Sean McVay speaks highly of Austin Blythe ahead of free agency
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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Cameron DaSilva
Center is a position that sometimes gets overlooked in terms of importance among casual fans, but coaches and personnel evaluators know how valuable it is to have a stout blocker in the middle of the line. And the center is much more than just a blocker, too. He also helps call out the protection assignments and identifies blitzers pre-snap, constantly communicating with the quarterback.
Austin Blythe took over as the starting center in 2019 when Brian Allen got hurt and he never let go of the job, retaining it for every game last season. After signing a one-year deal last offseason, Blythe will once again hit free agency in March.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, McVay made it clear how much the Rams value Blythe and detailed the importance of having a quality center.
“He really has done a nice job,” McVay said. “It’s funny that you mention that because we were talking amongst coaches and with Les and his group over the last couple weeks. You talk about the importance of that center position, having the command and the capacity that you’re looking for because of the amount of responsibility that you put on that individual with where the communication starts and he and the quarterback working in unison.
McVay continued, saying he hopes the front office can figure out a way to free up money so that the Rams can field the best team possible next season – an indication that he would like to see Blythe back at center in 2021.
“He did a great job. He’s definitely somebody that we appreciate and value,” McVay continued. “I think there’s going to be a lot of things that we have to navigate through as we’re trying to figure out the best way to put our team together as we figure out what is that cap? What does it look like specific to some of the things that we’re in the midst of trying to figure out? You can talk about restructuring some of the guys that have some of those bigger deals and where we can find some of that money, so there’s a lot of layers and a lot of numbers that Tony Pastoors is a lot smarter than me on that hopefully we’ll be able to figure out to put together the best team.”
Blythe allowed four sacks and committed just one penalty last season, according to Pro Football Focus, and earned an overall grade of 69.3. He may not be the best center in the league, but he helped stabilize a position last season that was a weak spot in 2019.
