It's not unusual for a drafted Center to begin by playing Guard as part of a development plan.
The reason is that there is so much to learning the line calls.
Some teams have the QB make the line calls.
But, the Rams have been letting Allen and Shelton do it.
So, Avila will be expected to do that.
I suspect that last year the Rams had Avila at Guard with Center in mind eventually. But Shelton played well enough that they would have been happy with Shelton coming back and Avila staying at Guard.
But, with Shelton up in the air, they picked up Jackson to take Avila's spot and of course move Avila to Center. All the reports I read said that when he played both positions in college he was super at both, but because Center is the more difficult to play, that because he excelled there it was expected that sooner than later he'd be some team's starting Center.
So, it was just a confluence of events. And, I have little doubt that from a play standpoint he'll be a better Center than Guard and a definite upgrade over Shelton (who wasn't chopped liver). But, how well will he make line adjustments on the fly? Probably not as good as Shelton to start, but by year's end probably close to as good if not as good. I just don't now how much of the line-calling he did in college.
