How do coaches evaluate offensive linemen during the offseason program?

How do coaches evaluate offensive linemen during the offseason program?


By Myles Simmons

No contact, no pads.

Those are the provisions that all NFL teams must follow during the offseason program, and the Rams certainly are in that camp.

But there are certain positions that almost need to have pads in order to be properly evaluated — including the offensive line. The five up front routinely have to use every tool at their disposal in order for plays to be successful. And without pads, that can’t entirely happen — which is why defensively linemen often run past quarterbacks in the backfield during OTAs and minicamp.

So what’s the best thing to look for in the offensive line during the spring?

“The biggest thing that you’re trying to do is, we spend a lot of time as an offensive line in individual drills. So in those periods we will use a shield or a bag or a sled to really reenact or really create that physicality that you need and how you’re really going to hit these blocks,” run game coordinator/offensive line coach Aaron Kromer said at minicamp. “And then when you get to team [drills] you know, you lighten up because of the no pads. So I think you really try to get it during those periods, and then we are continuing some run periods where the guys on defense are using shields so we can use a little more power.”

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