Yeah, I just think that position is so important, and the Rams – to their credit – have just plugged guys in there from nowhere, and it’s basically worked out okay for them. I dunno. But I sure would have loved to have Creed Humphrey instead of Tutu Austin.
They’ve had some bad luck at center. That’s of course after the Rich Saul to Doug Smith days. (Though in the GSOT days, McCollum was pretty good in pretty much the same way Shelton is now.)
For example in 2012 they signed Scott Wells, who had done well with the Packers. He then became a series of injuries, including fluke ones like getting a rare fever from a tick bite. In 2009 they signed Jason Brown from Baltimore. He was a good free agent signing. Then his play dropped off as he lost interest in the game, so he quit football to become a farmer. As a farmer he donates most of his crops to charities to feed the poor.
Shelton’s actually pretty good. He’s not a physical speciman, but he’s a film junkie and communicator who reads defensive schemes effectively and has the OL in the right protections. An opposing defensive lineman recently said that this Rams OL plays well together as a unit–it was offered as a big compliment. Ryan Wendell the OL coach deserves a lot of credit for that, but it wouldn’t be true if Shelton weren’t effective at what he does, which is essentially to be the smart communicator at the heart of the line.
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