Quote
LMU93
Yeah I never thought Barnes was awful. Just one of those you'd look at as a great backup but marginal starter. But when you ranked the Rams 22 starters from a year ago he was one of their bottom 3-4 so they had to upgrade there, especially with a new offense.

Boudreau always liked more smallish centers who were mobile. Barnes fit that and when Barnes played well, it was not him taking on defenders on the LOS, it was him getting out to the 2nd level. If you look at highlights of Gurley's long runs in 2015, as often as not Barnes is visible in them throwing a key block past the LOS. (That doesn't mean those plays worked because of Barnes, he just fit how Boudreau liked to use centers that way.)

Barnes was not the only Rams player who regressed in 2016. 2016 was its own unique thing...a lot went wrong that year, including lots of players who just regressed.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2017 04:50AM by zn.