Corey Linsley is now the NFL's highest-paid center.
According to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero, the Los Angeles Chargers are signing the former Ohio State center to a five-year, $62.5 million contract that includes $26 million in the first two years.
The #Chargers are signing C Corey Linsley to a five-year, $62.5 million deal, sources tell me and @TomPelissero. He is the new highest-paid center in the league and will get $26 million over the first two years.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 15, 2021
Ryan Kelly was previously the NFL's highest-paid center after the Indianapolis Colts gave him a four-year, $50 million contract extension last year.
Linsley heads west to Los Angeles, where he'll join two other former Buckeyes in Joey Bosa and K.J. Hill, after spending his first seven NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers, who selected him in the fifth round of the 2014 draft. Linsley was a stalwart in the middle of the offensive line throughout his seven-year Packers tenure, starting 99 games in Green Bay, and he's coming off the best season of his career in 2020, when he was named as a first-team All-Pro.
Due to a lack of cap space, however, the Packers were unable to re-sign Linsley, leaving him to cash in elsewhere. Now, he'll go from snapping the ball to Aaron Rodgers to snapping the ball to 2020 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Justin Herbert while playing for new Chargers head coach Brandon Staley.
Bosa, like Linsley, is also the NFL's highest-paid player at his position.
Linsley was one of two Ohio State offensive linemen to strike deals during Monday's opening day of NFL free agency, as Pat Elflein also landed a three-year, $13.5 million deal with the New York Jets. Other former Ohio State players looking to cash in as free agents this year include wide receivers Curtis Samuel and Noah Brown, safety Malik Hooker, cornerback Gareon Conley and linebacker Raekwon McMillan.
