Rams Offensive Line. Your Rank

[blue4]

The state of our OL to me means that drafting a QB high with 2 less picks is the ultimate "cart before horse" scenario. We're almost in a need to trade down to gain more picks situation. Some better depth at LB is needed as well. I think it's easier to make the playoffs next year with an upgraded OL then a rookie QB. It would be very beneficial to us to have either Davis or Hill make an emphatic statement allowing us to wait a year for high round QB drafting.

 

[fearsomefour]

Bottom line on the OL in 2015....Rams have only two legit starting OL'er returning. One is the chronically injured & due for off season shoulder surgery Roger Saffold & Greg Robinson. I do not see any reason to keep Scott Wells & Jake Long under contract after this season ends. Those two are certain cap casualties. The only other signed OL'er who is active is center Barrett Jones. Next year they will have late draft selection center Demetrius Rhaney available back from the IR. The rest of our OL will enter free agency.

Mike Person OT/OG/OC -UFA
Davin Joseph ORG-UFA
Joe Barksdale ORT-UFA
Tim Barnes OC-RFA
Brandon Washington OG-ERFA

With this future pending upcoming OL situation why would you not get young players like Jones, Person & Barnes on the field in live fire @ center & OG to weigh their future worth? I look at it this way...I have watched both Joseph & Wells play in live action & find them a big liability. They will NOT get any better! If a Jones or Person or Barnes are close in performance to Wells & Joseph then give them the opportunity. If Jones or Person or Barnes are not then the Rams are in big big trouble with the 2015 OL cadre.

Rams just traded away two 2015 draft picks for SS Mark Barron leaving only five left as I know now. Looks to me we will need to use most of the five on OL'ers plus a QB. Big changes will have to occur in the 2015 Ram OL.

I know currently our right side OL with Joseph & Barksdale is going way south real quick!:eek:

Watching Cleveland last night Browns LG Bitinio (a guy several RODers really liked in last years draft) was dominant. Excelled getting to the second level. Played LT T in college, moved to LG in Cleveland and looks really good. My point is the Rams should be able to find a LG with that 2nd or 3rd round pick. Taking for granted Barnes and Washington (being relatively low cost FAs) are brought back that leaves Barnes, Washington, Jones and Rhaney to compete for the two jobs inside. If you add in a draft pick and maybe a FA pick up the situation may not be that dire. To me the real key comes down to resigning Barksdale and what FA is added. Not time to jump off the Barksdale train after a couple of shaky games. Have to see how the rest of the season plays out, but, I fully expect Barks to bounce back. Also, what FA is signed is a key. A guy like Stephan Wis. from Oakland would be an ideal guy. Young, good player who fills a need at C. Two things I would look at in the FA market are age and health history. Robinson, Saffold, Barksdale are all young players....no need to try another 30 + FA with an injury history. Lets add a young good player to this line via FA (easier said than done) and let the line jell. With $11.7M freed up with the release of Long and Wells and another projected $10-11 M cap increase the Rams should have the option to add a lineman they want.
The approach recently has been either adding bargain bin guys from other teams or taking risks with old guys. Time to find a long term answer at C. Finding that C (the hard part of this equation) and resigning Barksdale gives the Rams a pretty complete line for the near future.
All of that said....I cannot get my head around why they would not see what one or more of the young guys can do. Joseph to the bench, Saffold back to RG. Barnes has gotten some time last year and was ok, I would like to see what Person can do in season.

 

[DR RAM]

Watching Cleveland last night Browns LG Bitinio (a guy several RODers really liked in last years draft) was dominant. Excelled getting to the second level. Played LT T in college, moved to LG in Cleveland and looks really good. My point is the Rams should be able to find a LG with that 2nd or 3rd round pick. Taking for granted Barnes and Washington (being relatively low cost FAs) are brought back that leaves Barnes, Washington, Jones and Rhaney to compete for the two jobs inside. If you add in a draft pick and maybe a FA pick up the situation may not be that dire. To me the real key comes down to resigning Barksdale and what FA is added. Not time to jump off the Barksdale train after a couple of shaky games. Have to see how the rest of the season plays out, but, I fully expect Barks to bounce back. Also, what FA is signed is a key. A guy like Stephan Wis. from Oakland would be an ideal guy. Young, good player who fills a need at C. Two things I would look at in the FA market are age and health history. Robinson, Saffold, Barksdale are all young players....no need to try another 30 + FA with an injury history. Lets add a young good player to this line via FA (easier said than done) and let the line jell. With $11.7M freed up with the release of Long and Wells and another projected $10-11 M cap increase the Rams should have the option to add a lineman they want.
The approach recently has been either adding bargain bin guys from other teams or taking risks with old guys. Time to find a long term answer at C. Finding that C (the hard part of this equation) and resigning Barksdale gives the Rams a pretty complete line for the near future.
All of that said....I cannot get my head around why they would not see what one or more of the young guys can do. Joseph to the bench, Saffold back to RG. Barnes has gotten some time last year and was ok, I would like to see what Person can do in season.

