Will The St. Louis Rams Be Ok Without Joe Barksdale?

by Blaine Grisak 18h ago
http://ramblinfan.com/2015/05/21/will-the-st-louis-rams-be-ok-without-joe-barksdale/

Earlier this week, former St. Louis Rams right tackle Joe Barksdale signed a one year contract with the San Diego Chargers in what left many disappointed. On a very bad Rams offensive line, Barksdale was one of the few lineman that did in fact block from time to time.

However, letting Barksdale walk should come as no surprise. The Rams addressed needs on the offensive line through the draft, specifically at right tackle where Barksdale played. In the second round of the 2015 draft, the Rams drafted Rob Havenstein out of Wisconsin to presumably be their right tackle of the future.

In Havenstein the Rams drafted a mauler in the run game and someone who has plenty of experience at the position.

Yes, it would have been nice to bring Barksdale back, but he wasn’t a necessity. Barksdale was a solid part of the offensive line, starting 29 games over the past two seasons, and it is because of this that fans started to see Barksdale as a necessity when in fact he wasn’t.

Some went as far to say he was the number one priority for the Rams in the offseason. The truth is, Barksdale is an average to above average right tackle at best. While he did have a good 2013, last year and the year prior, he did consistently get beat by better competition.

This was most recently proven last season when he was completely dominated by Kansas City’s Justin Houston and Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan. The fact of the matter was, Barksdale is an average right tackle.

He has reached his ceiling, Havenstein on the other hand, we dont know what his ceiling will be, but we do know that he brings the physical play that Barksdale did not.
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Many have blamed Davin Joseph and the inexperience at quarterback that gave Barksdale issues, but looking at the stats and performances, that is only partly true. Against the Chargers last year, Joseph ended up with a positive grade at 5.1, meanwhile Barksdale came out exactly even with a 0.0 grade.

Against the Raiders, a weaker competition, Joseph ended up with a -2.5 grade while Barksdale excelled against a team who had one of the worst defensive lines in football putting up an impressive 1.7 grade.

In possibly his worst three game stretch against the Cardinals, 49ers, and Chiefs, Barksdale managed a grade of -4 or worse in those three consecutive games. Meanwhile, Joseph accumulated a grade worse than -1 just once.

The stats are simply inconsistent and dont back up that Joseph was the reason for all of Barksdale’s struggles. Watching the film, while Joseph did cause some issues, Barksdale did get beat one on one on plays in which Joseph held his own plenty of times.

Going back to Barksdale’s good year in 2013, it wasn’t all that impressive as many make it out to be.

As you can see Barksdale was only in the top 15 right tackle on three different occasions, two of which were against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears who aren’t known for their dominant defensive lines.

On the other hand, against teams like the 49ers, Seahawks, Cardinals, and Cowboys, Barksdale allowed a total of 17 total quarterback pressures. Not to mention his run blocking wasn’t anything worth bragging about recording a negative grade in three of six divisional games and forgettable performances against the Colts and Panthers.

This is all while the Rams are trying to build a team in which the main focus is running the ball. On the offensive line the left tackle is said to be the pass blocking tackle, the tackle that protects the quarterback’s blind side while on the other hand, the right tackle is meant to be the run blocking tackle.

With Barksdale, this obviously was not the case as his run blocking grades dont show that run blocking was his specialty. Several times over the past two years the Rams have not been able to generate push up front on the offensive side of the ball.

Now, this wasn’t all Barksdale’s fault, but as the stats show, he didnt hold his own against some of the more dominant teams. This was also without Davin Joseph and instead Harvey Dahl.

When all is said and done, Barksdale is a player that is nice to have, you can certainly do a lot worse. He is a player that excels against weaker completion, but his flaws come out against the better pass rushers and better defensive lines. The Rams are trying to rebuild their offensive line and that is seen with the complete overhaul this year as there will only be two returning players from last year.

Had the Rams drafted a guy like Cameron Erving, Brandon Scherff, or La’el Collins, keeping Barksdale would make sense as either of those three would have played inside. Barksdale is a tackle and has no experience playing inside at guard.

