Rams Fans United - Los Angeles Rams Fan Discussion Forum

Dick84 wrote:Who knows.. maybe Rams got out at right time?

But I do think that kind of thing can happen when a player is thinking too much.

That play makes me think of last years SB.

aeneas1 wrote:the 1999 rams put a 7th round jag named nutten in at left guard who had just 2 nfl starts under his belt headed into the 1999 season, seemed to work out ok!

It’s a rarity but it can happen. I tend to error on the side of depth and getting free agent signings when available.

Neil039 wrote:It’s a rarity but it can happen. I tend to error on the side of depth and getting free agent signings when available.

i don't think it's much of a rarity, next guy up happens all of the time when it comes to olines, 5th round vaitai (who?) had 1 year of nfl experience and 6 starts under his belt when all-world jason peters went down in 2017, vaitai jumped in at left tackle for the final 9 games and helped the eagles bring home the lombardi... since then he's started 1 game and is currently the eagles backup rt... anyway i get why some might be concerned about the oline, but i think it will be fine, especially given how mcvay's scheme puts an oline in a position to be successful.

Neil039 wrote:It’s a rarity but it can happen. I tend to error on the side of depth and getting free agent signings when available.

It's actually not a rarity. Good OLs around the league constantly include young veteran castoffs who just needed some more experience and some more coaching. It's one of the most common features of line-building in the NFL. Recent Rams who fill that bill are Nutten, Gruttadauria, and McCollum, followed by guys like Barksdale in 2013 and then Blythe.

The reason the GSOT OL had several guys like that is because Vermeil's method of team-building meant that you maximized every single way of acquiring players, all at the same time: the draft, free agency, UDFAs, picking up cast-offs. So he ended up with an OL composed of players that came to then from all of those different avenues.

And you don't need expensive FAs or high draft picks to build good OLs (though if chosen well those don't hurt either, obviously). What you NEED is a top notch OL coach. Which of course the Rams have.