Let's Talk About The OLine...

[dieterbrock]

I really don't like when people pull the low sack total out,as this team was at the bottom is passing plays ran as well. They do correlate. And our QBs were still pressured a ton.

While true it bears to note that they were among the top 2 or 3 in sacked % per PA as well.

 

[den-the-coach]

All of us are hoping the light comes on for GROB and he's been working hard in the off season, but again, he needs to work hard in the film room as well. As to Saffold, it would be great if he was healthy, however, forgive me if I take the doubting Thomas approach. At Center I'm confident in Barnes, is he a top tier center? No, but he plays hard does not commit penalties and did not have one errant snap last season so Barnes was a huge improvement over Scott Wells.

As to the dpeth at center, I have read where Cody Wichmann might be getting snaps this year at that position. I would embrace the Rams doing that because I have no confidence in Demetrius Rhaney now maybe he's more of a center, but every time Rhaney was in the offensive line suffered so keep Rhaney away from guard because he's awful.

When the dust settles if Saffold stays healthy, IMO, he wins the job at RG where he has been far more effective over the years so maybe the staring unit will look like this come the eve of September:

LT...Greg Robinson
LG...Jamon Brown
C...Tim Barnes
RG...Rodger (or Roger for @leoram ) Saffold
RT...Rob Havenstein

 

[bubbaramfan]

Rams OL has a chance to get something it hasn't had in years. CONTINUITY. GRob going into his 3rd year, played very well the last 5 games of the season. No penalties, no sacks, picked up blitz's, good pass pro. That, incedently, coincided with Garrett Reynolds playing LG, and he played very well there, best OL FA pick up in years. Barnes had started a whole 4 games coming into the season and got pushed around, but towards the end of the season he was starting to hold his own. Wichmann and Donnal got valuable playing time. Havenstien held his own at RT.
The Rams OL finally has a chance to start an OL with the same guys that ended the previous season. CONTINUITY. Its a mandatory thing for NFL OL's. Rams penchant for shuffling guys around during pre-season has to stop. Get your five guys out and play them. CONTINUITY. Saffold, with his injury history and able to play most of the OL positions, should be the swing guy. Good depth too.
Rams need to set the OL and let them play. Every preseason they monkey around and never play the same guys twice. And every year, the first game of the season, they trot out an OL that has never started together. That needs to stop .CONTINUITY!

LT-GRob
LG-Reynolds
C-Barnes
RG-Wichmann
RT-Havenstien

This is same OL the Rams started the last 4 games of last season and should start the preseason with. Keep the continuity going. Saffold, Brown, Donnal, Williams, Rhaney come in off the bench.

 

[Amitar]

The OL and the OC are the #1 concerns going into the new season. The OL was not addressed during the off season which is a red flag for me. GRob has been horrible at LT. If he cannot step up this season then the Rams could be looking at another 8-8 or less record.

 

[BonifayRam]

I'll just focus in on the center post at this time:

I see the non addressing in the draft & there after in UDFA's as a signal from the Rams Org. that they are fine & dandy with what they have assembled to content in the center of our OL. Rams have Five center types under contract @ the moment. its obvious they are hopeful on Rhaney who will be going into his third TC & pre season as a Ram. Top reserve OC Rhaney has shown up till late last season very little improvement on the playing field. But then again Barnes gave Rhaney very little chance to play OC last season after Barnes proved to be a serious iron-man himself.
Center
Tim Barnes UFA in 2018
Demetruis Rhaney UFA in 2018
Davis Arkin UFA in 2018
Eric Kush UFA in 2017
Brian Folkerts UFA in 2017

I have posted this often before that if you want to judge our starting center justly then one sure must look deeply as to what happened around Barnes.How many different Left OG's played next to Barnes @ times? Five (3 of which never played OLG in the NFL before!). I am sure having all those new OLG's in & out all last season was a great help to Barnes.

How many different Right OG's played next to him last season? FOUR (2 were rookies!) So a Boudreau OL that had five rookies starting much of time in & out last season .....Yes adding in that to what was ongoing on the other side sure made Tim Barnes job real easy for him in his first season as a starter working very hard @ the low end of the Rams salary cap pay scale. Did I also mention that Tim Barnes started every game for the Rams last season. Can you tell me the last season when the Rams had a healthy center able to do that? You will have to go back more that 6 or 7 or more seasons to answer that.

In conclusion the the only unknown to me ongoing at center is who will be the main back up to Barnes. I have suggested that Saffold be given the opportunity to learn the OC post behind Barnes. Saffold has the great intelligence to be outstanding back up. den offered up Cody Wichmann but I want Cody to continue to start @ ORG post next to Havenstein. But if Cody does not start @ ORG then he should get a look see @ back up center too.

My problem with Rhaney is his little size for a PBS OL. The reserve OC needs to be able to effectively perform in the two other interior posts as well as center......Rhaney has failed at this up to this point. That why the other 3 much bigger center prospects Kush- Folkerts & Arkin who have played in the OG posts will get a good look over in TC & pre season.

 

[baconandbread]

I think this is GRob's year. I didn't have that feeling previously as we all knew he was raw...the work with Bentley this year, I feel is EXACTLY what he needs. My greatest concern is Barnes. While he is serviceable, I don't think he's going to get any better, even if everyone else around him is this year.

 

[yrba1]

Any update on Jamon Brown? Dude showed a lot of talent, then the injury happened.

 

[Akrasian]

I really don't like when people pull the low sack total out,as this team was at the bottom is passing plays ran as well. They do correlate. And our QBs were still pressured a ton.

While true, Football Outsiders still ranked the OL #1 against the pass all things considered:
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol

This includes attempts, down, yards needed, etc to adjust the value of the situation.

