looking forward to the 2024 OL

from Offensive Line Rankings and Tiers – End of Season: https://www.playerprofiler.com/article/offensive-line-rankings-and-tiers-end-of-nfl-season-review-2024-offensive-line-outlook/

Tier 2: Great, just not Elite

5. Los Angeles Rams

Alaric Jackson, Steve Avila, Coleman Shelton, Kevin Dotson, Rob Havenstein

The Rams were arguably my biggest miss coming into the season. The unit had very little NFL experience but has been one of the best units in the NFL. This has helped Matthew Stafford enjoy a resurgence while putting Kyren Williams on the map in the backfield. The right side of the offensive line has been especially impressive with the combination of Kevin Dotson and Rob Havenstein combining to allow just five sacks and 42 pressures on 465 pass-blocking snaps. Dotson especially has been a revelation after coming over from the Steelers. He ranks as PFF’s No. 2 overall guard in 2023.

 

Praise for Ryan Wendell.

It’s early but I am already considering comparing Wendell to Hudson Houck in terms of great Rams OL coaches. And the Rams have not lacked for good ones–Houck, Hanifan, Boudreau, Kromer. Houck was elite and the other 3 were all very good, in Hanifan’s case legendary good.

Wendell played center with the Patz under the great OL coach Dante Scarnecchia from 2008-2015 and then worked as an assistant OL coach in Buffalo with Aaron Kromer in 2022. So he has the pedigree. More importantly it already looks like it’s not just pedigree with him, he has the chops too.

Avila is likely a step up at center. It’s really a good thing that his transition to NFL center is being handled by Wendell–a former starting center and guard for the Patz who played in the playoffs under Scarnecchia for a few years and was voted a team captain in 2015 (though he missed that season w/ injuries). That last sentence was a bit long winded but you get the point.

Will the Rams lose Wendell to the Great NFL Coaching Raids of Rams Staff? Well they could but odds are against it. As a rule, OL coaches don’t get “raided.” Unless a team won’t pay the guy (which happened in 1991 with the great Hudson Houck, who the Rams just let walk after his contract ran out…he ended up being the coach who put together the great Dallas OLs in the 90s. Houck coached the Rams OL from 1983-91, and in that span had 5 different Rams OL go to a combined 21 Pro Bowls [Slater, Doug Smith, Hill, Harrah, & Newberry]).

As we know, to get raided you have to be promoted, and as a rule, OL coaches don’t end up being hired as either offensive coordinators or head coaches. So generally speaking, if you want to keep your OL coach around you just keep paying him. For example Scarnecchia coached the Patz OL from 1999 to 2019. Now and then an OL coach becomes a head coach, but it’s very rare (the 3 that come to mind are Chuck Knox, Jim Hanifan, and Bill Calahan, though I am likely forgetting 1 or 2 others). OL coaches are so specialized, I think it’s a case where the people who do the hiring don’t see their skills as translating “up.”

Zooey wrote:

And I really don’t understand the writer at The Athletic who published this today:

Agree. That’s something Rams fans are used to. Superficial accounts that are not really based on knowing the team.

One of my favorites from the old days was from before the season in 99, when some writers said “Faulk can’t run up the middle.”

from: https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2024/7/2/24190991/rams-offensive-line-rankings-brandon-thorn

The Los Angeles Rams have invested more capital into the interior of their offensive line than any other team in the NFL recently, so you would hope that they have a top-5 guard and center trio going into the 2024 season. According to Brandon Thorn, a respected expert on offensive line play and author of the Trench Warfare newsletter on Substack, that’s exactly what the Rams have now.
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On The Athletic Football podcast, Thorn was asked to give four teams who aren’t getting enough respect and his final answer was the L.A. Rams:

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“I think this offensive line could be very good and that’s the Rams, that really starts with the interior offensive line which has a care this year going in to be one of the five best interior lines in the league. There’s a little bit of projection there with Steve Avila moving to center but he played center more at TCU than left guard, so I think that shouldn’t be too difficult of a transition for him. Then you have one of the biggest centers in the NFL, which is kind of cool, especially for what they want to do.”

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Thorn then goes onto talk about Jonah Jackson as a good signing as long as he’s healthy, and Kevin Dotson, giving the Rams “the most physically imposing interior in the entire NFL in terms of run blocking and considering what McVay has morphed into with this duo lead run game, this could be a lot of fun this year.”

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He then calls Rob Havenstein “unspectacular, but solid” and says that while A.J. Jackson has questions in pass protection, but is a “powerful run blocker”.

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Thorn not only sees the Rams as having a good offensive line in its own right, but that McVay finally has the right pieces in place to do what he wants to do in the run game with Kyren Williams and Blake Corum. That’s what could make the Rams a very dangerous team in the NFC.

InvaderRam wrote:

i could easily see him staying with the rams for a long time.

Yep. As I said above, OL coaches can be with a team for a long time…unless their head coach gets fired. Scarnecchia was Belichick’s OL coach for a total of 19 years.

from https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2024/7/5/24192754/rams-depth-chart-offensive-line-steve-avila-andrew-whitworth?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=turfshowtimes&utm_campaign=socialflow
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OTAs the Rams voiced a lot of confidence in Avila as he makes the switch. Offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur voiced that nothing is ever too big for Avila and that the spring is all about learning opportunities. Sean McVay added to that by saying,

“He’s done a really good job. He’s really smart, really conscientious. I think (Offensive Line Coach) Ryan Wendell has done a great job of being able to teach him the big picture because of the amount of communication that is required of that center position. And then obviously having Matthew there is a huge bonus to be able to lean on him.”

