Inexperience Aside, Rams Say the O-Line Will be Ready

[BonifayRam]

I'm not sure we have 5 decent starters much less good depth but getting Battle has definitely swung my perception of our O-line in a positive direction. Prior to drafting Battle I didn't really see any decent backup options at LT and now there's at least a chance we might have fixed that problem. Let's hope he gets a reasonable amount of playing time tonight.

Morning Alan had your :coffee:?

I would remove your word might myself. I sure like this 2015 version OT cadre over last yrs. Robinson is better than the broke down Long. Havenstein is a much better overall talent than Barksdale ever could be. If either go down...Boudreau has two vets to plug in...Reynolds @ ORT & Saffold @ OLT.

The 2015 back up or swing OT fix may be still very fluid. I went back to when I first arrived here in 2013 & read some of my earliest post...where I was whining over the lack of a decent back-up or swing OT then. Today the early present fix would look to be Saffold to OLT & Reynolds in for Saffold. The future fix components in the mix looks to be composed of 2015 4th round selection Andrew Donnal & 2016 5th rd pick Battle. Donnal more ORT & Battle more OLT. There are others backing up the back ups in Williams, Baker & Wichmann when he gets healthy @ ORT. I see big improvement here Alan in this direction @ Reserve Swing OT. Much more decent than last yr.

2015 Starting OG's of a fully healthy Saffold & massive strong physical Brown is an sizable upgrade over what we had there in 2014. The early 2014 OG's were Robinson, Saffold, Joseph & Person. This time around the back up OLG Robinson has been replaced by the veteran Reynolds, 3rd rd pick Jamon Brown replaced Joseph & back up center versatile Jones is sure to replace Person. Wichmann is still a big question mark but he is legit. These new OL components also look to be much improved too. Much more decent that last yr.

You know well my thoughts on center...its Tim Barnes to loose, he will be our starter. Barnes will be surrounded by two very big & very mobile ex OT's who have the ability to make the moves to back up Barnes when he is nosed up with big bulls from the NT positions. Gone are the days of the weak Chris Williams, Shelley Smith & Davin Joseph whiffers. Jones should get bigger & stronger as the season passes. Even Rhaney Rhaney stands a very good chance to stick if Boudreau keeps 10 OL'ers & Rhaney show off his super pulling speed @ OLG post. This entire OC cadre is much better than what we had this time in 2014!

Point is I just wanted to voice my different opinion on this OL to my ole bud , than you currently have & would like to thank you for firing me up juice to post it so early.

 

[fearsomefour]

Really, Havenstein played & practiced well for the senior bowl...I just prejudged him on his combine....and thought the worst....looks like I was wrong....

I got a buddy who loves the Louisville Cards and said their o-line stank...glad he appears to be wrong as well...

I always liked Donnal....

Think Wichmann can be a stud too

Like Battle more and more...

crap, we're good to go!!!!!

The issue with Havenstein is going to be speed rushers....this is common in RTs. If they could comfortably handle speed rushers they would probably be LTs. Anyway, a speed rusher getting around him or someone getting under him leverage wise and using his massive height against him. Havenstein may be big and strong enough he could recover and control well enough if someone got leverage on him, but, those speed rushers may present the same challenge to him that they gave Barksdale last year.
I like Wichmann can be a dude too. Solid guy. I still know nothing of Donnal. Battle will do well overall I think.
The question becomes how to keep the best guys. Reynolds, because of experience, I think is a keep. The versatility helps. If the Rams have three Ts set in Robinson, Havenstein and Battle. If the Rams like Donnal enough to keep him as well then Reynolds would be listed at a G I suppose.
It is getting crowed trying to come up with 10 lineman to keep. I like what I saw of Washington last year in the preseason at T. But it seems he may get squeezed out.

 

[fearsomefour]

While I agree that the mental aspect is more important at center than the other O-line positions, I'm going with what Bou said about setting the pocket in the middle. Our problem right now seems to be that none of our Cs can anchor well against the bull rush. I'm less sure about Rhaney but I doubt there's much difference between Barnes and Jones when it comes to the mental aspects of the position. Jone's inability to anchor against the bull rush has been his weakness from day one. Supposedly the weight training regime they put him on was supposed to fix that. I haven't seen any evidence that that's been successful so far.

The other thing is getting some level of push in the run game. Wells had almost none, he would play guys to a standstill a lot in the run game. Barnes was kind of the same. Haven't seen enough of Jones. Rhaney did well last preseason, not overpowering guys, but using angles and quickness and as I have said many times, getting to the second level as a blocker.
Rhaney is my guy for those reasons. The preseason will be interesting for sure. We are probably doing a little settling at C.

