I somewhat disagree, Demetrius Rhaney had an excellent camp last year and played extremely well in preseason and is why he beat out Hard Knocks Star Eric Kush and IMO seemed a much better Center than Guard and I am interested to see how he is coached by Kromer.
That being posted Sullivan was able to hold up last season for 8 games and one other thing you have to factor in is that one of the other lineman like Cody Wichmann could also work at Center as well so that could improve the depth too..
Good Morning den, some of my 2 cents here....whats changed for Rhaney from late last season & now? First you are correct Rhaney has played better @ OC than OG mostly due to his 295 to 300 size issues.When Barnes was injured PB still went with a gimpy less effective Barnes over a fully healthy Rhaney? Line calls was the reason.
Now that what has changed as positive for DR. The bad is AK likes taller bigger OL'ers across the OL. Another bad is DR who has played all 5 OL posts in his past is not a legit OG reserve under AK.The over 6-1 DR does not fit that but he could have worked real hard this past 4 months & gotten stronger we'll see.
Ref. John Sullivan....IMO he was signed to assist McVay & AK in getting this new OL cadre ready with this new system. I do not consider him a real starting OC prospect but nothing but a 9 or 10th OL'er
@ best.. I would bet all my ROD $$ that JS is placed on the IR when the regular season begins.
McVay's mentioned Brown converting to center a few weeks ago. It would fit with getting the five best players on the OLine.
Agree, Brown would be a fine prospective starting center.
Cody Wichmann has previously played some Center (in practices). Kromer talked about cross-training our guards at Center. It's possible that we see Wichmann or Brown as the #2 Center this year. I'd feel good about either there.
Agree here also.
When you look @ the OL roster currently we would expect that Whitworth will be starter @ LT, Havenstein starter @ RT/RG, Saffold starter either @ LG/RG/RT. The other 2 starting OL'ers is well Undetermined. AK has 5 pure OC/OG cadre in Wichmann, Brown, Rhaney & the 2 new interior Jake Eldrenkamp & Anthony McMeans. Wichmann [18 starts] & Brown [14 starts] the last two seasons, both give AK versatility & both have had limited development from back to back seasons with injuries. Both CW & JB should be prime AK sized starting OC prospects.
AK has 4 starting RT prospects in Williams, Murphy, Robinson & Donnal. Andrew Donnal has experience in NFL games both OG & both OT posts. AD was the late season 6 game starter finishers when the season concluded. AD is a serious starting RT prospect to push over Robinson & Murphy to work primarily @ LT reserve.PS. AD might also be a surprise starting center too. He is one smart heady OL'er.
As a sufferer of Battered Rams Fan Syndrome (BaRFS), I do not assume any free agent will pan out. So not only am I concerned about second-string C, I do not assume that Sullivan will automatically step back out on a field after not playing for so long and play well or stay healthy. Same with Whitworth, the "in 35-year old we trust" mentality boggles my mind after all we've seen go wrong over the last two decades, I can't just assume he lasts for a significant amount of time before being out with injury or has lost a step or three.
Any long term serious Ram fan is in the same boat with you. As far as Whitworth for this season AK has 3 good reserves in Saffold, Robinson & Pace Murphy available for any catastrophic events @ LT. The youthfull 6-6 311 pound Murphy is sure to get a HD workout in TC & pre season @ LT. I would also expect to see Saffold getting some 2nd tier action too.Snead IMO will address the Rams future LT prospect in the 2018 draft.
