Los Angeles Rams starting center Brian Allen has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2019 season with a knee injury, the team announced on Monday.
Allen suffered the injury during Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh. It’s yet another blow to an offensive line that has been plagued by injuries and poor play all season long. Allen will likely join fellow first-year starter Joseph Noteboom on the injured reserve.
A fourth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Allen and fellow 2018 mid-round pick Noteboom were tasked with taking over for departing veterans John Sullivan and Roger Saffold. Sullivan, the team’s starting center last season, was cut simply due to his poor play and cap number. Allen didn’t prove to be much better. He finishes his season with a PFF grade of 53.9, the 27th-best among eligible centers and slightly better than Sullivan’s 51.8 grade from last year.
The Rams chose to replace Allen with starting guard Austin Blythe on Sunday, sliding him over from left guard to center and replacing him at guard with Austin Corbett. Blythe had primarily played center up until last season when he replaced suspended guard Jamon Brown. Corbett also has experience at center, but it seems likely the Rams will continue to roll with Blythe at the position.
The Rams have a severe lack of depth up front and losing Allen is a devastating blow. With starting right tackle Rob Havenstein also out for Week 11’s matchup with Chicago, the Rams will be without three of their Week 1 starters on the offensive line. The Rams replaced Havenstein with Coleman Shelton after the former was injured against the Steelers. It remains unclear what combination of players the Rams will roll out to protect Jared Goff against Chicago.