I liked him a lot, another guy I liked and was pretty vocal about...John Greco. A guy a got into a twittertisk with Softli. Greco would have solved a problem for years. Oh, well.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Watching Cleveland last night Browns LG Bitinio (a guy several RODers really liked in last years draft) was dominant. Excelled getting to the second level. Played LT in college, moved to LG in Cleveland and looks really good. My point is the Rams should be able to find a LG with that 2nd or 3rd round pick.

And here's proof :

http://interact.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1028804

 

[BonifayRam]

I think you guys are underestimating Well's ability to call protections for this O-line. They seem to really like that from him, and what that says about the other two centers idk.

I would not disagree with you here. I am sure that Scott Wells is about as good as you can get at calling OL protections.......if that was all the Rams needed from him we would be just fine.

Watching Cleveland last night Browns LG Bitinio (a guy several RODers really liked in last years draft) was dominant. Excelled getting to the second level. Played LT T in college, moved to LG in Cleveland and looks really good. My point is the Rams should be able to find a LG with that 2nd or 3rd round pick. Taking for granted Barnes and Washington (being relatively low cost FAs) are brought back that leaves Barnes, Washington, Jones and Rhaney to compete for the two jobs inside. If you add in a draft pick and maybe a FA pick up the situation may not be that dire. To me the real key comes down to resigning Barksdale and what FA is added. Not time to jump off the Barksdale train after a couple of shaky games. Have to see how the rest of the season plays out, but, I fully expect Barks to bounce back. Also, what FA is signed is a key. A guy like Stephan Wis. from Oakland would be an ideal guy. Young, good player who fills a need at C. Two things I would look at in the FA market are age and health history. Robinson, Saffold, Barksdale are all young players....no need to try another 30 + FA with an injury history. Lets add a young good player to this line via FA (easier said than done) and let the line jell. With $11.7M freed up with the release of Long and Wells and another projected $10-11 M cap increase the Rams should have the option to add a lineman they want.
The approach recently has been either adding bargain bin guys from other teams or taking risks with old guys. Time to find a long term answer at C. Finding that C (the hard part of this equation) and resigning Barksdale gives the Rams a pretty complete line for the near future.
All of that said....I cannot get my head around why they would not see what one or more of the young guys can do. Joseph to the bench, Saffold back to RG. Barnes has gotten some time last year and was ok, I would like to see what Person can do in season.

Most of the above I agree with I am like you.... about trying to get my head around on why Boudreau will not use all those young healthy veteran OL'ers we have???/but I have jumped off the Barksdale wagon & do not see any bounce back in the future. Its not just the last few games....Eagles game 34 defense OLB'er Connor Barwin beat Barksdale often & got two sacks amongst all his hits & pressers. Even DT Cedric Thornton was blowing Barks back off the line many times.

Yes they could add OC Tim Barnes back easy enough as a RFA. Barnes has been with Boudreau since 2012 & should be ready by now but isn't. If Boudreau don't like him @ center Why will they not get the 6-4 308 pounder in @ ORG some ? On Brandon Washington ???no better than a 10th Ram OL'er @ best & that would be @ the OLG post. If you do bring back Barnes & Person who both can play center & add them with center Barrett Jones & center Rhaney do we really need a high priced UFA center? Looks awful fat @ that one post.

I am just about to the point of just deleting Saffold from my Ram mind over his never ending injury issues. I thinking Saffold's best position from now on is our 6th OL swing OL/OG NON starter. But since we don't have a legit starting OG on the roster that will never happen. Saffold may need to ride the bench just to keep him from breaking something. Saffold in anti jell based on his injuries history of 2011, 2012, 2013 & once again 2014 season.

