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August 27, 2015 at 3:26 pm #29384
znModeratorRams still in no rush to choose starting center
Nick Wagoner
EARTH CITY, Mo. — More than halfway through training camp and the preseason, the St. Louis Rams are still in no rush to choose a starting center.
According to coach Jeff Fisher, it’s an ongoing process that might not get clarity until the last possible minute.
“It’s going to be a really good race,” Fisher said. “We probably won’t make a decision until the opener or until kickoff.”
One would think the Rams will probably make a decision before they kick off Sept. 13 against the Seattle Seahawks, but in the three-way competition among Tim Barnes, Barrett Jones and Demetrius Rhaney, none have separated from the pack just yet.
Barnes started the preseason opener against Oakland, and Rhaney started the second against Tennessee. Most likely, Jones will get his chance to run with the first team Saturday night against the Indianapolis Colts.
At that point, all three will have had their chance to work with the starting group and the first round of cuts will be made. But it doesn’t mean the Rams will stop the rotation they have going in the middle.
“The thing is, that’s why we wanted to get guys working with [quarterback Nick Foles] every day,” offensive line coach Paul Boudreau said. “We rotate the centers so one period Timmy is working with him, the next period Barrett is working with him and we have been doing it day to day.
“So it really doesn’t matter who the center is now.”
But while it might not matter much now, it certainly will when the season starts. The Rams have been patient with letting the competition play out. Some would argue that approach isn’t ideal to build chemistry on the line, especially since the center is the guy primarily responsible for making the protection calls at the line of scrimmage.
So while there seems to be a lack of urgency to make a decision and settle in with Barnes, Jones or Rhaney, the counterargument to that is rushing into a decision could lead to choosing the wrong player, and then having to start all over again.
Given the relative lack of playing experience among Barnes, Rhaney and Jones, it’s easier to understand why the Rams don’t want to rush into a choice. Barnes is the only one of the three to start a game (he has got four), Jones has only played in spot duty and Rhaney has never appeared in a regular-season game.
Which is why Boudreau is preaching patience while putting a premium on deciphering which of the three candidates is best equipped to step in and handle all of the mental aspects that go with playing the position. Which is why Jones is probably a slight favorite with a chance to bolster his case by playing well against the Colts.
“I have confidence that whoever wins this job is going to be because of earning it,” Boudreau said. “It’s not because of longevity or we drafted a guy. I don’t give a [darn] about that. It’s one of those deals where you get into the game and you want the best five up there. So who is going to keep it all calm, who is going to make the right call and who is going to make us get in the right protections as far as getting in the game and knowing what to do.”
Until the Rams are sure they have the player who can do all of those things, they’re content to keep watching and waiting to make a decision.
August 27, 2015 at 3:52 pm #29387
bnwBlockedIt is only late August so why rush the decision. Doh!
The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.
Sprinkles are for winners.
August 27, 2015 at 6:03 pm #29392znModeratorfrom off the net
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GabesHorn
To me it depends on Barrett Jones’ play this week. It should be his chance to start. As a back surgery patient and longtime OL I really wonder if he can finally fulfill the dream we pictured when we thought we stole him in the 4th round. He still seems to get steamrolled when pass blocking. He played really well against 2nd and 3rd stringers last week getting to the second level and beyond with Watt eating big chunks. The back surgery just scares me as it will hit you again out of the blue during a long season and hopefully playoffs. Never faced a NFL season. GOD BLESS HIM…
Not knowing the plays called and who is making the best line calls as we don’t get to do film study. We are truly blind to what is really being done and helping the team the most as we just watch plays on TV. We are in the dark to the communications made that are so vital to true success of each play and what that specific center sees with his eyes while the “D” is still moving and trying to confuse him. Jones was known for his high I.Q. and ability to lead at Bama.
My eye says Barnes looks the best overall not being pushed back into Foles and he makes me think we should have used our 4th round pick this last year on one of 3 centers (taken 4th Rnd) after we took Andrew Donnal. (Will he make final cut?)The seahawks took one of those 3 centers right after the Donnal pick. If Barnes is our starter I think we are using one of our two second round picks next season on our next REAL STUD starting center. USC,Wisconsin,ND have the top rated centers going into this next season with the top 5 being SR’s but the top two are projected now as 1st or 2nd rounders and the Wisconsin kid is the only JR. but he is the only one at the 320lb weight I like in my centers facing Pro Nose Tackles. The others are just under 300lbs but always add muscle weight before combine days.
