Ok .. .I got to chime in here ... Allen had COVID 19 almost 2 mos. ago. He was never admitted to the hospital.. put on a ventilator or anything like that. he is MOST likely completely over it by now. what would that have to do with this competition coming in a month or 2 from now? 95% of the people who contacted this .. were either never even aware of it or had flu like symptoms.
statements like this boggle my mind
That's fair. I'm only saying this because my dad had mild symptoms, and he's still testing positive fourteen days later, even when he's feeling better. Therefore, I'm not going to take a positive case lightly. I apologize for the confusion in my statement.
I'm not convinced he can. Goff was under far too much pressure all season long. Delayed blitzes were getting to him as the MIKE would wait until Blythe double with Edwards than blitz knowing Austin didn't have the athleticism to redirect his blocking. Also, stunts were beating him frequently. More importantly, he was very poor on the second level. If O'Connell moves to a between the tackles run attack using a mixture of inside zone and gap blocking the center will be required to get to and execute second-level blocks particularly against the middle LB. Blythe is mismatched vs most MIKE LBs both in terms of physicality and strength. You don't get that MIKE blocked and those inside runs will get stuffed. Looking at his play to date that is exactly the type of blocking Blythe struggles at. He was fine as long as they only ran an outside zone with a horizontal concept. But defenses took that away last year. The Ram run game was forced to move inside and with Blythe, at center they struggled with Gurley getting the blame. But if you simply break down the o-line play that is where the real issue lay. It's important for the center to ID the MIKE and Blythe struggled at it as reflected by that Ram's 26th ranked run attack.
With Blythe at C, the Rams were 26th ranked in running the ball. The center has a lot to do with that. IMO Blythe isn't the presumptive starter anymore than Kiser is at MIKE. He will have to prove he can make those plays. In 4 years he hasn't shown he can. In fact other than Allen, Blythe should be in competition with Coleman and Trewyn who was a Remington Award winner at center. Both Trewyn and Shelton have mobility lacking in Austin, both are bigger with longer arms. Blythe had half a season to lock the start at center down and he simply didn't do it. Sure he had the experience edge, but he was still consistently physically outmatched as he has been his entire career. Do I think Trewyn is a true starter? No, I don't and I think Anchrum might take his place on the depth chart as he offers both center and OG versatility.
Goff was under a lot more pressure when Allen was at center. Like I mentioned, I'm no fan of Blythe either, but given between him and Allen, I'd take Blythe every day, including Sundays. Blythe at least looked good in 2018. Allen has never looked good, has never shown the slightest amount of potential, and - according to the physical eye test, which you seem to take stock in more than anything else - has less quickness than Blythe (as judged by the twenty second split and three-cone drill) and strength (Blythe put up more repetitions on the bench press than Allen.) Yes, he has longer arms than Blythe, but that's about it.
But honestly, I don't give two shits about Combine measurement. I know what I saw in games: Allen flat-out got Noteboom injured by his fucking pile diving. You can have a mean streak as an offensive lineman; in fact, I enjoy seeing mean streaks for them, but you can't do it when you're clearly beaten and push a guy into your teammate's leg. That's not a mean streak; that's being inexcusably stupid about it.
In addition, he failed to come up with the right line calls. Call it what you will, but he and Goff were rarely on the same page, and he was a shitty pass-blocker. Yes, having Blythe on the side at guard didn't help, but Allen had so many faults at center that I would be seriously shocked to see him win the job, especially coming off of an MCL injury. I'd be less shocked if Allen was cut or traded (most likely cut, although I wouldn't say "no" to a late round pick in this year's class.)
I'd personally love to see Trewyn and Anchrum dominate and take the reins on the backup interior sports, maybe even try Corbett as a center. I'd love to see Noteboom, Evans, Edwards, and Brewer take a positive step. I'd love to see Havenstein get back in shape and be a solid bookend to Whitworth.
But that's just my personal thoughts.
