Countdown to Camp: Rams enter 2024 training camp with one of NFL’s heaviest projected starting offensive lines

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/countdown-to-camp-rams-enter-2024-training-camp-with-one-of-nfl-s-heaviest-projected-starting-offensive-lines

Countdown to Camp is a series breaking down the Rams roster by position group heading into the team’s first open training camp practice. The first installment examines the offensive line.

Transitioning to a bigger, more physical offensive line in 2023, the Rams gained even more size this offseason. And, based on their projected starters, they enter training camp with the NFL’s third-heaviest unit in 2024, according to offensive line/defensive line analyst Brandon Thorn, who published the Trench Warfare Newsletter.

The Rams brought back restricted free agent Alaric Jackson (signed 1-year tender), last season’s starting left tackle, and also re-signed breakout right guard Kevin Dotson to a 3-year deal. They also signed former Lions guard Jonah Jackson to a 3-year deal in free agency, and his arrival led to Steve Avila sliding over from left guard to center. Rob Havenstein, a team captain and last season’s starting right tackle, returns as well.

Here’s how that projected starting five measures across the line:

A. Jackson: 6-foot-7, 345 pounds
J. Jackson: 6-4, 315
Avila: 6-3, 338
Dotson: 6-4, 330
Havenstein: 6-8, 323

With four of those five starting along the offensive line last year, Los Angeles averaged the seventh-most total yards of offense (359.3). More importantly, it rebounded from 27th in rushing yards per game in 2022 to 11th in 2023, their average increasing by 22.6 yards. The improvement up front translated not only in the run game, but also the pass game – a bigger, more physical unit tied for the 6th-fewest sacks allowed last season after the 2022 edition – shuffling through 12 different combinations through the first 13 games due to injury – allowed the third-most.

Now, that unit puts Avila at center and adds Jonah Jackson.

“We’ve had some cross tape through the season so I was able to see the work that they do,” Jackson said after signing with the Rams on March 14. “That’s a powerful bunch. I came out the same year as Dotson so I had some familiarity with him through college and watching him, Steve, Alaric and Rob, that’s a good group. Kind of similar to what we had in Detroit. There’s some specialness there so I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Jackson is the most intriguing piece to this heavier and slightly-reconfigured offensive line, and he arrived in Los Angeles with some schematic carryover from what Detroit did, namely in the run game.

“The gap scheme and the duo just in general is probably our bread and butter in Detroit and glad it’s the bread and butter over here,” Jackson also said on March 14. “So it’s not going to be too hard of a transition and things like that are right up my alley.”

An offensive line with that size and physicality not only should aid the run game and the pass game, but also the offense as a whole situationally – short-yardage and being able to control the clock late in games with a lead, as two examples.

It will be fun to see this group in action when the pads come on in training camp.

Warren Sharp@SharpFootball
highest % of passes thrown under pressure:

49% – Justin Fields
48%
47%
46%
45% – Will Levis
44%
43% – Zach Wilson
42% – Bailey Zappe, Russell Wilson
41% – Geno Smith, Bryce Young
40% – Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy
39% – Ryan Tannehill, Sam Howell
38% – Joshua Dobbs, Kenny Pickett
37%
36% – Lamar Jackson, Jake Browning, Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Jared Goff
35% – C.J. Stroud, Gardner Minshew
34% – Baker Mayfield, Matthew Stafford
33% – Aidan O’Connell, Kirk Cousins
32% – Dak Prescott, Desmond Ridder, Joe Flacco
31% – Mac Jones, Kyler Murray, Derek Carr, Joe Burrow
30% – Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence
29%
28%
27%
26%
25% – Tua Tagovailoa

(2023 reg season, min 200 att)

from Execs, coaches, scouts rank NFL’s top 10 QBs for 2024: https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/40284109/top-10-nfl-quarterbacks-execs-scouts-2024-espn-jeremy-fowler-position-rankings

…

1, 2, 3, 4 were Mahomes, Burrow, Allen, Jackson.

5. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Highest ranking: 3 | Lowest ranking: 10
Age: 36 | Last year’s ranking: 10

Some evaluators see Stafford as a bit of a kingmaker.

“He elevates the play of those around him,” a high-ranking official with an NFL team said. “Puka Nacua is a good player — but he’s not the same guy without Stafford. He helps those guys reach their potential.”

Stafford’s elite status is accentuated by the most basic terms: Wins and losses.

2021: Stafford comes to Los Angeles, Rams go 12-5 and win the Super Bowl.

2022: Stafford misses nine games due to injury, Rams miss the playoffs.

2023: Stafford misses only two games, Rams are back in the playoffs despite what was supposed to be a mini-rebuild.

The longer Stafford plays alongside Sean McVay, the more his legacy mushrooms.

“The arm strength hasn’t left him — he can still make every throw to every part of the field,” an NFC executive said. “He attacks the intermediate windows and the middle of the field with accuracy. Cooper Kupp missed [five games] and he kept them afloat.”

Durability has been the knock on Stafford, but when he’s healthy and kept upright, he can deliver the football among the best. From Weeks 11-18, as Stafford returned from a right thumb injury, he ranked tied for third in passing touchdowns (16) and eighth in QBR (73) as the Rams won seven of their last eight.

Stafford is now the second-oldest starting quarterback behind Aaron Rodgers, but he wants to keep playing — hopefully on a reworked contract with Los Angeles to strengthen his guarantees.

