Due to the Jacksonville Jaguars not winning a lot of games when looking at the past decade, their good players get overlooked. One of those players who has flown under-the-radar for a while is offensive lineman Brandon Linder, who is the lone member on the team from the 2014 draft class.
While most national pundits have overlooked Linder as one of the better offensive linemen in football, Pro Football Focus has taken note of him. In fact, when looking at all 32 teams, they listed him as the Jags’ most underrated player in an article posted this week.
Jacksonville Jaguars: C Brandon Linder
Playing on a contract worth over $50 million in total, it’s clear that the Jaguars recognize the value Linder has provided. But he’s still a player you don’t hear about often in conversations about the league’s top interior offensive linemen. Since entering the league in 2014, Linder ranks 11th among qualifying guards and centers in overall grade, and he ranks fourth among centers since taking over the starting job there in 2016, trailing only Jason Kelce, Alex Mack and Travis Frederick. That looks like a resume that is deserving of at least one Pro Bowl appearance to me.
Coincidentally, Jags contributor Phil Smith and I just discussed how under-appreciated Linder is and listed him as one of Dave Caldwell’s top-5 draft picks in our upcoming episode of “Bleav in the Jags.” When healthy, he’s been the most consistent player on the offensive line and his longevity on the team is proof.
Linder will be entering his seventh season in 2020 and will be coming off a year where he accumulated a Pro Football Focus score of 75.3. That was good for the best grade on the offensive line and he should likely be the team’s highest-graded lineman in 2020 when considering his consistency.
