GREEN BAY — If it seems as if the Green Bay Packers have been looking to replace Sean Rhyan at every turn of his NFL career, well, it feels that way to Rhyan, too. 

“It’s kind of the theme of my career,” Rhyan said Wednesday. “But, you can’t break.”

Now, though, he’s caught a break — unfortunately for Elgton Jenkins, a literal one — and Rhyan is set to be the Packers starting center for the final eight games of the regular season and beyond, starting with this Sunday’s game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

With Jenkins having suffered a fractured fibula in his lower left leg during Monday night’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles and expected to miss the rest of the year — Packers head coach Matt LaFleur called it “highly unlikely” that Jenkins would heal up in time to play again this season — the center job belongs to Rhyan, who has endured more than his share of ups and downs in his fourth NFL season.

A third-round pick in 2022 out of UCLA, where he’d exclusively played left tackle, Rhyan played only one offensive snap as a rookie before drawing a season-ending suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

In 2023, he shared time at right guard with Jon Runyan Jr., rotating series-by-series in most games. But following Runyan’s free-agent departure, Rhyan started all 17 games (plus the Packers’ playoff loss to the Eagles) and seemingly had solidified himself as a bona fide starter.

Then came this season.

Although he started the first four games of the season, he once again wound up in a job-sharing arrangement, this time with 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan. Rhyan played just 11 snaps in the Packers’ Oct. 12 win over Cincinnati and didn’t play on offense at all the next week in a win at Arizona.

Only a brief return to platooning with Morgan and injuries to left guard Aaron Banks and Jenkins got him back on the field. 

“Obviously, the disappointment was there. If you’re a real competitor, obviously you want to be out there with the guys, grinding it out and doing hard [expletive],” Rhyan said. “But hey, I try not to hold grudges and stay ready, so that when I get my opp(ortunity), I can go in there and do my thing.”

Which is why, as someone who just a couple weeks ago was bracing himself for a long year of riding the bench heading into unrestricted free agency next March, Rhyan understands just how much the calculus has suddenly changed.

Now, he has a chance to prove to the Packers — or another free-agent suitor — that he can not only be a solid NFL starter but that he has the genuine versatility to play guard or center.

“Make the most of it,” said Rhyan, who despite his rotating with Mordan and being in and out of the lineup has still played 392 of the Packers’ offensive snaps this season (67.82%). “Unfortunately, we play a game with a pretty high injury rate so it’s the next guy up. My number got called, so I’ve got to go out and perform.”

Also beneficial? Instead of playing three spots on the interior of the offensive line, he is now at center. Period.

“Good. Because I know where I’ll be,” Rhyan replied when asked how he feels about that.. It allows me to focus on center technique and doing all that. It’ll help take some off my mental plate a little bit throughout the week, so that’s good.”

Asked if he thinks this will make him more attractive to the Packers to re-sign or another team to woo him in the spring, Rhyan replied, “I don’t know. I’m worried about this week — playing center, getting the ball to the quarterback and doing my job.”

For their part, both LaFleur and quarterback Jordan Love are confident Rhyan will be up to the task—despite his limited opportunities to work with Love on the quarterback-center exchange before this.

“Injuries are very tough. Losing Elgton, the guy who’s been our center, is tough, especially at that position, where me and him have been getting all the reps together and things like that,” Love said. “It will be a quick turnaround for Sean to come in and be able to get rolling and us to get on the same page just with that exchange.

“But if you look at it, I think he did a great job coming into the game on Monday. Obviously I think all of our exchanges were pretty clean. We’ve just got to keep building on that. I think Sean’s done a great job of staying ready, wherever he’s been called at this season. It’ll be no different for him at center.”

Added LaFleur: “Anytime you have a new center coming [in], you’re most concerned about the operation. I thought our operation was pretty clean in terms of the quarterback-center exchange.

“I thought there were some things offensively, the operation wasn’t good enough, but in regards to his ability and what he’s responsible for — the communication and just making sure that we’re getting the ball back to the quarterback — I thought he did a great job with that.”

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