Former BYU star Brady Christensen is the NFL's most versatile, underappreciated offensive lineman
By D.A. Sweat
Offensive linemen don’t get enough love.
This is especially true for offensive linemen who toil away under the cloak of irrelevance that shrouds the Carolina Panthers, the NFL's only team to not play in a prime-time game this season.
So Brady Christensen, this one’s for you!
And he deserves some recognition, too. Over the last four years Brady Christensen has developed into perhaps the most versatile, underappreciated lineman in the NFL.
Here’s the strange tale of the ups and downs that have led to the former BYU star to be able to play any position along the offensive line.
Dysfunction in Carolina
Brady Christensen played left tackle at BYU, and he was a star.
During his 2020 redshirt junior season he was dominant protecting Zach Wilson’s blind side and helping BYU go 11-1 and finishing ranked No. 11 in the AP Poll. During his last year in Provo Christensen was a consensus All-American and his PFF grade of 96.0 was the highest grade ever for a tackle. (Just read that sentence again: he earned PFF’s HIGHEST GRADE EVER for a tackle! )
Following his dazzling BYU Pro Day the Carolina Panthers selected him in the third round, No. 70 overall, in the 2021 draft.
Since drafting Brady Christensen four years ago the Carolina Panthers have been an organizational mess.
Incredibly, in four seasons he has already played for five head coaches and five offensive coordinators when including interim coaches. But this organizational dysfunction isn’t the only source of change the former BYU star has had to deal with in Carolina.
Now in his fourth NFL season Brady Christensen’s position has changed nearly as many times as his head coach.
Playing Every Position for the Panthers
Just to recap: In 2020 at BYU the nimble 6-foot-6, 300 pounder had perhaps the best college season ever by a left tackle.
When the Carolina Panthers drafted him in 2021 the team had been in desperate need of a quality left tackle for years, leading most of the football world to assume that would be Brady Christensen’s primary position. Problem solved, right?
Wrong.
After some early work at both left tackle and right tackle during his rookie season, the Matt Rhule-led brain trust at the time inexplicably moved Brady to guard. Playing along the interior offensive line canceled out his superior athleticism that could have been used at left tackle to corral speedy edge rushers. He also lacks the girth of most NFL guards which creates challenges when taking on massive interior defensive linemen.
The position change from tackle to guard is baffling to this day as it negated Christensen’s strengths and emphasized his weaknesses.
In his chaotic 2021 rookie campaign in which he played guard and both tackle positions, Christensen appeared in all 16 Panthers games with six starts, playing 480 offensive snaps, 45% of the team’s total. Despite the positional chaos, his PFF grade of 62.4 ranked third among Carolina’s offensive linemen.
In 2022 Christensen earned a spot as a starting guard and had an up-and-down season adjusting to his new position on the interior offensive line. His PFF grade of 57.6 ranked No. 54 of 78 guards. Coach Matt Rhule was fired mid-season.
In 2023 Brady returned as a starting guard under new head coach Frank Reich. Unfortunately, Christensen suffered a season-ending injury in the Panthers first game and missed the rest of the season. Reich’s disastrous coaching tenure lasted just 11 games before he was fired.
In 2024 the Panthers two biggest free agent additions were both guards - Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis - meaning Brady Christensen was no longer starting. New head coach Dave Canales surprisingly moved him to center to back up Austin Corbett (a fellow Latter-day Saint, by the way). It looked like Brady would spend the 2024 season watching from the sidelines.
But in the Panthers fifth game Austin Corbett suffered a season-ending injury and Brady Christensen was thrust into the starting lineup, this time at center.
He started at his new position from Weeks 6-8 of this season and was excelling despite never having played center before.
Just as it looked like Brady Christensen had found a home at center, Carolina’s starting left tackle was injured for Week 9 and he was moved once again, this time from center back to starting left tackle.
The Potential to Thrive at Center
For those scoring at home, over his last 10 games between 2023 and 2024 Brady Christensen has started at left tackle, guard, and center.
After watching Christensen’s three recent starts at center, the Panthers would be wise to move him back to that position and keep him there full-time.
The move to center leverages Christensen’s knowledge of the entire offensive line - since he has played every position - giving him unique perspective when calling out protections. Center allows him to blend the athleticism that served him well at tackle with the interior skills he developed playing guard.
Playing center maximizes Brady Christensen’s strengths and deemphasizes his shortcomings. His PFF grade of 69.1 this season ranks 13th among 57 centers and he's a Top 10 run blocker for the position.
He will be a free agent after this season. Any team would be smart to sign him for what could be a solid career as an NFL center, and at worst a quality reserve who can literally play any position along the offensive line.
Unfortunately for Brady Christensen, he has become the NFL’s most versatile player in the obscurity of the hapless Carolina Panthers.
If he played for a high-profile team like the Kansas City Chiefs or the Dallas Cowboys commentators like Chris Collinsworth would rave about him on national television. Collinsworth would probably say something like, “Well let me tell you about this Brady Christensen here. This guy plays every position! Tackle, guard, center - it doesn’t matter! He’s like a Transformer along the offensive line who can turn himself into anything his team needs. What he’s doing is incredible! He plays every position!”
But instead of drawing rave reviews from Chris Collinsworth in front of a national audience, Brady Christensen has become the NFL’s most adaptable chess piece along the offensive line that few NFL fans have ever heard of.
If the former BYU star can continue to excel at center for the rest of this season then sign as a free agent next year with a competent franchise who knows how to use him, the football world may finally meet the NFL’s most versatile offensive lineman.
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