What to know about Josh Myers, Packers' second-round draft pick and Ohio State center

GREEN BAY - With the 62nd pick overall in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft, the Green Bay Packers selected Ohio State center Josh Myers. It came one night after the Packers drafted Georgia cornerback Eric Stokes in the first round.

PackersNews.com Analysis

Center Corey Linsley left in free agency to the Los Angeles Chargers, and Myers gives the Packers options in the middle of the offensive line.

Measurables

Height: 6-5

Weight: 310

Hand size: 10⅜

Arm length: 32

Key stat

Started of 21 of final 22 games at Ohio State

Stats/Awards

First-team all-Big Ten by coaches

Rimington Trophy finalist

Second-team All-American by the Sporting News

Role expectation

Following Linsley's departure to L.A., Myers should be among the favorites to assume the starting center role. He could also see time at guard.

The scout said

In a conference call, Packers Director of College Scouting Matt Malaspina spoke about the second-round pick:

On if Myers can play positions other than center: "He can. He played center at Ohio State, but he's an athletic kid, he's big and really strong."

On Myers foot injury: "As far as the medical stuff, I don't get into any of that but it's not an issue, we picked him, it's not a concern. All that, we're extremely thorough with our process."

He said

Myers met the local media via conference call Friday night. Here are some highlights:

On his knowledge about former center Corey Linsley: "I do know Corey, I've watched him play over the years on film and I've seen him in passing several times at Ohio State, talked to him on several different occasions."

On his foot injury: "I injured my big toe on one of the last plays in the Big Ten Championship originally, then I continued to play on it through the Clemson game and that's where I really did a number on it. I played through the Alabama game as well and then ended up getting surgery after that. At this point in recovery, or rehab, I was running at the Ohio State football facility dang near full speed."

Nuggets

Graduated with degree in social work

Both his father and brother played football at Kentucky

His mother is in the University of Dayton athletics hall of fame as a basketball player

Draftniks say

NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein: Future starting center with proportionally broad frame and good lean mass. Myers is battle-tested and has experience in most run-blocking schemes. He's functional working into lateral positioning but is at his best on double teams and working up to linebackers to free the Buckeyes' interior rushing attack. He's not a natural bender and has trouble with contact balance when allowing defenders to get up under his pads. His size works to his advantage against power rushers but protection will become a little leaky when asked to slide and mirror against athletic edge attacks. Myers is solid but unspectacular with the talent to become an early starter.

TheDraftNetwork.com analyst Kyle Crabbs: Josh Myers projects as a starting center at the NFL level — but his fit is going to be dependent on the key responsibilities his offense requires of him to execute. Myers is a big-bodied center with a pleasant level of lateral mobility to play along the line of scrimmage, but he lacks the dynamic short-area quickness to consistently win isolated reps climbing to the second level or pulling and working out in front of plays that stretch to the boundary. Myers, with his boxy frame, is best suited to work in the phone booth. This isn’t to say he can’t work wide zone concepts or climb off of double teams to pick off linebackers, but he’s not an overly dynamic player in space at this point and his lack of balance and control on the B-level of the defense will allow crafty defenders to take advantage and test him to shoot gaps and attack the front. Myers is predominantly a right-handed shotgun snapper, but he has been given reps at OSU that allow him to snap to a quarterback under center and he’s handled those situations well in short yardage. Myers’ functional athleticism may cap his ceiling as a player, but he’s got the build and strength in his game to serve as an average starter at the pro level. If he’s able to uncover some additional quickness, he could become a more scheme-diverse target for the 2021 NFL Draft and his ceiling could grow; though that would likely require some reworking of his body composition.