MOBILE, Ala. — Growing up near Cleveland, Tyler Orlosky didn’t watch a lot of NFL games on television. But he did enjoy seeing Peyton Manning play, so Orlosky was indirectly exposed to the Colts’ longtime center, Jeff Saturday.
“Not realizing that I would be in a position where I could emulate what he was doing,” Orlosky told NJ Advance Media during Senior Bowl week.
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Orlosky went on to play center at West Virginia, and now he is one of this NFL Draft’s top center prospects. CBSSports.com ranks him third, behind LSU’s Ethan Pocic and Ohio State’s Pat Elflein. The Jets met with Orlosky at the Senior Bowl. They could draft him in, say, the second or third round. He’s not a legitimate option for them at No. 6 overall.
If the Jets do pick Orlosky and cut center Nick Mangold (to create $9 million in salary cap space), Orlosky would find himself replacing a Saturday-like figure — an institution for the franchise. This could be a daunting task for a rookie. But Orlosky doesn’t view it like that.
“It would be an honor to be able to go in and replace someone that had been there for as long as Nick has been,” Orlosky said.
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Mangold, 33, has been the Jets’ center since they drafted him in 2006. He is one of their most decorated players ever — seven Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro selections. Saturday had a similar run with the Colts from 1999-2011 — five Pro Bowls and two first-team All-Pro years.
“When you think of the top centers in the league, [Mangold] is probably up there at the top,” Orlosky said. “Obviously, his longevity in the NFL speaks for itself. Linemen don’t last as long in the NFL. It’s such a demanding, physical position.”
When Orlosky arrived at West Virginia, he had no designs on playing center. He was a guard. He never played center in high school. But after he redshirted his first season in 2012, he was moved to center the following spring. He wound up starting from 2014-16.
“I don’t think anyone knew if it was going to work,” Orlosky said of the move to center. “But four years later, I guess it worked out all right.”
Orlosky got used to replacing an institution center while in Morgantown. Joe Madsen, whose final season was 2012, started 50 games over four seasons.
As Orlosky transitions to the NFL, he said his strengths are physicality and mental sharpness. But he knows he didn’t get a lot of chances to fully demonstrate the latter in college.
“At West Virginia, I was given a lot of freedom in our offense,” he said. “That coincides with a weakness, because our offense was very, very simple.”
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West Virginia’s offense has a lot of predetermined reads. And while Orlosky did have to identify the “mike” linebacker before the snap, he’ll face more complex pre-snap duties in the NFL.
He realized that while working in the Chicago Bears’ offense at the Senior Bowl, as a member of the all-star game’s North squad.
Guys like Mangold are masters of these pre-snap reads, which makes it all the more challenging for a newcomer like Orlosky to take on the role of replacement.
Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.
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