For the second straight year, the Los Angeles Rams used their first pick in the NFL draft on an offensive lineman. With the Rams kicking off OTAs this week, Matthew Stafford shared his support for the franchise prioritizing the offensive line early in drafts in recent years.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s great. I think the biggest thing for me is just I want, like everybody here wants, is just all of these guys to succeed. I want all of them to succeed as best they possibly can,” Stafford said. “I think coaches, myself, veterans on the team, we have a big part in that and then those guys got to want to do it and do all that. But just want to try and help those guys succeed because the more those guys that are successful in their own right, the better we’re going to be as a team.”
The Rams didn’t make their first selection in the 2022 NFL draft until pick No. 104 and they took Logan Bruss out of Wisconsin. Sadly, Bruss suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, preventing him from playing in his rookie campaign.
Following the selection of Bruss, the Rams elected to take Steve Avila with the 36th overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft out of TCU. Bruss and Avila both figure to compete for starting jobs along the offensive line ahead of the upcoming season.
Amid a plethora of injuries and other concerns, the Rams allowed 59 sacks in 2022 (third-most in the NFL and the most in the Sean McVay era). Even with Stafford limited to nine games a season ago, he was sacked 29 times.
With Stafford in his age-35 season, the veteran signal-caller is perfectly fine with the Rams bolstering their offensive line to keep him upright. At the same time, he understands that the success of the offensive line will determine how well the offense performs in 2023.
