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OL: If not Wells, who at center? - JSOnline. My best guess has been that the Green Bay Packers will replace Scott Wells with Evan Dietrich-Smith, if Wells leaves in free agency.
But I'm also guessing that the Packers haven't given up on re-signing Wells, and they're hoping his price goes down. While I don't think it's likely, it did work out that way last year with WR James Jones, who they re-signed last July on a reasonable three-year contract.
They haven't signed another team's free agent, and started him immediately, since 2006. They could use a high draft pick on someone like Georgia's Ben Jones, but neither Derek Sherrod or Bryan Bulaga were drafted and immediately plugged into the starting lineup. While S Morgan Burnett started immediately, he seems to be the exception; most of their young starters spent some time on the bench before moving into the starting lineup.
I do find it interesting that former Packers executive, and current Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie, is not expected to re-sign C Samson Satele, who should be best free agent center under age 30. Maybe both he and GM Ted Thompson don't believe in big free agent money for centers. Or maybe Satele is just losing his starting job to the Raiders top pick from last year; Stefen Wisniewski.
In the end, I could see the Packers going one of three way (re-sign Wells, start Dietrich-Smith, draft Wells's replacement) and I don't know which of those scenarios it will be.