Where did Jim Taylor stand with Vince Lombardi?

[Cheesehead]

Dean from Leavenworth, IN


My brother and I were talking about possible Packer draft prospects and he thought they should take the Alabama center (Landon Dickerson) at 29. I said no way they use a first-round pick on a center. We've been loyal Packer fans for 60 years and I don't ever remember GB using a first-round pick on a center or guard. He came back with Jim Ringo in the early 1960s. Is he right and when was the last time they used a first on a center or guard?


Interesting question. Let's start with the common draft era following the NFL-AFL merger. The first common draft was 1967, and the Packers' first pick and ninth overall was Bob Hyland, listed as a center-guard from Boston College. Hyland spent his first three years with the Packers and was credited with nine starts on official play-by-plays, all at center. Thus, I would consider him a center, although he played some guard during his 11-year NFL career. Hyland also was the last center drafted in the first round by the Packers. Guards taken in the first round since the first common draft were: Aaron Taylor, 1994; Ron Hallstrom, 1982; and Bill Lueck, 1968. In 1975, the Packers' first choice, although he was drafted in the second round, was Bill Bain. He was listed as a guard when drafted, but started the first three games of his rookie year and only year with the Packers at left tackle. In 1958, the Packers chose Michigan State All-American center Dan Currie in the first round, but he played linebacker for the Packers. When Currie was at Michigan State, players were required by the college rules to play both offense and defense, and Currie had made his name at center and was listed at that position on draft day for good reason. Clayton Tonnemaker also was listed as a center by the Packers when he was drafted with the fourth overall choice in 1950, but that was the year the pros restored unlimited free substitution and Tonnemaker played linebacker. Ringo was drafted in the seventh round in 1953. The best center ever drafted in Round 1 by the Packers was Art Hunter in 1954. But they played him at tackle as a rookie before he played 10 more years with Cleveland, the L.A. Rams and Pittsburgh, mostly at center. The best guard ever drafted in the first round by the Packers was Gale Gillingham, the second of their two first-round choices in 1966. However, the Packers actually listed Gillingham as a tackle when they drafted him. Actually, in the first NFL Draft in 1936, Curly Lambeau selected guard Russ Letlow of the University of San Francisco as the Packers' first-ever draft pick. In 1944, the Packers drafted another guard, Merv Pregulman, in the first round. That was when NFL players were still playing both ways. In 1955, when the colleges were playing one-platoon, the Packers chose Tom Bettis in the first round and listed him as a guard-linebacker, but he, too, played linebacker for the Packers. Since Hyland, I would consider Mike Flanagan, a third-round choice and the 90th overall, to be the Packers' highest drafted center. However, two other third-round choices, Rich Moran in 1985 and Jason Spitz in 2006, were listed at both guard and center when drafted. Elgton Jenkins, the Packers' second-round selection in 2019, was listed as a guard, but played center his last two years at Mississippi State.