 

[Rmfnlt]

The potential is there and this time next year our line may be considered a strength. It just takes times for rookies, no matter how pro ready and talented they are, to adapt and play well. The fact that 4/5ths of are starting line weren't starting in the league last year is cause for concern. It takes time for a line to gel as a unit. In a year or two we should reap the rewards of going young all at once because this line will have played together a lot and will be peaking physically.

The way the Rams make me drink? If they don't gel soon, I'm not sure I have 2 years left!

 

[Alan]

BonifayRam in league with my wife concerning my coffee intake:
Morning Alan had your :coffee:?

I would remove your word might myself. I sure like this 2015 version OT cadre over last yrs. Robinson is better than the broke down Long. Havenstein is a much better overall talent than Barksdale ever could be. If either go down...Boudreau has two vets to plug in...Reynolds @ ORT & Saffold @ OLT.

The 2015 back up or swing OT fix may be still very fluid. I went back to when I first arrived here in 2013 & read some of my earliest post...where I was whining over the lack of a decent back-up or swing OT then. Today the early present fix would look to be Saffold to OLT & Reynolds in for Saffold. The future fix components in the mix looks to be composed of 2015 4th round selection Andrew Donnal & 2016 5th rd pick Battle. Donnal more ORT & Battle more OLT. There are others backing up the back ups in Williams, Baker & Wichmann when he gets healthy @ ORT. I see big improvement here Alan in this direction @ Reserve Swing OT. Much more decent than last yr.

2015 Starting OG's of a fully healthy Saffold & massive strong physical Brown is an sizable upgrade over what we had there in 2014. The early 2014 OG's were Robinson, Saffold, Joseph & Person. This time around the back up OLG Robinson has been replaced by the veteran Reynolds, 3rd rd pick Jamon Brown replaced Joseph & back up center versatile Jones is sure to replace Person. Wichmann is still a big question mark but he is legit. These new OL components also look to be much improved too. Much more decent that last yr.

You know well my thoughts on center...its Tim Barnes to loose, he will be our starter. Barnes will be surrounded by two very big & very mobile ex OT's who have the ability to make the moves to back up Barnes when he is nosed up with big bulls from the NT positions. Gone are the days of the weak Chris Williams, Shelley Smith & Davin Joseph whiffers. Jones should get bigger & stronger as the season passes. Even Rhaney Rhaney stands a very good chance to stick if Boudreau keeps 10 OL'ers & Rhaney show off his super pulling speed @ OLG post. This entire OC cadre is much better than what we had this time in 2014!

Point is I just wanted to voice my different opinion on this OL to my ole bud , than you currently have & would like to thank you for firing me up juice to post it so early.

Morning Bonifay! Less than a pot. OK, less than a pot and a half I swear!

Have a pot or more of coffee before 0800 and you won't have to worry about getting fired up.

That "might" was only in reference to Battle possibly being a solution to our depth problem at LT. Your observations and expectations concerning our O-line additions are all reasonable expectations but an awful lot of stuff has to go right for that to be true. I think you're right about this year's O-line being a significant upgrade over what we had last year but that's a very low bar considering the only really decent player we had last year was Saffold. Although GR was improving almost every game after a rough transition to LT. It might sound like I'm minimizing or not happy about the potential improvements to our O-line but that's more a function of how I write than how I feel. I'm much more positive than I sound.
I've already talked about our potential starters so I'll just touch on what I see again but include our back ups:

Donnal - I can only remember one comment about his performance in TC and it wasn't good. Something about resembling a turnstile?
Wichmann - Unknown 6th rounder. Very low expectations. Do you think he's the real deal because of what you've seen on tape?
Williams - I've heard bupkis about his performance but at least he hasn't been likened to a turnstile so there's that.
Reynolds - Seems to be a versatile, if mediocre, backup which isn't a bad thing and an improvement over the dregs we had last year. But again, I've heard nothing that I can remember about his performance, good or bad.
Baker - I'll be shocked if he even makes our PS.
Washington - Future cut. Not sure if he's still eligible for the PS.
Bond - Future cut. Not sure if he's still eligible for the PS.
Wang - Future cut. Maybe PS?
Havenstein - A JB clone with an actual upside. JB played some good games last year and considering who played with on the left side I'm not sure he was that bad. Still , I think Havenstein will be an upgrade but considering he was drafted in the 2nd round that's not how I was hoping to phrase my opinion of him.
Robinson - Big improvement. Maybe. Hard to tell for sure as he hasn't played a game yet this year.
Saffold - Saffold.
Brown - Big improvement. Low bar but I think the improvement goes beyond that seemingly lukewarm description.
Barnes - I haven't heard anything good about him but Bou thought he was better than Jones last year so he might win the job by default. I want to say he'll be an improvement but he couldn't beat out Wells last year so...
Jones - I haven't heard anything good about him and he's apparently still not strong enough (like Barnes) to stop the bull rush consistently (if at all). I want to say he'll be an improvement but he couldn't beat out Wells last year so...
Rhaney - Haven't heard much but he appears to have some upside and is holding his own in the battle for the center job.
Battle - I haven't heard a whole lot but what is out there seems to be mostly if not all positive. I'm excited about his addition. Almost makes up for not taking a flyer on Collins.

