Should St. Louis Rams Have Concerns About Offensive Line Depth

The St. Louis Rams offensive line played sub-par throughout most of the preseason which is quite a concern considering the Rams success depends on winning the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Throughout the preseason the offensive line struggled to open up running lanes and protect the passer specifically with the second and third team. With that said, should the Rams have conner about their depth on the offensive line.

If all goes as planned, and the Rams offensive line is able to remain intact in 2014, the Long-Robinson-Wells-Saffold-Barksdale tandem should be very good.  It’s obvious, though, that depth is going to be an issue. However, when it comes to the St. Louis Rams, nothing ever goes as planned, if that were the case they wouldn’t be relying on a 34-year old quarterback named Shaun Hill.

Wells has played only 19 games in the last two seasons, Jake Long has a history of injury issues, and is currently looking to return from a torn ACL/MCL, and Saffold hasn’t played a full 16-game season in three years.

We have yet to see just how durable Greg Robinson is, which leaves Barksdale as the only iron-man on the offensive line. That has to be a tad bit concerning.

As for the players behind the starting five, thats where things start to get scary as it’s hard to project the depth beyond Joseph and Barnes. According to Nick Wagoner, the St. Louis Rams ESPN Insider, he expects the Rams to keep Davin Josepth, Travis Bond, Tim Barnes, and Mike Person. Of those four, two graded negatively on pro football focus in the preseason, and Bond looks to be the most impressive.

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That’s not ideal depth for an injury prone offensive line.

Don’t get me wrong these players have some upside. Barnes showed some promise at center filling in for Wells last season, Joseph is a former Pro-Bowler, Bond shows some upside, and Person has been with the team four years.

However, the Rams have struggled with offensive line depth in the past and have seemed to get very unlucky when it comes to injuries up front on offense. You can only hope they can avoid that bug this season but looking at the history, that doesn’t look to be the case and we could be in for a long season.