People disagree with me here and thats fine and understandable. I dont subscribe to the belief that Saffold is injury allergic to playing tackle when he has played there most of his whole life.
First off good topic for discussion SYG. And your premise that he is a better fit at OG under this staff might well be correct, and granted it's not a new thought given the many suggestions we've seen about moving the big guy to OG in the past, but I wanted to chip in some things here...
1. GRob needs to work his way into a starting position, be it LT or OG. Guy like him needs to understand that his play is not acceptable, so putting him in anything other than fighting for his life for a roster spot would be a mistake. Now, granted, everything is up for grabs with a new regime. But I still think this is important, as I do not like GRob's comments in the past and I think there's something wrong with the dude upstairs; I suspect he's an excuse maker.
2. Saffold played well for us when he was healthy at OT for the most part over the years. At OG he played well one season, his contract year. His ideal position is RT in my estimation, but it just so happens he's the best option we have at LT for this season so chances are he'll be our starting LT. The Rams' approach will simply be to get another good option in house in the event he goes down to injury again. That option will most likely be a drafted project type, unless they decide they like a guy on the roster among the options of GRob, Donnal, and Williams. There is a chance they stand pat this season due to unavailability of LT options plus other team needs.
3. A scheme that is tied together with strong use of play action and run/pass balance is going to help these guys. I've mentioned before that the difference between the bottom feeding OL units and the mediocre ones are approximately one sack per game. The biggest problem for the Rams' OL is the run game penetration that put them in so many undesirable situations, however some of that is due to predictability and defenses run-blitzing the F out of predictable formations in down/distance situations. And yes the young QB's blindside has to be protected in the passing game, but not having a center on skates and giving the kid a pocket to step up into is important too and that's the way I think they'll go given relative quality of this FA crop and the draft/team needs.