“At this stage, he needs a quality offensive line,” a head scout of an NFL team said. “They weren’t great up front last year and he still produced. They should be better. Stafford can use his legs on occasion but should be playing comfortably in the pocket at this stage.”

from https://ramblinfan.com/posts/how-does-la-rams-gm-les-snead-find-so-many-gems-on-other-nfl-teams-rosters-01j2rt9et911

Darious Williams off waivers

Darious Williams signed with the Baltimore Ravens after the 2018 NFL Draft, but was offered only a special teams role. When the Raven released him mid-season to make room to return a player from IR, the Rams pounced and added him to their 53-man roster.

Williams would play just four defensive snaps in 2018. But in 2019, the Rams secondary would undergo some upheaval. Former All Pro CB Aqib Talib would fall to a devastating injury after just five games. And his teammate, CB Marcus Peters, was ineffective as he allowed three touchdowns over six games. The Rams traded both cornerbacks away, allowing the team to trade for discontented All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey. And as the secondary was recast, the team tried Darious Williams in a starting role to close out the season.

Williams proved to be the ideal bookend to match Jalen Ramsey. As offenses threw away from Ramsey, Williams found himself getting plenty of work. In 2020, Williams picked off four passes and held opposing receiving to no better than a 54.2 percent completion rate.

And now, he’s back to do it all over again

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.

from quora: https://ripgop.quora.com/?__ni__=0&__tiids__=164174644&__filter__=all&__nsrc__=notif_page&__sncid__=54370001840&__snid3__=72966584673#anchor

…
Here’s my own list of highlights from Project 2025. It’s hard to pick just a few.

Project 2025 plans to:

• Cut funding for Medicare and Medicaid
• Legislate that ‘life begins at conception’ and ban all emergency contraception.
• Eliminate the Department of Education
• Put Christianity at the center of government and society; remake federal laws based on a biblical worldview as interpreted by Christian nationalists
• Reinstate Schedule F, a Trump executive order which removed protections for civil service employees against firing for partisan reasons; then replace tens of 1000s of civil service employees with MAGA loyalists.
• Remove legal restraints from large corporations; dismantle safety and environmental regulations
• Cause public schools to fail through changes in funding and laws such as forcing students at public schools to take a military entrance exam. Private school students don’t have to take the test.
• Repeal a lot of healthcare legislation, decommision the CDC and the National Institute of Health.
• Give the president dictator-like powers. Place the federal government’s entire executive branch under direct presidential control, eliminating the independence of the DOJ, the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and other agencies. Eliminate protections that prevent abuse of power by the president.
• Reverse policies that address climate change; prohibit regulations on greenhouse gases; eliminate regulations on the fossil-fuel industry; abolish the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Remove LGBTQ+ protections
• Eliminate any programs or projects in federal agencies that are deemed pro-abortion, including at the VA.
• Reverse protections against discrimination in housing.
• Wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; repeal the Corporate Transparency Act.
• Arrest, detain, and remove immigration violators anywhere in the United States. Deputize the National Guard in red states as immigration enforcement officers under Trump’s command; these forces would then be deployed in blue states. Arrestees would be taken to “large-scale staging grounds near the border, most likely in Texas” to be held in internment camps before deportation. Trump has also spoken of rounding up homeless people in blue cities and detaining them in camps.
• Sources:

A guide to Project 2025, the extreme right-wing agenda for the next Republican administration (Media Matters)

The Facts About Project 2025: The Pro-Trump Proposal To ‘Reshape America’ (Snopes)

Project 2025 – Wikipedia

‘Moms for Liberty on steroids’: Project 2025’s brutal plan to blow up public schools (MSNBC)

Also, thank you to Dr. Jo. I started with her post and borrowed a few phrases.

Dr Jo’s answer to Why did Trump tweet that he knows nothing about Project 2025?

You can download the whole file from the Heritage Foundation’s website. I wouldn’t be surprised if they took it down soon.

InvaderRam wrote:

i don’t think i’m going on a limb when i say avila goes into this season with the most potential of any center the rams have had in the past 30 years.

Since Doug Smith retired after 1991. And Avila is both more athletic than Smith and weighs in at 73 pounds more. 😲

from https://www.lafbnetwork.com/matthew-stafford-named-best-over-30-qb/

the 33rd Team’s and former general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, Jeff Diamond isn’t worried about Stafford this year. He named him to his recent ranking of the best NFL players over 30.

Diamond ranked Stafford as the 10th best over 30 player in the league overall and the best quarterback hands-down. Only two quarterbacks were listed, Stafford and Dak Prescott, who came in just behind Stafford at 11th. Prescott turned 30 just under one year ago.

This means he beat out the 40 year old former back to back MVP, Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins. At 36, Stafford is the oldest of all members of this ranking. The next closest in age is San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle, Trent Williams at 35. The list of 20 was made up of seven 30 year olds, two 31 year olds, three 32 year olds, two 33 year olds, and four 34 year olds.

Four starting quarterbacks have won a Super Bowl after the age of 36; Tom Brady (x4), Peyton Manning, Johnny Unitas, and John Elway (x2)

Here is Diamond’s case;

The Super Bowl victory led by Matthew Stafford for the Rams in 2021 is what puts him ahead of Prescott.

Stafford was the first overall pick by the Detroit Lions in 2009. He’s their career passing leader in numerous categories including career passing yards (45,109) and TD passes (282). He led the Lions to the playoffs three times in his 12 seasons in Detroit (without a postseason victory). Stafford broke through with his Super Bowl run in the first year after being traded to the Rams.

After an injury-filled season in 2022, Stafford led the Rams to a wild card berth last season as he threw for 3,965 yards and 24 TDs in his second Pro Bowl season.