Billy_T wrote:

From the late 1960s thru the 1980s, with just a few lost years here and there . . . they were great in the trenches, on both sides of the ball.

I’ve posted this before but I enjoy repeating it.

There is at least one Ram offensive lineman in the pro bowl every single season from 1967 until 1990. That’s 12 different pro-bowl lineman across 24 consecutive years.

In fact the 68 line had 4 pro bowlers, as did the 78 line and the 85 line.

InvaderRam wrote:

the jackson dotson combo. best pair of guards the rams have had in the past thirty years?

I think so but this is a somewhat less dramatic a difference. In the GSOT days Nutten and Timmerman were a good pair of guards, though as I remember it, Nutten was basically just really solid. Jackson and Dotson appear to be more than that. Nutten/Timmerman were pretty good but just not Jackson/Dotson good. So then yeah you go back to Hill and Harrah at the height of the Dickerson days (Hill/Harrah were the Rams guards together from to 79 to 85. In 85 btw the Rams had 4 pro bowl OL–Hill Smith Harrah Slater.)

That OL btw, the 80s Dickerson OL, also had a first-rate, “one of the best in the league” level OL coaches, Hudson Houck. The Shaw Rams wouldn’t pay him when it was contract time so he left after 91. He then earned fame as the great OL coach of the Dallas OL from 93-2001, in the Aikman era.

Hanifan was a very good OL coach when he was with the Rams, though he had Pace to help him with that.  He made something out of guys like Nutten and McCullum, though his stars were Pace and Timmerman.

Anyway. The point is, I am wondering if Ryan Wendell is that level. Best Rams OL coach since Houck? You can’t say that after just 1 year but that’s where my thoughts are tending.

InvaderRam wrote:

i agree with you about nutten and timmerman. and just as you say it’s too early to say about wendell it’s a little early to anoint jackson and dotson. but on paper that trio looks top drawer.

We’re seein all this the same.

I agree. Way it looks so far, the Rams 2024 IOL has a chance to be spectacular. Because of the players and because of Wendell.

…

Rams’ resource-heavy OL under pressure with Jonah Jackson, Alaric Jackson injuries

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5672961/2024/07/31/la-rams-offensive-line-injuries/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nfltw&source=nfltw

LOS ANGELES — The position investment that the Los Angeles Rams were proudest of this offseason is already under pressure.

They are currently minus two starters on their offensive line: Left guard Jonah Jackson has a shoulder injury, a team source said, and will miss some time although there is optimism that recovery won’t stretch significantly into the regular season. Left tackle Alaric Jackson has an ankle injury and is day-to-day, head coach Sean McVay said Tuesday (McVay was not scheduled to address reporters Wednesday, so couldn’t speak further to the severity of Jonah Jackson’s situation).

Jonah Jackson signed a three-year, $51 million deal with the Rams this spring and the team subsequently moved previous starter Steve Avila to center. The $17 million per year average is currently tied for seventh-highest among interior linemen. While Avila could slide back over in a pinch, he has spent the entire spring and summer developing rapport at center with veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford — and it could be unwise to shift him again, especially without a viable backup center on the roster as rookie Beaux Limmer continues his development.

Alaric Jackson is on a one-year tender worth $4.8 million — the Rams could keep their rising star left tackle on a cheaper deal because they originally signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2021. Jackson took over the position full-time in 2023 from Joe Noteboom, who is now the backup at multiple positions (including left guard).

Noteboom could continue to fill in for Jackson at left tackle, as McVay at least sounded slightly optimistic about his injury. When Jackson returns, Noteboom can slide one spot over to left guard as Jonah Jackson recovers. Players who have also repped in the left guard and left tackle spots in camp include A.J. Arcuri and Zach Thomas.

The Rams ran the ball more productively than they had in years in 2023, behind a beefed-up interior offensive line that included then-rookie Avila and trade-acquisition Kevin Dotson at right guard (he signed a three-year, $48 million contract extension this spring, right before Jonah Jackson).

They also would like to keep Stafford (who just agreed to an adjusted contract) upright and healthy to replicate the league-leading production he buoyed a young roster with last season.

“Next man up, right? That’s what this game is,” said offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who deferred to McVay on more specificities about both injuries when speaking to reporters Wednesday. “There is gonna be guys going down for sometimes a day, sometimes an extended period of time. So I think the guys that stepped in (on Tuesday) got better as the practice went on, as we got to that second day and (they got) used to the speed of going against the No. 1s.”

2022 wrecked the OL with massive injuries, as we know.

They started over in 2023, adding Avila and Dotson, and hiring Wendell.

We looked forward to a top OL in 2024, especially after they added Jackson.

But we forgot that the Rams new OL  is so new, it has no depth. Or, rather, the depth is so young that no one has a bead on them. Behind the starting 5 are rookies and 2nd year players, and low-round developmental players (and Noteboom, who has his own injury history).

So do this summer’s injuries hurt the OL? Well yes, on one side of the coin,  it does. But on the other side of the coin, it also allows them more time to develop the depth. Guys like McClendon, Limmer, and Bruss…and? who knows? Right now, we’re not even sure who it is.

But if you have to develop depth in a short time, better to do it during the summer. All 3 of the injured OL–A.Jackson, J.Jackson, and Havenstein–will be back during the season. And when they’re back, they will have more experienced depth behind them, guys who have more experience and are better known by the coaches.

I don’t think it’s a 2022 situation, where they started up to 16 different players. I think it’s the difference between a potentially great line (which it still can be when the starters are back) and a potentially solid line (which it could be up until the starters are back).