Yes sure looks like the Joel Bitonio draft selection in the high second round @ #35 pick was an excellent move for the high flying Browns finally have turned that ship around. I am glad for them. I still think the Johnny Manziel was a poor pick. Yes the Rams could have & may in the future easily select a OG like Bitonio on the second day of the draft BUT Fisher has refused to do that for three years now, why do we think they will do it in 2015?

 

[Amitar]

Barksdale - D and soon to be an F
Saffold - B
Robinson - C+ and improving
Long - C+
Wells - D
Joseph - F-
Backups - C-

How anyone can give Barksdale anything higher then a D is beyond me.

 

[fearsomefour]

I would not disagree with you here. I am sure that Scott Wells is about as good as you can get at calling OL protections.......if that was all the Rams needed from him we would be just fine.



Most of the above I agree with I am like you.... about trying to get my head around on why Boudreau will not use all those young healthy veteran OL'ers we have???/but I have jumped off the Barksdale wagon & do not see any bounce back in the future. Its not just the last few games....Eagles game 34 defense OLB'er Connor Barwin beat Barksdale often & got two sacks amongst all his hits & pressers. Even DT Cedric Thornton was blowing Barks back off the line many times.

Yes they could add OC Tim Barnes back easy enough as a RFA. Barnes has been with Boudreau since 2012 & should be ready by now but isn't. If Boudreau don't like him @ center Why will they not get the 6-4 308 pounder in @ ORG some ? On Brandon Washington ???no better than a 10th Ram OL'er @ best & that would be @ the OLG post. If you do bring back Barnes & Person who both can play center & add them with center Barrett Jones & center Rhaney do we really need a high priced UFA center? Looks awful fat @ that one post.

I am just about to the point of just deleting Saffold from my Ram mind over his never ending injury issues. I thinking Saffold's best position from now on is our 6th OL swing OL/OG NON starter. But since we don't have a legit starting OG on the roster that will never happen. Saffold may need to ride the bench just to keep him from breaking something. Saffold in anti jell based on his injuries history of 2011, 2012, 2013 & once again 2014 season.

Yes sure looks like the Joel Bitonio draft selection in the high second round @ #35 pick was an excellent move for the high flying Browns finally have turned that ship around. I am glad for them. I still think the Johnny Manziel was a poor pick. Yes the Rams could have & may in the future easily select a OG like Bitonio on the second day of the draft BUT Fisher has refused to do that for three years now, why do we think they will do it in 2015?

Brandon Washington actually played solidly at T last preseason. Bit of a mystery because he was not good at G. I am not saying bringing back these guys ensures anything but competition. If a quality starting C is added in FA then Jones, Rhaney, Person and whoever else are in competition for the LG spot and depth spots. To me, I liked what I saw of Rhaney. Have any of these guys shown enough to be an heir apparent to Wells? No. Otherwise they would be in there already. Signing a FA C does not preclude bring back Person, Jones, Rhaney ect.
Saffold has been disappointing to me this year. The injury thing, you know, whatever (that check has been written), but, his level of play has not been up to last years standard. His pay as much as anything will keep him in the lineup.
If the contention is to go into the draft with Robinson and Saffold because no one else is worth keeping around then might as well write off next year too.

 

[fearsomefour]

And here's proof :

http://interact.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1028804

Nice. Watching him in person several times during his college career I wanted him as well.

 

[fearsomefour]

I liked him a lot, another guy I liked and was pretty vocal about...John Greco. A guy a got into a twittertisk with Softli. Greco would have solved a problem for years. Oh, well.

Yeah, Greco was sort of miscast at T (at the NFL level anyway) if I remember correctly. Maybe his issue was strength at the point of attack. At any rate, Cleveland figured out how to use him.

 

[xander47]

Who's on the practice squad? Is bond still there? I know it's a folks dream but if that guy could learn who he's supposed to block, he has the size /talent to be starting.