 

[Rmfnlt]

Morning Bonifay! Less than a pot. OK, less than a pot and a half I swear!

Have a pot or more of coffee before 0800 and you won't have to worry about getting fired up.

That "might" was only in reference to Battle possibly being a solution to our depth problem at LT. Your observations and expectations concerning our O-line additions are all reasonable expectations but an awful lot of stuff has to go right for that to be true. I think you're right about this year's O-line being a significant upgrade over what we had last year but that's a very low bar considering the only really decent player we had last year was Saffold. Although GR was improving almost every game after a rough transition to LT. It might sound like I'm minimizing or not happy about the potential improvements to our O-line but that's more a function of how I write than how I feel. I'm much more positive than I sound.
I've already talked about our potential starters so I'll just touch on what I see again but include our back ups:

Donnal - I can only remember one comment about his performance in TC and it wasn't good. Something about resembling a turnstile?
Wichmann - Unknown 6th rounder. Very low expectations. Do you think he's the real deal because of what you've seen on tape?
Williams - I've heard bupkis about his performance but at least he hasn't been likened to a turnstile so there's that.
Reynolds - Seems to be a versatile, if mediocre, backup which isn't a bad thing and an improvement over the dregs we had last year. But again, I've heard nothing that I can remember about his performance, good or bad.
Baker - I'll be shocked if he even makes our PS.
Washington - Future cut. Not sure if he's still eligible for the PS.
Bond - Future cut. Not sure if he's still eligible for the PS.
Wang - Future cut. Maybe PS?
Havenstein - A JR clone with an actual upside. JR played some good games last year and considering who played with on the left side I'm not sure he was that bad. Still , I think Havenstein will be an upgrade but considering he was drafted in the 2nd round that's not how I was hoping to phrase my opinion of him.
Robinson - Big improvement. Maybe. Hard to tell for sure as he hasn't played a game yet this year.
Saffold - Saffold.
Brown - Big improvement. Low bar but I think the improvement goes beyond that seemingly lukewarm description.
Barnes - I haven't heard anything good about him but Bou thought he was better than Jones last year so he might win the job by default. I want to say he'll be an improvement but he couldn't beat out Wells last year so...
Jones - I haven't heard anything good about him and he's apparently still not strong enough (like Barnes) to stop the bull rush consistently (if at all). I want to say he'll be an improvement but he couldn't beat out Wells last year so...
Rhaney - Haven't heard much but he appears to have some upside and is holding his own in the battle for the center job.
Battle - I haven't heard a whole lot but what is out there seems to be mostly if not all positive. I'm excited about his addition. Almost makes up for not taking a flyer on Collins.

Ya know... you ought to be very concerned!!

I agree with most everything you write.

I suggest a good counselor.
:eek:

 

[Alan]

fearsomefour cutting off debate:
The other thing is getting some level of push in the run game. Wells had almost none, he would play guys to a standstill a lot in the run game. Barnes was kind of the same. Haven't seen enough of Jones. Rhaney did well last preseason, not overpowering guys, but using angles and quickness and as I have said many times, getting to the second level as a blocker.
Rhaney is my guy for those reasons.

I sure wish I could argue with any of that but I can't.

I've been pinning my hopes on Rhaney too but, if for no other reason than Havenstein and Brown being rookies, I don't think Rhaney will win the competition. All other things being equal he'd have a much better chance IMO.

 

[Alan]

Rmfnlt worried about what he sees in the mirror:
Ya know... you ought to be very concerned!!

I agree with most everything you write.

I suggest a good counselor. :eek:

Good idea but there's one problem, which one of us should seek help?

 

[Rmfnlt]

Good idea but there's one problem, which one of us should seek help?

I guess you must have assumed by now that I already have that angle taken care of...

 

[So Ram]

I'm pretty sure they drafted him to be the right tackle but after a couple of practices he was already better than Smith so they moved him to the left.

.

I remember him starting off at LG first.The Rams had Jason Smith ?? He was drafted after Rodger