Nothing has been easy up front for the Los Angeles Rams. The offensive line has been a revolving door, with 10 different players starting at least one game this season. That’s mostly been due to injuries suffered along the O-line, but performance has also led to some changes, too.
The shuffling will continue in Week 10 now that Jonah Jackson and possibly Steve Avila will be back on the field, and with Rob Havenstein out due to an ankle injury. It’s possible the Rams will have three different starters than they had last week, but it’s something the team is working through right now.
The first decision that must be made is where to play Jackson. Throughout training camp, the Rams were planning to play him at left guard. Then just before the start of the season, they moved him to center and kept Avila at left guard. The Rams only got to see that combination for a total of 37 snaps before Avila went down, so Sean McVay is trying to figure out where each player fits best.
McVay said Jackson will get reps at left guard and center as the Rams attempt to find his best spot up front.
“We’ll give him an opportunity to be able to get some work at both,” McVay said. “Steve will be able to get some work as well. It’s good to be able to have those guys back out on the practice field. We have had a lot of moving parts on the offensive line so it’s certainly something we’re used to.”
It’s not just about what position Jackson is best at, either. Beaux Limmer has been outstanding at center all year, but he can also play left guard. So if Jackson returns but Avila doesn’t, it might be best to keep Limmer at center and start Jackson at left guard.
If both Jackson and Avila are good to go, it’ll come down to deciding where each player is most comfortable – something that seemingly stymied the coaching staff before the season.
There’s little question that Jackson and Avila give the Rams the best chance to win, but their health and limited reps could impact the final decision along the O-line.
“I think you have to be able to try to trust your gut, make an evaluation on ultimately what we think is going to be best,” McVay said. “Where are these guys at physically? Obviously, these are special players and guys that have played a lot of really good football in this league. It’s part of the evaluation. That’s what’s challenging when you have limited repetitions during the course of the week leading into the game. We’ll evaluate it and then it’s a combination of both performance-based and then how they are feeling medically.”
Then there’s the situation at right tackle. Havenstein won’t play this week but the Rams have two candidates to replace him: Warren McClendon Jr. and Joe Noteboom. Noteboom was inactive last week so it was McClendon who filled in for Havenstein after he went down, but with both players active in Week 10, the Rams have another decision to make.
“There is a good possibility for either or. We’ll work through those things,” McVay said Monday. “I thought Joe made some good progress, but I thought Warren did a nice job stepping in and he played some quality snaps for us yesterday. These are positive things that we can figure out.”
The Rams would rather not need to shuffle the offensive line on a seemingly weekly basis, but the returns of Jackson and Avila are positives for this team, and the hope is that Havenstein won’t be out long.