 

[xander47]

Watching Cleveland last night Browns LG Bitinio (a guy several RODers really liked in last years draft) was dominant. Excelled getting to the second level. Played LT T in college, moved to LG in Cleveland and looks really good. My point is the Rams should be able to find a LG with that 2nd or 3rd round pick. Taking for granted Barnes and Washington (being relatively low cost FAs) are brought back that leaves Barnes, Washington, Jones and Rhaney to compete for the two jobs inside. If you add in a draft pick and maybe a FA pick up the situation may not be that dire. To me the real key comes down to resigning Barksdale and what FA is added. Not time to jump off the Barksdale train after a couple of shaky games. Have to see how the rest of the season plays out, but, I fully expect Barks to bounce back. Also, what FA is signed is a key. A guy like Stephan Wis. from Oakland would be an ideal guy. Young, good player who fills a need at C. Two things I would look at in the FA market are age and health history. Robinson, Saffold, Barksdale are all young players....no need to try another 30 + FA with an injury history. Lets add a young good player to this line via FA (easier said than done) and let the line jell. With $11.7M freed up with the release of Long and Wells and another projected $10-11 M cap increase the Rams should have the option to add a lineman they want.
The approach recently has been either adding bargain bin guys from other teams or taking risks with old guys. Time to find a long term answer at C. Finding that C (the hard part of this equation) and resigning Barksdale gives the Rams a pretty complete line for the near future.
All of that said....I cannot get my head around why they would not see what one or more of the young guys can do. Joseph to the bench, Saffold back to RG. Barnes has gotten some time last year and was ok, I would like to see what Person can do in season.

Totally absolutely want to see what Person can do. It's a shame Barnes got hurt.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Barksdale - D and soon to be an F
Saffold - B
Robinson - C+ and improving
Long - C+
Wells - D
Joseph - F-
Backups - C-

How anyone can give Barksdale anything higher then a D is beyond me.

I'm beginning to think that anything even remotely positive is beyond you. Are you angry when you wake up in the morning?

 

[fearsomefour]

Totally absolutely want to see what Person can do. It's a shame Barnes got hurt.

I didnt realize Barnes was injured.

 

[BonifayRam]

I didnt realize Barnes was injured.

Yes he injured his shoulder on a ST's play about 4 weeks ago but he is no longer listed on the updated injury list.
http://prod.www.rams.clubs.nfl.com/team/injury-report.html

Yeah, Greco was sort of miscast at T (at the NFL level anyway) if I remember correctly. Maybe his issue was strength at the point of attack. At any rate, Cleveland figured out how to use him.

Looks like the magic was when they drafted that OL'er in the high 2nd rd this season & inserted him @ OLG when they moved Greco to the Right OG post. Rams really never liked Greco when they drafted him as a OT. We all knew he did not have the feet for any OT post.

Brandon Washington actually played solidly at T last preseason. Bit of a mystery because he was not good at G. I am not saying bringing back these guys ensures anything but competition. If a quality starting C is added in FA then Jones, Rhaney, Person and whoever else are in competition for the LG spot and depth spots. To me, I liked what I saw of Rhaney. Have any of these guys shown enough to be an heir apparent to Wells? No. Otherwise they would be in there already. Signing a FA C does not preclude bring back Person, Jones, Rhaney ect.
Saffold has been disappointing to me this year. The injury thing, you know, whatever (that check has been written), but, his level of play has not been up to last years standard. His pay as much as anything will keep him in the lineup.
If the contention is to go into the draft with Robinson and Saffold because no one else is worth keeping around then might as well write off next year too.

Rams have mostly played Brandon Washington @ ORG then ORT a bit of OLG & we saw him for a small amount of time @ OLT too. I think he looks best @ OLG IMO. I really liked what I saw of Rhaney too. he just does not have the girth & size of a Barrett Jones or a Tim Barnes. Rhaney is about the same size as Scott Wells but soooo much faster & quicker. I have a lot of hope that Rhaney could be a decent starter @ center in a few yrs myself. If it were up to me I would get Person, Barnes & Washington some heavy duty action for the rest of the 7 weeks of this season which would certainly provide more information to the Org. if one of these reserves could be a possible starter for 2015. We agree on Saffold too.

Totally absolutely want to see what Person can do. It's a shame Barnes got hurt.

Its my belief that they see Person as the current emergency swing OT for Barksdale & Robinson. Rams have no body else other than to remove the degraded left side Saffold from his OLG post with his limited range with that harness . With this damaged shoulder Saffold most likely not be able to play any outside OT post. That leaves Jones, Barnes & Washington as the OL'er who could get a look if that was even in the minds of the coaches @ ORG.