Les Snead said after the Rams drafted Havenstein, “With big Rob, he is ready to play,” Snead said. “He’s a right tackle, started a ton of games – never missed any. They run the ball well up there…He’s just a guy that knows his strengths and weaknesses and how to use them.”

Snead said that he’s a right tackle and he’s ready to play right now which is exactly what the Rams will do. Havenstein will start from day one and he will start at right tackle, the same spot that Barksdale played.

The Rams could have still brought in Barksdale in for depth, but after the last two years, he wouldnt have wanted to come back in a backup role. Instead he did the smart thing to take a one year deal elsewhere and prove his value as a starter.

Not re-signing Barksdale does not even rule out the possibility of bringing in another offensive lineman. It is possibly that the Rams bring in Justin Blalock to play guard while Jamon Brown develops in the early parts of the season. There is no question they could use some veteran assistance and leadership.

Blalock has been a solid guard in Atlanta. Had they not been switching offensive schemes, there is a good chance that they might have brought him back. Instead he is a player on the market that the Rams could bring in to play guard while their younger players grow.

Will the Rams be ok without Joe Barksdale? That is yet to be seen as we are unsure as to what Havenstein will bring to the table. However, the Rams are looking to the future, and with the declining performance of the right tackle over last season, the Rams are looking to get a tackle in Havenstein who can hold his own and be the right tackle of the future.

zn wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

This is 2 days after the draft.

Sounds like both sides cooled on each other though.

Rams lost any urgency after the draft; JB didn’t like the fact that the Rams wouldn’t meet his demands so left out of pride and spite.

Then again, that;s a TST article, and so maybe they don’t really know and are just running on old info.

You know what happened. He got married. That is when the trouble started. 😉

Rams’ Free Agent Tackle Joe Barksdale Worked Out For Falcons
http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2015/5/5/8550465/nfl-free-agent-joe-barksdale-rams-falcons-workout
By Brandon Bate

@NoPlanB_ on May 5, 2015, 6:42a 99
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Falcons brought in St. Louis Rams’ free agent tackle Joe Barksdale for a workout.
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Prior to the release of veteran offensive lineman Jake Long and Scott Wells, many viewed the re-signing of free agent tackle Joe Barksdale as one of the team’s main offseason priorities. And as of today, the team has yet to do that.

In early April, he met with the Tennessee Titans, yet left without a deal. According to ESPN’s Field Yates, Barksdale is still meeting with potential suitors.

Barksdale, again, left without immediately inking a deal. It’s widely believed he’d be an upgrade over the team’s current right tackle, Ryan Schraeder, and would most likely step right in as their starter. Offensive line hasn’t been a major focus for the Falcons thus far in the 2015 NFL offseason. They drafted Jake Rodgers in the 7th round of the draft last weekend, and signed former Rams’ backup lineman Mike Person.

The Rams claimed Barksdale off waivers in 2012 after being cast off by the Oakland Raiders, who drafted him in the 3rd round of the 2011 NFL draft. The Rams paid out the remaining three years of his rookie contract, which equated roughly to $1.5 million. He started 29 games for them over the past two seasons.

Barksdale is, in all likelihood, looking to be paid like a premier free agent tackle, and appears to be in no rush to sign with the Rams, or any other team. The Rams, however, appear to be standing firm on their offer price [$3-4 million per], and used the 2015 NFL draft to add a bit of insurance in the event another team is willing to pay Barksdale the contract he seeks.

The Rams addressed their most dire need in the 2015 NFL Draft by selecting Wisconsin offensive tackle Rob Havenstein in the 2nd round, Louisville OT Jamon Brown [3rd], Iowa OT Andrew Donnal [4th], and Fresno State offensive guard Cody Wichmann in the 6th. They’ve been known to move lineman along their front, and a few of these players possess the versatility to do so. This could allow them to plug in a few holes around the team’s only known starters, Greg Robinson and Rodger Saffold. The team also has high hopes for third year center/guard Barrett Jones.

