Rams may have the biggest 2024 rookie steal hiding in plain sight

Broadly speaking, the story of the Rams' 2024 preseason has been offensive line issues. Both starting tackles – Alaric Jackson and Rob Havenstein – have missed significant time with various injuries, and starting guard Jonah Jackson is just now returning from his own injury. It's why, in theory, the Rams may be forced to carry 10 offensive lineman on the 53-man roster to start the year.

And while that doesn't look all that ideal on paper, it may be a blessing in disguise. The intrigue! If the Rams have to carry an extra lineman or two, it would, in theory – that's the theme of this blog – give undrafted free agent rookie Justin Dedich a chance to see some actual game action. That could be good news for the Rams, because Dedich has quietly been one of the best offensive lineman across the entire league this preseason. Behold:

Justin Dedich looks like a real steal for the Rams so far

It's hard to seriously judge 47 snaps against a bunch of guys who probably won't be on the roster come Week 1, but I'm going to! Especially with how ... traveled ... Matt Stafford is at this point in his career, potentially getting a pass-blocking stud as an undrafted rookie would be the coup of the year. He started 20 games – and appeared in 48 – over six (!!) seasons at USC, so it's not like he doesn't have high level game experience.

This still feels like a peak "very end of training camp" story, but not allowing a single pressure the entire month feels ... notable? Kinda significant? If the Rams weren't already at pull-in-case-of-emergency levels of injury on the line, this would probably get passed over as PFF doing PFF things, but this is the wonderful point in the NFL calendar where it's totally okay – acceptable, even – to have wildly unrealistic expectations. Justin Dedich's All-Pro season begins TODAY.