LA Rams News: OC Austin Blythe rumors heating up

The LA Rams have only one free agent starter from 2020 still awaiting a new team to play for. He is offensive center Austin Blythe, the last of LA Rams players to not yet be signed. Of course, technically the Rams signed QB Blake Bortles to close out the season. Bortles eventually will sign on on a practice squad somewhere, if anywhere. But Blythe? He’s an NFL starting center. Right now, the Rams need one of those. And Blythe is still unsigned.

And yet, no action or word about signing Blythe up.

Well, not yet anyway. But if the latest Rams rumors are true about him, he won’t be unsigned for much longer. At least that is the story per a Minnesota Vikings website. And with the lack of any noise over his signing on so far with any team, even the sound of a pin dropping is audible.

Right now, it’s the Minnesota Vikings who are making noise, and per those whispers, it appears that Blythe is nearing a deal to play there.

While the LA Rams’ own website touts logical and solid reasons for the Rams and Blythe to advance their relationship into 2021 and beyond, the team has not yet done so. While that may be surprising, the team has been working under tremendous fiscal pressure so far.

Money is at the center of it all

It may mean that the team has not yet come to the right salary package to re-sign Blythe.  And from the sound of the latest rumors, the Viking may be very close to doing so.

Of course, the LA Rams could turn to free agency for a center. As a matter of fact, we’ve explored the free agency avenue twice for the position. If the Rams turn to offensive center in the 2021 NFL Draft, the team could land Senior Bowl standout Creed Humphries, as per the latest Mock Draft.

The LA Rams are expected to max out their awarded compensatory draft picks at four for the 2022 NFL Draft.  But if Blythe signs elsewhere to a significant contract, the Rams could benefit by a compensatory draft pick awarded in an earlier round. The Rams sit at a good spot at the 57th pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, as several good rookie prospects may be on the board there, including Oklahoma’s Creed Humphries, and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Quinn Meinerz.

The Rams may be content with starting offensive center Brian Allen as well. Allen started as the team’s center in 2019 and struggled a bit at the position. He fell to a devastating injury that year and was rehabilitating the knee well into the 2020 NFL season. The Rams released rookie center Cohl Cabral from the practice squad in 2020, indicating that Allen may be deemed ‘good to go’ by the Rams physicians and coaching staff.

However it works out, it appears less and less likely that the Rams will be fielding the same five offensive linemen to start the 2021 NFL season as last year. With that in mind, it increases the chances of the Rams drafting a center at 57 significantly.