According to St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Jim Thomas, Barksdale has shown interest in returning to the Rams. As of yesterday, aside from his recent visit to Atlanta, the subject had been tabled at Rams’ Park…

Been told RT Joe Barksdale remains interested in re-signing w/Rams, but there have been no talks today.

— Jim Thomas (@jthom1) May 4, 2015

It appears that up until May 4th, 2 days after the draft, the Rams were still offering Barksdale 3-4 million/year. I wonder what happened?

zn wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

That is 745K, plus a bonus of 350k, plus some rinky-dink incentives.

So he is getting 1.095 M.

I would imagine the Rams woulda given him twice that.

Right.

I have heard a lot of people that get Barksdale contract wrong. They seem to think he is getting 350k/year. He gets the vet minimum for 4-6 year players. That is 745K, plus a bonus of 350k, plus some rinky-dink incentives.

The fastlane guys seem to think that the Rams offered him either 16 or 14 million for 4 years before the draft.

With Barksdale gone, rookie Havenstein takes over at right tackle
21m

Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/18590/with-barksdale-gone-rookie-havenstein-takes-over-at-right-tackle

SAN FRANCISCO — The writing was on the wall from the moment the writing on the St. Louis Rams’ second-round draft card read “Rob Havenstein, offensive tackle, Wisconsin.”

But in case those clues weren’t strong enough, what was already obvious became clear on Tuesday: Havenstein is the Rams’ right tackle of the future.

That’s because Joe Barksdale, the team’s incumbent right tackle, agreed to a contract with the San Diego Chargers after a long and arduous free-agent process. It was a journey that once started with hopes of him landing a multiyear deal in excess of $6 million per season and ended with him settling for a one-year “prove it” contract.

From the Rams’ perspective, losing Barksdale isn’t a surprise but it does remove a reliable piece. He’d proved to be a solid if unspectacular part of the offensive line, starting 29 games over the past two seasons. If nothing else, Barksdale was the one reliable lineman the team knew it could count on lining up in his usual spot every week and not dealing with growing pains or injury issues.

Barksdale also found himself struggling when facing some of the league’s better pass-rushers. Kansas City’s Justin Houston and Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan were among the types to give Barksdale problems in 2014. But for the most part, Barksdale was steady and reliable.

And Barksdale could still be a Ram were it not for an apparent miscalculation by his side on his worth on the free-agent market. Rams coach Jeff Fisher acknowledged at the March owners meetings that Barksdale’s initial price was part of the reason he was still available. Fisher also maintained that the Rams still had interest in retaining Barksdale.

That remained the company line for Fisher and general manager Les Snead, even as recently as their post-draft news conference. The reality, though, was that although the Rams probably did maintain some level of interest in keeping Barksdale, they had already moved on. For his part, Barksdale likely had too, as emotions can often play a role when a player finds himself on the market without a deal as long as he did.

In the draft, Fisher and Snead used four draft picks on offensive linemen, including Havenstein, and they immediately went about plugging him in as the likely starter on the right side.

“With big Rob, he is ready to play,” Snead said. “He’s a right tackle, started a ton of games – never missed any. They run the ball well up there. All of that translated to the Senior Bowl. He’s just a guy that knows his strengths and weaknesses and how to use them.”

Barring a major surprise, Havenstein will get the chance to use them sooner than later. With Barksdale on his way to San Diego, it’s Havenstein’s time to take over at right tackle. The future is now.

Herzog wrote:

WTF??? Wonder what the Rams offer was.

Back when I had Joe as a priority FA for the Rams to resign, I estimated: Joe Barksdale 4 yr(s) / $16,750,000
Today I was looking at him still getting something like Kendricks or Britt got: about 4.5 million/year.
Hard to believe that if he has signed with the Rams before the draft he wouldn’t have gotten something in that neighborhood.
The Rams had the cap money to sign him.
He signed the same basic contract that Reynolds signed to be a backup, except Reynolds contract is for 2 years.
The best Barksdale can hope for is to play well enough to cash in next year. imo

Joe Barksdale agrees to terms on one-year deal with San Diego.

— Jim Thomas (@jthom1) May 19, 2015

I am curious about the details of his contract.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJu4CUbyRNs