 

[DaveFan'51]

The thing I like to focus on is 18 sacks allowed last year.... Young growing line will improve. Yes they made mistakes but Goff alone will help because of his pocket presence plus 100% gurley and a new stud TE ... He will be a stud barring off the field... Our oline is not a worry to me

I think that "18 Sacks allowed" figure is huge considering this was an almost all rookie line!! I can't wait to see them this year!!

 

[Akrasian]

How is this different from most if not all other positions? While there will be more film, the 2nd year OL players will also have more basic skills already engrained in them, so they can focus on improving their weaknesses more than they could last season. Plus they would have had a full offseason building up NFL strength.

There will be some struggles, of course - but I'd expect them to be better overall.

 

[BonifayRam]

Any update on Jamon Brown? Dude showed a lot of talent, then the injury happened.

That talent that you posted about being showed.....it just happen to burn much more brightly when he was playing on the left side of the OL before he was flipped to the right OG a post he had never player before in college.

That broken leg injury to Jamon Brown in wk 10 should not cause him any issues. I am sure he is fully healed & getting himself ready to fight it out with veteran Garrett Reynolds to be our starting Left OG week one. Its those shoulder & knee injuries & reconstructions that are time consuming & set back nightmares.

 

[Mojo Ram]

If the Rams are planning to go through this season on the contingency that Saffold will not be relied upon at all they'll be just fine. If he contributes at all it's just expensive gravy.

Robinson needs to step up tremendously.

 

[CGI_Ram]

The crazy thing about our oline... All these young players will have contracts due the same year.

GRob would have been a 5yr deal. Then Havenstein, Brown, Donnel, Wichmann, and Battle were all 2015 rookies... Which I think nets them 4yr deals.

 

[Roman Snow]

:flanders: "Breaking news: Roger Saffold pulled a draw-string on his nap-sack. Should be a 4-6 weeks thing."

 

[Loyal]

All you Barnes haters need to back the f@*k off off my boy! He's our Fumble Recovery Specialist!:lifting:

 

[hotanez]

All of us are hoping the light comes on for GROB and he's been working hard in the off season, but again, he needs to work hard in the film room as well. As to Saffold, it would be great if he was healthy, however, forgive me if I take the doubting Thomas approach. At Center I'm confident in Barnes, is he a top tier center? No, but he plays hard does not commit penalties and did not have one errant snap last season so Barnes was a huge improvement over Scott Wells.

As to the dpeth at center, I have read where Cody Wichmann might be getting snaps this year at that position. I would embrace the Rams doing that because I have no confidence in Demetrius Rhaney now maybe he's more of a center, but every time Rhaney was in the offensive line suffered so keep Rhaney away from guard because he's awful.

When the dust settles if Saffold stays healthy, IMO, he wins the job at RG where he has been far more effective over the years so maybe the staring unit will look like this come the eve of September:

LT...Greg Robinson
LG...Jamon Brown
C...Tim Barnes
RG...Rodger (or Roger for @leoram ) Saffold
RT...Rob Havenstein

Den where did you read about Wichmann getting a chance at center? Do you remember the name of the article?

 

[Merlin]

So you don't think he'll come back from the shoulder surgery? Hadn't he been putting it off for the last few season? So isn't the fact that he addressed it a good thing?

Listing him at 1 on my OG depth chart isn't enough for you?

 

[Picked4td]

The crazy thing about our oline... All these young players will have contracts due the same year.

GRob would have been a 5yr deal. Then Havenstein, Brown, Donnel, Wichmann, and Battle were all 2015 rookies... Which I think nets them 4yr deals.

IMO thats the biggest problem with our offense right now. add in gurley, our new WRs/TEs, and goff (his 5th year is basically a new deal at that price). Basically our whole offense will need new deals in a 2 year range. gonna be tough

 

[Ramhusker]

I think everyone will be shocked at how good our OL is this year. Not a concern to me.

 

[den-the-coach]

Den where did you read about Wichmann getting a chance at center? Do you remember the name of the article?

I have watched some discussions about it and the only thing I can come up with is this article from Nick Wagoner:

Are Rams a match for center Alex Mack?
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/p ... -alex-mack

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Inevitably, anytime a reasonably well-known player is released or comes available at this time of year, fans of every NFL team begins to wonder if he's a fit for their favorite franchise.

Such was the case Wednesday when Cleveland Browns center Alex Mack voided the final three years of his contract with the team and made himself a free agent. In the process, he instantly became one of the top offensive linemen available in a market that will have plenty of teams capable of throwing around large sums of money.

Mack, of course, left open the possibility of a return to Cleveland, which is the only NFL home he's ever known. But he also knows that he'll have no shortage of suitors come the start of the new league year next week.

The question then becomes if one of those suitors will be the Los Angeles Rams? It's an easy connection to make. The Rams could use an upgrade at center and a stabilizing force for their young offensive line. They also have plenty of cap space, and Mack is actually a Los Angeles native.

But let's not prepare the jersey and get the moving vans just yet. While the Rams do have plenty of cap space, they also have a lot of key free agents to sign, particularly on defense. Much of their money will be diverted in that direction instead of for a center who is going to be costly. Likewise, the Rams have expressed interest in bringing back center Tim Barnes and have other young linemen who could play center in time, such as Demetrius Rhaney or even potentially Cody Wichmann.

In addition, the Rams have mostly avoided signing aging veterans after failed experiments with tackle Jake Long and center Scott Wells. Mack is still an excellent player and certainly has some good football left in him, but it would require a fairly significant course correction in the way the Rams have done business recently for them to spend big bucks on a 30-year-old center who has had serious injury issues in the recent past.

While we can never say never to anything in this league, it seems that if the Rams are to add outside help at center this offseason, it's more likely to come through the draft.


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