We all expected one of our 3 guys to show some real separation by now and Coach Paul would of already (If sure of a special guy) had pulled the string on getting our starter more reps with the other 4 starters going into the seahawk game and a Real Fast start this season knowing our first 5 games are blockbusters before the bye week. I feel Coach Fisher will get his full 5 year contract and probably an extension from Stan this season. Knowing Todd Gurley needs time and if the young OL were settled along with Foles being more comfortable and safer behind our front wall.
The center will be better than Wells was playing with 3 injuries last season but that is not enough for me when I want a stud center that has just one position (Not Fisher style) I know. If we are gonna be that Run First offense that throws from play action as the defense is looking run then Dangit give me a stud center to go with Greg Robinson , J. Brown , Havenstein and pray Saffold can finally solve his shoulder issues. Foles then may not have such happy feet. Just wish Center was given more IMPORTANCE to how Snead approached it when or if he thought about it one night drinking some fine Scotch. I’m very worried B. Jones looks good this week then his back issue raises its ugly head on a major hit or just a bad or funky twist that is a normal occurance. Who will we have kept for the back-up Center spot? Then what? Just call me concerned. Watch the Saints rock this season with that stud center for Brees. He’ll look revived again.
August 27, 2015 at 10:30 pm #29398znModeratorSeahawks’ Drew Nowak eyeing starting spot at center
http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/drew-nowak-eyeing-starting-spot-at-center/
It was one fairly nondescript play in a decidedly nondescript game.
But to Seahawks center Drew Nowak, an incomplete pass on the third play of their 14-13 preseason loss to Kansas City on Friday meant everything.
The game was the first start of Nowak’s NFL career, a chance for him to show coaches he can be a legitimate option to take over for Max Unger as the team’s starter.
On the third play, a pass on third-and-seven, Nowak had to make the kind of decision greeting NFL centers dozens of times a game — whether to help in pass protection to the right or to the left. Nowak turned left at the snap and helped Justin Britt pancake Chiefs defensive end Mike Catapano.
“I smashed this guy on the ground, and I was like, ‘All right, I can do this,’ ” Nowak said Wednesday. “That one hit just kind of reaffirmed that, ‘OK, I can play.’ ”
Seahawks coaches evidently agreed, leaving Nowak with the starting unit this week as they prepare for a preseason game Saturday night at San Diego. Nowak had been alternating with veteran Lemuel Jeanpierre, whom coaches earlier said had an edge due to his experience.
But decisions such as the one Nowak made on that play have shown he is picking up the nuances of being an NFL center. He had not played center since high school but was moved there after signing with Jacksonville in 2012 as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan, where he had played on the defensive line.
Seahawks offensive-line coach Tom Cable this week talked about a “great conversation” he had with quarterback Russell Wilson late in the game about how he worked with Nowak in setting up blocking assignments.
“He was really pleased,” Cable said of Wilson. “He was able to target some things, and Drew was already on it. So, big progress.”
Another showing like that against the Chargers, and Nowak could cement his spot as the starting center, stepping into the rather sizable shoes of Unger, the starter the past four years before being traded in March to New Orleans in the deal that brought tight end Jimmy Graham to Seattle.
Nowak, though, said he is not awed by the prospect of replacing Unger.
“I mean, Max was great for Seattle, a great center in the league,” Nowak said. “I’m just a fortunate guy who is getting an opportunity. I don’t think it’s daunting, because I’ve always wanted this. I’ve always wanted this opportunity to be a starter, and hopefully when the season starts that’s where I’ll be.”
It’s his willingness to do whatever it takes that got Nowak into this position. Some injuries at Jacksonville to other players helped lead to his switch to the offensive line, initially playing guard. After seeing action in two games on special teams with the Jaguars in 2013 he was released in the cut-down to 53 before the 2014 season. He was signed to the Seahawks’ practice squad a few days later and spent the season learning, playing both guard and center.
He snaps left-handed, which is rare but has not been an issue according to all involved. Nowak said no one has asked him to switch to snapping right-handed.
The bigger transition has come in simply mastering the rest of the game. Seahawks coaches often cited Unger as particularly adept at setting the blocking assignments at the line of scrimmage and working with Wilson. Cable has praised Nowak’s physical abilities since the spring (though this week he talked about him needing to improve on staying low when blocking at the second level) and hinted that if the rest of his game catches up to that, he’d have a real shot at the starting job.
