Here’s Oldnotdead…
I was talking to a former OL coach at both the high school and Div 1 college level. In his opinion the massive OL injuries were because the players have very poor technique. This would account for Carberry being fired. He said that poor technique is the most frequent cause of injuries. I would tend to agree.
They have enough talent in house with the core of their OL personnel to put together a good OL if they are coached properly and McVay designs his plays to play to their strengths, not their weaknesses.
As I pointed out in previous posts Zach Thomas has the speed and athleticism to be a pulling OG. His build is prototypical OG in the NFL at 6'5", 300 lbs, 34" arms, and an excellent 4.96 40yd time.
Here's one evaluation:
Gets everything out of his adequate size and frame with good length. Added bulk to his frame and flashes functional strength to get a good push in the run game.
Dips shoulder and moves his feet to get outside leverage when needed. Strong and low coming out of his stance, effective in short-yardage situations.
Good natural athleticism, knee bend and fluid lateral movement to mirror college defensive ends.
Plays with appropriate wide base and intelligence, instincts and agility to seal the edge. Aggressive extending with power to punch and looks comfortable in space.
Anchors against larger defenders in the middle; resets hands to maintain distance. Athletic enough to help on nose tackle then pick up twist or late blitzer. Mirrors quick interior rushers. Looks to help the center when uncovered.
The only real knock on him was his needing to improve on his functional strength, something that is common to all college OL coming to the NFL. He's exactly what you want at RG to pull on power blocked run plays.
Shelton is a very good center when given a chance to simply play that position. He's got very good field vision and movement skills. IMO he's the follow on center to Allen which is why he was extended.
If Noteboom is healthy enough to start at LT then he will. In that case, Jackson would make a very good LG. He played well at RG and would be a huge upgrade to Edwards. I see Jackson taking over for Havenstein next year. The Rams are locked into Havenstein for cap reasons for one more year.
Brewer is also the forgotten man on the OL. He looks better at OG than OT but can provide better depth than Skura who sucked. They need to re-sign Nsekhe as their swing OT. Bruss can be their swing OG for a year as he gets coached up. But I can see him in the mix in TC at one of the OG spots.
What I'm saying is that people don't need to panic. We need to see how well the guys they have perform under a new OL coach.
