected to be maybe 6’2”-flat and maybe 290 pounds on the dot. He’s not really a “Packers type” at this point.
The last interesting bit here is that Matt Gulbin of Michigan State, who is 162nd on the consensus draft board, didn’t make B/R’s top-225 cut. There are a lot of split opinions on Gulbin, a fifth-year player who transferred from Wake Forest last offseason. For example, ESPN’s Mel Kiper has Gulbin ranked as his fourth overall interior offensive lineman in the class, behind only Lew among center prospects. For what it’s worth, Packers scouts visited Michigan State games several times this season, which is odd for a team that has so few draftable prospects.
Center Converts – 2026 NFL Draft
- Keylan Rutledge, Georgia Tech
- Bleacher Report: 101 (early 4th)
- Consensus Board: 101 (early 4th)
- Height: 6033 (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Weight: 316 pounds (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Snaps Played: RG – 2,696, LG – 47, RT – 3
- Brian Parker II, Duke
- Bleacher Report: 105 (early 4th)
- Consensus Board: 87 (3rd)
- Height: 6046 (confirmed, Shrine Bowl)
- Weight: 306 pounds (confirmed, Shrine Bowl)
- Snaps Played: RT – 1,726, LT – 327, C – 2, LG – 1
- Trey Zuhn III, Texas A&M
- Bleacher Report: 155 (5th)
- Consensus Board: 163 (5th)
- Height: 6063 (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Weight: 309 pounds (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Snaps Played: LT – 2,811, C – 123, LG – 3, RT -2
- Garrett DiGiorgio, UCLA
- Bleacher Report: 156 (5th)
- Consensus Board: 443 (undrafted)
- Height: 6062 (confirmed, Shrine Bowl)
- Weight: 321 pounds (confirmed, Shrine Bowl)
- Snaps Played: RT – 2,331, RG – 409, LT – 120
- Delby Lemieux, Dartmouth
- Bleacher Report: 209 (late 6th)
- Consensus Board: 250 (late 7th)
- Height: 6050 (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Weight: 305 pounds (confirmed, Senior Bowl)
- Snaps Played: LT – 1,160, LG – 3 (only partial career data)
With a relatively weak center class, a lot of teams will be looking at converts to move to the center position. There’s a certain subgroup of Packers fans who don’t want to see more offensive line conversions in Green Bay, but most college teams are just playing their best players at the tackle positions instead of playing them at the position they’ll be playing as a pro. That’s just the reality of life unless the NFL wants to actually fund its own minor league system (they don’t).
Do I think it was dumb that the team played Jordan Morgan (a player I have always viewed as a tackle-only lineman) at guard for a year and a half? Yes. Do I think it was dumb that the team played Anthony Belton (a player I have always viewed as a guard-only lineman) at tackle for training camp and the first half of the 2025 regular season? Yes. I don’t think moving positions was a major factor in Elgton Jenkins’ decline in Green Bay, though, as he was significantly worse in 2024 than he was in 2023. Rhyan also fit in better as a center than he did as a guard, and he was a college tackle.
As far as these conversion players go, Rutledge, Parker, Zuhn and Lemieux all got the chance to play some center during the all-star circuit and did well, according to scouts I’ve talked to. Rutledge was primarily a guard in college, while Parker, Zuhn and Lemieux played tackle. All of the tackles will be moving inside due to a lack of size, mostly related to arm length.
There’s been some rumbling in the scouting community about how DiGiorgio has some ability to play all five positions at the next level, so I’ll include him in this list, too. Despite measuring in at 6’6.25” and 321 pounds, DiGiorgio was listed with just 32.75” arms at the Shrine Bowl. For perspective, that’s in the 85th percentile for height among offensive linemen, per Mockdraftable, but just 23rd percentile for arm length. To say the least, he has an odd build.
For the most part, Thorn is in lock step with the consensus board on the center converts, besides being significantly higher on DiGiorgio than the masses.