“It’s definitely been tough,” Nowak said of learning to call the blocking assignments at the line of scrimmage. “You have to be the field general for the front five and make sure everybody is on point and on time and everything. So it’s definitely been tough. But I feel like the more days I do it the quicker it comes, the better I play and the faster I will be able to be on the field.”
August 27, 2015 at 11:23 pm #29400znModeratorOffensive line questions starting to come into focus for Seahawks
RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks believe the current configuration along their unsettled offensive line could very well be the one they take into the regular season. But with competitions still on at three of the five spots and with the team still looking at veterans on the free-agent market, coach Pete Carroll isn’t quite ready to make a final decision.
And so the week began with Justin Britt still atop the depth chart at left guard, Drew Nowak at center and Garry Gilliam at right tackle — for now, at least.
“They’ve got a chance now,” Carroll said when asked if the current group will be the one who starts in Week 1. “…We’ll see if they can hold it together and hold off the other guys that are battling with them, but we feel good enough about it. We like the way that they mix together and they have a real chance, so we’ll keep that intact again this week and take it one week at a time.”
The Seahawks had already been rotating players at center and left guard when they shuffled things up even more last week, moving Britt from right tackle and replacing him with Gilliam. That came after an unimpressive performance from the previous group in the Seahawks’ preseason opener.
The new group improved considerably in pass protection Friday night against Kansas City, not allowing a sack during the two quarters in which the starters played. But Seattle still failed to score an offensive touchdown and ran for only 78 yards in a 14-13 loss.
Carroll, looking beyond the final numbers, liked what he saw.
“I was really happy to see the line play together and have success, communicate well,” he said. “Drew had a nice first start. He’s in the middle of it all. Justin Britt looked really comfortable at left guard, played really solid football. He filled up the space so nice. Garry, who had a great matchup with Justin Houston, fared pretty well over there. It was a really good first showing by the fellas.”
Along with sticking with the current group and continuing to mix and match with backups, another option for the Seahawks is to fill one of their unsettled spots with a veteran free agent.
The team met with left guard Evan Mathis over the weekend, but he left Seattle without signing a contract. Carroll said the meeting went “very well” but that “there’s a lot of issues that we have to take care of to get that in order.” Money would be one of them, as Seattle might not have the cap space to afford Mathis, a two-time Pro Bowler who was reportedly seeking a raise from the $5.5 million he was set to make in 2015 before his release from Philadelphia.
The team was also scheduled to meet with center Samson Satele on Monday, according to ESPN’s Adam Caplan.
“We’re going to keep competing to see who else is there and available as we try to make our choices,” Carroll said. “Really, we’re going one step at a time so you’ll see some guys’ names come up again today. We’re continuing to look. We want to know who’s available.”
August 28, 2015 at 3:28 am #29432znModeratorMy view of the OL shake-out.
They have 16.
CENTER
Barnes (C)
Jones (C)
Wang (C)GUARD
Saffold (G)
Bond (G)
Brown (G)
Wichman (G)SWINGMEN
Rhaney (C/G)
Reynolds (G/T)
Washington (G/T)TACKLE
Robinson (T)
Havenstein (T)
Baker (T)
Donnal (T)
Darrell Williams (T)
Battle (T)If they keep 10, IMO, that will leave out: Wang, Bond, Wichman, Baker, and probably one of the following: Washington, Donnal, Bond. Maybe Barnes if Jones makes it, or maybe he;s the starter and Jones is on the bench.
Of the P-S eligible guys, that’s really mostly just Donnal and Wichman.
Wichman won’t get picked up, IMO. He was injured and barely practiced.
Donnal COULD get picked up, but of the 160-220 or so OL who will get cut league wide, why would he stand out?
And of course, the Rams will look at other teams’s cuts too.
If they keep 10, I see this (just a guess that could change tomorrow):
Robinson Saffold Barnes Brown Havenstein; + Rhaney Jones Battle Williams Reynolds (with 2 guard back-ups: Rhaney and Reynolds).
An OL along those lines would be shakey at first, BUT, long term, could be one of the deepest the Rams have had since the old Robinson OL days. Probably not AS good as the Robinson OLs (which were among the best NFL OLs ever) but as deep or deeper.
Though you know? If Robinson reaches his projected ceiling (most likely not this year) and Brown comes through as advertized, it COULD start to bear comparisons with the Robinson OLs in terms of talent level and effectiveness. That’s also assuming Rhaney pans out longterm and Barnes is just a one-year placeholder in 2015.
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