It now makes total sense why Green Bay Packers center Corey Linsley has been standing on the sidelines throughout training camp. He tore his hamstring twice.
Linsley first tore his hamstring in May, during OTAs. He started working out again in July, assuming the injury had healed. It hadn’t and he tore it again.
“I wasn’t going to stop training like I do just because of something,” Linsley said. “I was training like I needed to train, and it just wasn’t healed yet, and I didn’t know that. So then after that, I had that setback, and then now it’s become something obviously more serious.”
Serious indeed.
Linsley has already lost the starting center job to J.C. Tretter. That’s fitting, since Linsley got the job as a rookie after Tretter got injured.
While that sucks for Linsley, this is actually probably a blessing in disguise for the Packers. Tretter is the better lineman. His athleticism brings another dimension to that unit and we’ve witnessed it throughout the preseason.
Now there’s talk that Linsley could start the season on the physically unable to perform list. That would cost him at least the first six games of the year.
That means Don Barclay would back up Tretter at center. It’s a position he’s much better suited for than tackle, so we’re not terribly concerned about that possibility.
But what happens when Linsley returns? Probably not much.
At that point, he’s just a nice backup.
That begs the question. Linsley clearly isn’t as versatile as Barclay, who could play three positions. What exactly do you need two backup centers for?