CHARLOTTE — It's fairly appropriate that the Panthers are going to start their eighth combination of offensive linemen in 10 games this week, and that it will include Austin Corbett at right guard, which a lot of people consider his natural position.

Of course, he's an offensive lineman, so there's nothing natural about his journey to that destination.

Asked this week when he settled at that spot, and Corbett just laughed.

"Never, really," he said.

But in the do-whatever-it-takes world of playing offensive line in the NFL, that's where he's gravitated to, even though he started at center again last week.

Of his 71 NFL starts in nine seasons, 54 of them have come at right guard. (Of the other 17, eight have come at left guard, eight at center, and one is listed as tackle. "I've never started at tackle in the NFL," he scoffed. "That was a big tight end game my rookie year.")

But even playing outside is nothing new to Corbett, who was a starting left tackle at Nevada, all four seasons of his college career, after beginning his time there as a walk-on.

"My whole mindset just comes from just being a walk-on," he said. "It's like, hey, I'm just happy to be here, whatever gets me on the field, I'm going to do that," he said. "And so it's just kind of ingrained in my head."

During his redshirt year for the Wolf Pack, he watched future Browns teammate Joel Bitonio play that left tackle spot. But when Bitonio went in the second round (35th overall) to Cleveland, that meant there was a vacancy in Reno.

"He's on a gold jacket career path now, so being able to watch him for that year, and then there was immediately an open spot at left tackle," Corbett recalled of his redshirt year. "And so it came down to, I was watching these guys on scholarship. And my best friend at the time, Jeremy Macauley, was a walk-on, did the same thing (at left guard). There's an opening, and he earned that starting spot. The mentality that he and I shared was just like, go take someone's scholarship. That's what it is, like you have to go steal someone's scholarship if you want to play on this team.

"So it's that mentality, and I was like, oh, you're on scholarship? You're ahead of me? Then I have to beat you, and I'm going to do everything I can to beat you."

Not only did Corbett make that spot his own, he started for four seasons at left tackle, though he figured his lack of prototypical size would send him inside in the pros. (And other than that, game as a big tight end, it did).

But that walk-on attitude never changed when he went to Cleveland in the second round and began a career journey that saw him play all over.

"The Michael Jordan, 'And I took that personally?' Like, yeah, that's real life," Corbett laughed. "You've got to find a way to push yourself. So I even give kids who walk on at Power 5 schools hard times, like you just wanted to go to a bigger school. You easily could have been a scholarship in the Mountain West.

"Like, no, I had to walk on in the Mountain West. I didn't have options. This was my one shot, so mentally you've got to go in places to find things out. And no matter how happy and bubbly you can be on the outside, there's got to be some stuff going on inside if you want to make it right."

So right guard somehow became a home, and he was good enough at it that he started six playoff games there and won a Super Bowl ring with the Rams. And he started every game here in 2022 at that position. But when the wheel spun in 2023, and they played eight different right guards because of injuries (including his), the Panthers spent $150 million on Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis to play guard to shore things up. The walk-on then became a center again and started there until he tore his biceps tendon.

But that's just how life goes in the NFL. Very few people get to play one position their whole careers, and if they do, it's usually because they were drafted in the top of the first round like left tackle Ikem Ekwonu (who hasn't had to move since he was a right tackle during camp his freshman year at NC State).

Cade Mays hasn't played a full season anywhere since he was a senior right tackle at the University of Tennessee. Even veteran right tackle Taylor Moton got bumped to left tackle here occasionally because of need. But few people have that luxury, and the Panthers are grateful to have someone like Corbett around who is so comfortable on the fly (though his first shot at left guard in years against the Jets had a few hiccups).

Game-by-game starting offensive lines

"I mean, the flexibility helps being able to play multiple positions, it definitely helps," Ekwonu said. "It makes you that much more valuable in the skills that he's been developing over the last couple of years."

Ekwonu also pointed out that Corbett was like the fun uncle of the offensive line room (Moton established himself as the dad years ago, since he's the one who tells them to pick up their laundry in the locker room).

But in seriousness, Corbett has also taken the young guys like Nick Samac under his wing (who was signed off Baltimore's practice squad after Corbett went on injured reserve), and even when he was on IR, he was a constant presence in the meeting room.

"He was definitely for sure in the room and everything," Ekwonu said. "We saw him every day, saw him in every meeting room, so even though he couldn't physically be out there on the field with us, mentally he was definitely still bought in for sure."

That's the kind of mentality a walk-on has to have, and a willingness to play anywhere doesn't hurt.