GREEN BAY – A three-year starter at left tackle at UCLA, Sean Rhyan didn't exactly appreciate his offensive line coach at the time, Justin Frye, telling him he'd make a good center.
"I was like, man, I don't want to be in between four other dudes, getting rolled up on, doing all this, and I gotta tell everyone where to go? No way," Rhyan said, unable to keep a straight face recalling the memory. "But I tell you what, he saw something."
He sure did. Frye is now coaching in the NFL with Arizona, so when the Cardinals and Packers meet this preseason, the tutor and his former pupil will share a good pregame laugh.
Because center is exactly where Rhyan is now, and his half season at that spot in 2025 earned him a contract extension to stay there. It's still hard even for Rhyan to process, given that at various points since being drafted by the Packers in a third round in 2022, it appeared his future might not be here.
As a rookie, the 6-5, 321-pound lineman couldn't get on the field. He played just one snap all season, on special teams, and then was suspended for the final six games due to a violation of the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances.
His second year, he wasn't playing regularly until December, when he began rotating at right guard with veteran Jon Runyan.
He finally cracked the starting lineup in 2024, replacing the departed Runyan and playing right guard full time. But then last season, he effectively lost his job there, rotating with Jordan Morgan until the first-round pick became the preferred choice.
But Rhyan wasn't on the bench long, getting thrown in at center against Philadelphia in Week 10 when Elgton Jenkins went down with what turned out to be a season-ending ankle injury. Suddenly, instead of pondering where he might go when his rookie contract expired, Rhyan had an audition to prove he belonged in Green Bay.
All he did from mid-November to the end of the season was improve, making the Packers believe he's a player on the rise who might have finally found his best position.
"When we lost Elgton, he stepped up and just kind of took control of it," offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said. "There were mistakes, for sure, but as we progressed through the season, he just kept getting better and better and better.
"It was good to watch him out there take command of the offense, making the calls and getting us set up front."
Those are all the things Rhyan didn't want to think about doing at UCLA, and now he's embracing those responsibilities for Jordan Love and the rest of the offense.
Before taking over for Jenkins, Rhyan had played center for only one quarter at the All-American Bowl after high school, and in practice at different times in Green Bay. To say his progress over the two months heading into the playoffs was rapid doesn't quite do it justice.
"Complete 180," Rhyan said of how he felt at center in mid-November compared to January. "That first snap of the Eagles game was kind of like, just get the ball to J-Love, and now towards the end of that Bears game … the motor and the confidence was just built. Towards the end of the year we were there."
Now it's his position to own, which is gratifying, and he admitted he got emotional after signing his new contract this spring, thinking about everything he went through to get it.
But in retrospect, all the shifting spots and jumping in whenever and wherever asked helped him arrive at this point. It's still a little surreal to Rhyan, but staying level-headed through all the ups and downs, no matter how frustrating or uncertain things got, served him well.
"I think everything leading up to that was actually what allowed me to excel in becoming a center," he said. "Once my time came, I was able to just put that mentality of being the best at whatever position I was put at that day into center, and it allowed me to just kind of take off, because I was focused at one position.
"When you gotta learn every position, you're forced to learn the whole playbook. You can't just know the left side of the line or the right side of the line. It really forces you to know your (stuff). I guess it just goes to show a lot of dedication and belief and will power goes a long way."
This year, he gets a full offseason and training camp to get more comfortable at center, and the new contract gives him a different status in the locker room, too. He believes joining Zach Tom and Aaron Banks as veteran leaders on the O-line is the next step on his career path.
That road has been anything but smooth, but a bumpy NFL journey that's still going strong is proof perseverance does pay off.
"You can't be locked into one position, because you might not be able to adapt, and who knows?" Rhyan said. "If I was just locked in, I might not be (here) right now."
