Packers center Corey Linsley sat out the team’s offseason workouts in 2016 and then went on to miss training camp, preseason and the first eight weeks of the regular season because of a hamstring injury.
Linsley was a spectator again this spring after having ankle surgery early in the offseason, but he says that the lesson he learned last year will keep his absence from extending as long as it did last year. Linsley started working out on his own around this time last year in hopes of being healthy for camp and wound up with a setback that cost him half a season.
“I just have to continue to follow the plan, whereas last year I maybe didn’t,” Linsley said, via ESPN.com. “I was trying to go ahead of the plan because I thought I was ahead of it, instead of just trusting the process that the trainers and the strength coaches had given me. I was trying to beat it, like the tough guy I am. I was trying to get ahead of it. And I ended up behind. Now it’s a matter of knowing I’ll be OK as long as I follow this plan.”
JC Tretter stepped in at center in place of Linsley last year, but he’s gone to Cleveland as a free agent. Guard T.J. Lang also left this offseason, so the Packers have enough to deal with on the offensive line without worrying about replacing their starting center and Linsley has plenty to gain from staying healthy as he’ll be playing out the final year of his contract.