“Never Was in the Plan!” McVay of the Los Angeles Rams explains Steve Avila Proceed to the Center

When they signed left lineman Jonah Jackson, the Los Angeles Rams surprised everyone in the NFL. How did that move come together, along with the matching adjustment in position?

The Los Angeles Rams’ offensive line exceeded all expectations with the rise of rookie left guard Steve Avila and the breakout of right guard Kevin Dotson.

Despite injuries at tackle throughout the regular season and the musical chairs of training camp, Los Angeles was able to rely on its trenches to keep quarterback Matthew Stafford upright and create space for running back Kyren Williams to get yards.

However, Dotson and center Coleman Shelton appeared bound for the free market at the end of the season. Most believed that returning the same equipment, if not upgrading to a less expensive model, would be the best-case scenario because the latter was likely to come with a big price tag.

Rather, the Rams made it a point to bolster their offensive line even more by adding prominent left guard Jonah Jackson and re-signing Dotson to a $48 million, three-year contract.

With the signing of a three-year, $51 million contract, Jackson took Avila’s place at left guard. Even while Los Angeles wasn’t considering the move going into the offseason, it soon became apparent that Avila would slip further inside with his starting role gone (despite a stellar rookie season) and a void at center.

Sean McVay, the head coach, went into further detail about how the left guard logjam developed.

“Hey, this stud rookie left guard you had, he was an excellent center at TCU. Jonah played left guard. Kevin is at right guard.” McVay said to Stu Jackson. “And until you realize, wow, we might be able to get Jonah Jackson, it really wasn’t part of the plan when you want to try to be able to improve and push the envelope with the interior parts of the offensive line.”

“And if we did that, even went back and began to watch TCU, and you know what, he did a great job at center, there’s a reason this all worked out at the last minute,” an enormous amount of work.

Shelton had a league-average season as a starter the previous year, ranking 16th out of 32 qualified centers in Pro Football Focus’ offensive rating. Even if Avila had a season comparable to that of an average starter, he might feel more at ease in his former role. Even though rookie linemen typically struggle with lack of continuity, his experience plus the return of at least two other starters (right tackle Rob Havenstein and quarterback Trenton) should be advantageous.