No OTAs for LA Rams likely means no true O-line competition

The LA Rams roster has made their wishes known that they do not intend to participate as a group with any voluntary Organized Team Activities (a.k.a. OTAs) in the 2021 NFL season. Of course, the majority of NFL team rosters have made this election, as 21 of the 32 NFL teams have agreed not to participate in OTAs for the 2021 NFL Season.

In the NFC West, only the Arizona Cardinals have not done so. The LA Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and San Francisco 49ers have all announced their intentions to opt-out of OTAs via their NFLPA announcement on social media.

Of course, there is an ever-increasing number of reports that cite alternate theories. In one recent article by Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he cites two different explanations.  He asserts that one reason is to strengthen the NFLPA position in future bargaining sessions. And the other is extracted from Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians, who reportedly offered an opinion that veterans don’t want standard OTAs for fear younger and cheaper players would threaten their jobs.

Curious take, that one. He is essentially correct.

Second verse, same as the first

You see, the LA Rams have a swath of new positional coaches. One of the key new faces on the staff is that of offensive line coach Kevin Carberry. While he is no doubt working very closely with other coaches to conceive, vet, and install the offensive playbook for the 2021 NFL season, he has yet to work with any of the LA Rams players. Just as was the case with veteran offensive line coach Aaron Kromer in 2020, that severely handicaps any assessment of role competition.

Sure, evaluations will remain part of the off-season activities. But the shortened time periods for direct contact between coaches and players force shortcuts to past practices. To get around that, coaches prescribed starting roles, and that was essentially how the LA Rams trained for the 2020 season.  It was only when presumed starting safety Taylor Rapp could not answer the bell that opened the door for rookie Jordan Fuller to claim a starting safety role in training camp.

That will have similar consequences in 2021 as well. There simply will not be enough time to run different permutations of the starting offensive line. Barring any pre-season injury, the LA Rams coaching staff will likely prescribe starting offensive line for 2021 as well.

That is not to say that spots on the 53-man will not be up for grabs. They will. But don’t expect wholesale changes to the LA Rams offensive line in 2021.