The Los Angeles Rams haven’t put on the pads yet and won’t be allowed to until Aug. 17, so anything that happens in walk-throughs and practices has to be taken with a grain of salt right now. However, Tuesday night’s season premiere of “Hard Knocks” gave fans and media members their first glimpse at the Rams’ starting offense.
It’s a very fluid situation right now, but it was especially notable how the Rams deployed their offensive line. In every rep that was shown on TV, Sean McVay had the same five offensive linemen on the field.
It was as follows:
- LT Andrew Whitworth
- LG Austin Corbett
- C Austin Blythe
- RG David Edwards
- RT Rob Havenstein
Up to this point, we only knew two spots were locked up: Whitworth at left tackle and Blythe at center. We didn’t know Corbett would be running with the first-team offense, nor that Edwards and Havenstein would be, too.
Corbett, Edwards and Havenstein all figured to be facing competition for their starting jobs from the likes of Joseph Noteboom, Jamil Demby, Tremayne Anchrum and Bobby Evans, among others. Brian Allen was thought to be a competitor for the starting center spot, but Blythe appears to have that locked up.
The Rams shared a clip from workouts on Tuesday of both Allen and Noteboom pushing blocking sleds and neither had any sort of brace on their legs; they’re both recovering from leg injuries suffered last season.
From the Rams’ Instagram story: Noteboom and Allen pushing sleds with no braces on their knees pic.twitter.com/joM8YalHik
— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) August 12, 2020
Assuming Allen and Noteboom are both healthy right now, it would appear the Rams prefer Corbett and Blythe over them on the first-team offense. That’s understandable after seeing the way they played in 2019.
The “battle” at right tackle also might not be a battle at all. Evans played well in place of Havenstein at the end of last season, but with Havenstein making more than $8 million per year, it’s understandable that the Rams would put him with the starters in walk-throughs.
Edwards seems to have the least competition at right guard, as long as Blythe remains the starting center. Noteboom only played left guard last season and neither Demby nor Anchrum are as talented as Edwards.
Again, there’s still a long way to go before the offensive line is truly settled, but the season premiere of “Hard Knocks” gave an indication of which way the coaching staff will lean this year along the offensive line.