Former Green Bay Packers center Corey Linsley, a fifth-round pick of the team in the 2014 draft, is set to retire from the NFL after being released by the Los Angeles Chargers on Wednesday.
Linsley played seven seasons with the Packers and three more with the Chargers. The 161st overall pick in 2014, Linsley went on to play over 9,000 career snaps and be named to back-to-back All-Pro teams (2020, 2021).
Linsley started all 132 regular season games and 12 playoff games (144 total) in which he appeared in the NFL.
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As a rookie in 2014, Linsley earned the starting center job and played 100 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. He played 100 percent of the offense’s snaps in four of his seven seasons with the Packers.
One of the best pass-blocking centers in football over the last decade, Linsley gave up only 18 career sacks and 150 pressures over 6,054 pass-blocking snaps.
After a dominant season in Green Bay in 2020, Linsley earned a $62.5 million deal with the Chargers, making him the NFL’s highest-paid center at the time. He was a three-time captain with the Chargers and didn’t allow a single sack between 2021 and 2023.
In 2023, Linsley was placed on the reserve/non-football illness list because of a heart issue.
One final note: the Packers received a fourth-round compensation pick in the 2022 draft for losing Linsley in free agency. That pick became offensive lineman Zach Tom.
