New offensive line signing could take Rams to the next level

For possibly the first time in the Les Snead and Sean McVay era, the Los Angeles Rams are investing in the offensive line. Over the last week, general manager Les Snead and co. have signed Jonah Jackson and brought back Kevin Dotson. Prior to last season, the Rams hadn’t drafted an offensive lineman in the top-85 since Greg Robinson back in 2014.

Los Angeles had gotten away with bargain players that they could draft and develop later on such as David Edwards in the fifth round or Coleman Shelton and Austin Blythe as undrafted free agents. They took a chance on Austin Corbett for what would be the 169th pick overall. Simply put, an interior offensive lineman in the top-three rounds was pretty much unheard of. The only time they really invested in a center was when they signed John Sullivan heading into McVay’s first season. They could get away with this because of the offensive scheme and not needing the biggest, most athletic offensive linemen to execute it.

That philosophy seemed to shift last year as the Rams selected Steve Avila with the 36th overall pick. Not only was Avila an guard/center, he was 332-pounds. They then traded for and have since paid Kevin Dotson who is 322-pounds. I wrote last August, “the Rams have seemingly put an emphasis on getting bigger up-front in order to protect Matthew Stafford and get better in the run game.”

The philosophical shift has continued into this offseason as the Rams have opted to cut a smaller center in Brian Allen and opt not to bring back Coleman Shelton, instead moving Avila to center.

As The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue said,

“But what the Rams are now doing schematically with their pass protection and run game matters as much as the overall size of their offensive line; in fact, the two are interconnected.”

In addition to those internal moves, the Rams then went out and signed Jonah Jackson from the Detroit Lions. Jackson is listed at 311-pounds, but brings significant power to the position.

Instead of building from the outside in as Snead has done in the past, that mindset has completely shifted. They now seem to be building from the inside out, at least when it comes to the offensive line.

It’s uncharacteristic for teams to invest the interior of the offensive line as the Rams have over the past two offseasons. Not often do you see teams paying two guards upwards of $15M. That’s now the case with both Jackson and Dotson. However, it’s a move that could pay dividends, especially as Matthew Stafford ages. It will become even more important to keep the pocket clean.

A recent example of this same type of team-build was the New Orleans Saints late in Drew Brees’ career. The Saints invested in players like Andrus Peat, Max Unger, and Larry Warford. When Max Unger retired following the 2018 season, they drafted Erik McCoy in the second round. The following year, Cesar Ruiz was drafted in the first round.

Investing at all five spots of the offensive line, especially on the interior, instead of just at the tackle positions became a priority for the Saints. It was a big reason that from 2018 to 2020, the Saints won 12 or more games in all three seasons. In 2020, the Saints ranked fifth in pass-block win-rate according to ESPN and FTN ranked them fourth in adjusted line yards. PFF ranked them eighth, fifth, and eighth during that three-year stretch.

Now, the Rams look to be using that same team-build model.

Jackson may not have been the flashiest guard available in free agency. Randy Mueller of The Athletic ranked Jackson as the seventh best guard entering free agency. Sheil Kapadia did rank Jackson as the second best guard behind Robert Hunt. However, PFF was in line with Mueller, ranking Jackson as guard number eight.

Heading into free agency, offensive line analyst and expert Brandon Thorn of the Trench Warfare Substack ranked Jackson as the best guard available and said,

“Jackson dealt with a slew of injuries last season to his wrist, ankle and knee that kept him out of five games and caused his play to fluctuate more than normal. When Jackson was healthy over the last three seasons, no other available guard matched his explosiveness, power and movement skills. With 57 career starts over his first four seasons, a Pro Bowl under his belt and impact ability as a run and pass protector, he should be the most coveted guard this free agency period.”

With that said, the film would show that Jackson is exactly what the Rams need at the guard position. He helps them move them forward as they continue to rebuild the offensive line to fit the new mold. Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports and The Athletic broke down how this signing helps add to the new offensive identity that the Rams embraced last season. Said Tice,

“The Rams are embracing their identity shift of the past year and fully leaning into the newer, beefier them…Signing Jonah Jackson, a mauling guard that brings highlight-worthy pops with his double-teams, and moving Steve Avila to center creates over a thousand pounds of human in the middle of their offense. This wall of humanity, oh the humanity, will provide the Rams size and talent to handle the game-wrecking defensive tackles and lines that NFL offensive lines have to face on a weekly basis…There is also a meta element to having this mass in the middle, as defenses use lighter bodies and also shift their players more and more after the snap. So simply plowing forward with all-answer runs is an effective way to blast through moving-picture looks.”

Throughout the Sean McVay era, the offense has been at its best when the offensive line is also performing well. With the window to win with Stafford and Kupp narrowing, maximizing the window by investing on the offensive line makes sense. From 2022 to 2023, the Rams offensive line took a giant step forward as it played most of the season healthy. PFF graded Los Angeles as the 14th best group in 2023 and the offense benefitted as they finished the year ninth in EPA per play.

Adding a player of Jackson’s caliber could take the Rams offensive line back into the top-10. That bodes well for the overall success of this team. Both Dotson and Jackson’s contracts are set up as two-year deal with an out heading into 2026. With project 2025 fully in motion, it will be crucial to maximize success over the next two years. Ensuring a top-10 offensive line by investing in players like Jackson will hope to do just that.