Would seem @ this time 75 ROD members poll'd have ranked Fishers, Shotty's & Boudreau 2014 Ram OL as being Serviceable to Poor! . And.....that's with only one OL'er landing on the IR here @ week 10, since the season began. Usually with Fishers Ram OL's have been destroyed by injured OL'ers being piled up on the IR.

This does not shine a positive light on this present Ram management & Ram OL players here, where this present configure starting OL has failed to produce decent results as judge by this Forum members. When the season began this OL had many articles & commentaries by sports personnel .... rated this seasons Ram OL very high.

 

[fearsomefour]

Yes he injured his shoulder on a ST's play about 4 weeks ago but he is no longer listed on the updated injury list.
http://prod.www.rams.clubs.nfl.com/team/injury-report.html

Looks like the magic was when they drafted that OL'er in the high 2nd rd this season & inserted him @ OLG when they moved Greco to the Right OG post. Rams really never liked Greco when they drafted him as a OT. We all knew he did not have the feet for any OT post.

Rams have mostly played Brandon Washington @ ORG then ORT a bit of OLG & we saw him for a small amount of time @ OLT too. I think he looks best @ OLG IMO. I really liked what I saw of Rhaney too. he just does not have the girth & size of a Barrett Jones or a Tim Barnes. Rhaney is about the same size as Scott Wells but soooo much faster & quicker. I have a lot of hope that Rhaney could be a decent starter @ center in a few yrs myself. If it were up to me I would get Person, Barnes & Washington some heavy duty action for the rest of the 7 weeks of this season which would certainly provide more information to the Org. if one of these reserves could be a possible starter for 2015. We agree on Saffold too.

Its my belief that they see Person as the current emergency swing OT for Barksdale & Robinson. Rams have no body else other than to remove the degraded left side Saffold from his OLG post with his limited range with that harness . With this damaged shoulder Saffold most likely not be able to play any outside OT post. That leaves Jones, Barnes & Washington as the OL'er who could get a look if that was even in the minds of the coaches @ ORG.

Would seem @ this time 75 ROD members poll'd have ranked Fishers, Shotty's & Boudreau 2014 Ram OL as being Serviceable to Poor! . And.....that's with only one OL'er landing on the IR here @ week 10, since the season began. Usually with Fishers Ram OL's have been destroyed by injured OL'ers being piled up on the IR.

This does not shine a positive light on this present Ram management & Ram OL players here, where this present configure starting OL has failed to produce decent results as judge by this Forum members. When the season began this OL had many articles & commentaries by sports personnel .... rated this seasons Ram OL very high.

I saw the same thing with Rhaney. A guy would could get to and be effective at the second level, even pull well from his C spot. Probably too small to play G.
I agree about getting Person, Jones and Washington into the lineup. To me, and I am just going on memory here which can be shaky, I thought Washington played best at LT, although it was a small sample size. I would move Saffold back to RG and give each guy some time at LG unless one gets in and is exceptional. Starting with Person and Jones. We may see more of these guys when and if the Rams are eliminated from the playoff race via the math.

 

[Amitar]

I'm beginning to think that anything even remotely positive is beyond you. Are you angry when you wake up in the morning?

Whatever. I give the players grades as I see them. Sorry if you are offended by that. Here are some other grades that may make you feel better.
Quick A
Gains A rookie
McLeod B
Joyner C+ rookie
Donald A+ rookie
Brockers A
Quinn A+
Robinson now a B and still improving rookie
Mason B+ rookie
Looks like the 2014 draft was an A++

 

[SteveBrown]

I may be being too favorable. Barks doesn't look so great to me...but, he doesn't look so bad every game
Barksdale B
Saffold - B-
Robinson - B-
Long - D
Wells - D-
Joseph - D+

 

[woofwoofmo]

RE: Barnes

Yes he injured his shoulder on a ST's play about 4 weeks ago but he is no longer listed on the updated injury list.
http://prod.www.rams.clubs.nfl.com/team/injury-report.html

Actually he injured his shoulder in the first San Francisco game when he was in with the jumbo package and scored a TD behind his block. Justin Smith landed on top of him causing the injury.

Just a side note: Barnes has been in for the jumbo package 5 times I believe at this point and they've scored a TD every time.