There are a great many things I don’t understand about football, but foremost among them right now is the Packers’ weird dance about Josh Myers.

Last week, offensive line coach Luke Butkus staunchly defended Myers, who has been the source of much speculation regarding changes to the offensive line this offseason. “Obviously, Josh Myers is our center,” he said, adding that everyone on the offensive line would cross train at multiple positions except for Myers.

On the one hand, this is good. Coaches should defend their players when they can, and correcting the media record is a part of a coach’s job. But on the other hand, the biggest reason people ask so much about Myers is because the Packers absolutely cannot shut up about him.

It was almost exactly a year ago that offensive coordinator began the current version of the Myers saga, speculating on the record that Zach Tom could compete for starting reps at center. But after Myers didn’t face serious competition for his job during training camp, Stenavich reversed course, saying last October that Myers was playing “his best football since he’s been here.”

To adopt the language of political journalism: independent fact checkers dispute that claim.

According to Pro Football Focus, Myers wasn’t playing particularly good football last season. Among the 32 centers who played at least 500 snaps last year, Myers was PFF’s 26th best-graded center overall, their 28th best run blocker, and their 19th best pass blocker. If that’s what his best football looks like, we should probably be more careful about using the word “best” in press conferences. 

But no matter; it’s possible that the Packers’ internal grading on Myers is different. If so, they’ve got a funny way of showing it. Sourced reporting from ESPN’s Rob Demovsky painted a grim picture of Myers, if only in his comparison to Zach Tom. Demovsky said he’s been told by people within the Packers organization that Tom could be a Hall of Fame-caliber center. If they feel the same about Myers, Demovsky’s sources have yet to tell anyone.

Later sourced reporting from Tom Silverstein disputes the Demovsky report. He wrote that the Packers have a high internal opinion of Myers based on his relationship with Jordan Love. That may be true, but if so, why are their differing opinions coming from the same sourced reporting? And why does it differ so sharply from what independent observers have to say?

I’m mystified as to why the Packers are so precious about Myers while at the same time being so callous about his job prospects. Why open the speculation about Myers a year ago if you don’t expect him to actually compete? Why say he’s playing his best ball without actually explaining what that means? Why have everyone else cross-train at different positions but him when you’ve said literally from day one that he could be a guard in Green Bay and literally list him as a C/G on the official team roster?

If they’re really looking to help Myers and really don’t see anyone competing with him for the center job, maybe they should just stop talking and let his play speak for itself…unless they think that would send the wrong message.