" A Chandler Brewer Story"
Chandler Brewer's rise from an unknown UDFA RG that many NFL draft sites had no information or rating on to being a Ram OL'er began on April 29, 2019 when
Brewer signed his first Ram contract.
Brewer started & played
in all four preseason games. Most
Brewers snaps with the #1 team offense were @ LT & LG with some RT snaps.
Brewer was one of the top Ram OL'ers playing in 2019 preseason.
By the end of preseason.
Chandler Brewer signed his second Ram contract to be a member on the Rams P.S. on Sept 1st 2019. Before the Rams TC got underway the Rams interior OL began to take some hits. Rams lost top reserve center Aaron Neary who was suspended 4 games for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
Then late preseason Allen's main back up Neary
Hit #1 injured his knee & never returned to the Rams to play. Center Vitas Hrynkiewicz & Jeremiah Kolone took over back up duties for Brian Allen even Jamil Demby try his hand as a OC in late preseason. Rams cut Vitas H. & then signed Jeremiah Kolone to the PS for OC insurance & signed
Coleman Shelton directly to the active roster to replace back up OC Aaron Neary.
The next OL
Hit #2 occurred wk#2 in the Saints game when starting RG Austin Blythe injured his ankle & was replaced by Jamil Demby which I would call the beginning of
Hit #3 in a sense. Wk#3 Demby started his first gm against the Browns turning in a very poor effort enough scare the Rams to cause Blythe to come back way too early from injury. As of that event Blythe played through that nagging ankle injury throughout season. In addition, after the season concluded Blythe had surgery on both of his shoulders.
The next big OL
Hit #4 occurred on Oct 13, 2019. Starting LG Noteboom suffered a severe knee injury & was lost for the season. Swing OG Jamil Demby replaced him @ LG. Demby then completed
Hit #3 with dismal performance that resulted in Demby
NEVER playing in another Ram game. 5th rd Rookie David Edwards who by now was the #6 OL'er with Demby starting started in place of Demby @ LG. After the Noteboom injury wk#7 OT rookie Bobby Evans was activated for the first time for a gm as the reserve LT position.
On October 14, 2019 Snead/ McVay/Kromer knew they were in serious trouble with the OL. At this point in time Kromer had already lost his back up center Neary & starting LG Noteboom who was also his main back up @ LT. Kromer was playing a badly injured RG Blythe due to Demby's inability to perform @ NFL & could no longer be counted on to be a decent back up. Kromer had a 5th rd rookie starting now @ LG in David Edwards. The main interior reserve was newly acquired ex Cards rookie Coleman Shelton who was cut by the Cards. On October 15th,2019 Snead traded with Browns for former very high 2nd rd. 2018 draft selection LT Austin Corbett for a 5th rd 2020 pick.
The Ol settled down for a while after Corbett's arrival but two main wheels flew off wk#10 on November 11th, 2019 against Pittsburgh.
Hit# 5 Rams lost starting center Allen for the rest of the season. Rookie Shelton was forced into starting action @ OC for Allen. In addition, starting RT Havenstein suffered a severe knee injury too, Havenstein was forced to continue play through a right meniscus injury because Kromer went into the Steelers game without making reserve OT Bobby Evans active. Later Corbett relieved
Edwards @ LG who then relieved Havenstein @ RT.
Hit #6 RT Rob Havenstein injured knee was never healthy again & he did not start another gm in 2019.
By Wk#11 the Rams OL underwent a
paradigm shift should I call it
Big Hit #7 ?. Kromer had a new starting LG Corbett, new starting RG rookie Edwards, new starting RT rookie Evans & a new starting center Blythe.
FOUR starters in new positions. It was during this event that Chandler Brewer signed a new Ram contract for active roster duties on Nov 13, 2019.
Brewer was now Kromers top swing OT & OG reserve #6 OL'er. Brewer now was taking weekly practice snaps for LT Whitworth. From this point on Wk#11 till the end of the season Kromer depended on
Chandler Brewer as his main reserve for
four OL posts. No other Ol'er saw snaps with the offense.
Brewer is signed thru 2021 when he is still attached contract wise with the Rams as a ERFA in 2021.
www.si.com
