Returning left guard Austin Corbett stabilizes LA Rams offensive line

Split personality

Corbett began the season as a Cleveland Brown. While there, He saw action as a Brown in three 2019 games, all as a special teams contributor.  In 2018, he started one game for the Browns and saw action on just 14 offensive plays. Upon joining the LA Rams, all that changed rapidly.  He played in eight games and started seven on the offensive line.

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Offensive linemen are incredibly vulnerable to the play of their teammates. Each player’s responsibility on the field picks up where his teammate leaves off. And interior linemen have the more difficult task of reading defenses pre-snap and defining their blocking assignments based upon what they see.

The linemen train together and develop ways of communicating and handing off defenders over the course of practices, scrimmages, and pre-season games. If two offensive linemen, playing side-by-side, see things differently, huge holes appear where unblocked defenders rush the quarterback unchallenged. That resolves as they play together, watch the film together, and fix missed assignments on the next day’s practice field.

Corbett played some center, and when Austin Blythe returned to health, he moved to the left guard where he finished out the season. From spot special teamer to starting offensive lineman in a new city, with a new team, surrounded by new teammates, coached by new staff, and executing plays from a new playbook.