Weston Richburg Ranked Top Center in NFL by Bleacher Report
By Neal Lynch
Matt Miller of Bleacher Report ranked New York Giants center Weston Richburg as the top center in the NFL on Thursday. In two seasons, Richburg has established himself as the centerpiece of the Giants offensive line and a building block upon which the G-Men hope to fortify the wall in front of Eli Manning.
Weston’s helped the O-line grow from a subpar 2014 season when the front was the 20th best in the league, according to Pro Football Focus (“PFF”), who graded Weston as one of the worst rookie interior linemen that year.
On the other hand, Pro Football Reference assigned an approximate value of 8 to Richburg for his rookie season at left guard, which wasn’t his natural position (center). That was enough to convince me to name the former 2nd round draft pick to our Giants All-Time All-Rookie Team.
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In 2015, Richburg moved over to his more familiar role as Eli Manning’s hand warmer and excelled. PFF listed Weston as one of the biggest Pro Bowl snubs, a designation that the Colorado State product was fine with. They also named Richburg as the runner-up to Tyrod Taylor as the top breakout player of the year.
The 24-year-old has only missed two starts in his short career and has two years left on his rookie contract, making him an unrestricted free agent in 2018. Spotrac assigned Weston a ‘true value’ rating of 73.05, which was 21st among centers taking at least 25% of their unit’s snaps, however, only 7 other centers played more than Richburg. I would expect the Giants to seriously consider re-signing Weston to serve as Eli’s battery mate in Manning’s final seasons.