It may not have been a very eventful or exciting offseason for the Los Angeles Rams, but Les Snead deserves a lot of credit for acquiring Kevin Dotson from the Pittsburgh Steelers just before the season began. The cost wasn’t very high, either; the Rams moved down from the fourth round to the fifth in 2024 and from the fifth round to the sixth in 2025.
Dotson opened the year as a backup at right guard but after Alaric Jackson went down with an injury in Week 3 and forced Joe Noteboom to move to left tackle, Dotson stepped in as a starter in Week 4 and hasn’t looked back since.
Dotson is the highest-graded guard in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, and has allowed just seven pressures on 230 pass-blocking snaps. His run-blocking grade of 87.5 leads the team and is fourth-best among all offensive linemen in the NFL.
As a result, Pro Football Focus selected the Rams guard to its midseason All-Pro team.
Quietly putting together his best season in the NFL, the 2020 fourth-round draft pick’s 87.5 PFF run-blocking grade trails only Tyler Smith among guards. His pass blocking hasn’t reached that level, but he still ranks in the top 20 at the position in that regard.
Dotson never had a pass-blocking grade lower than 77.6 with the Steelers in his first three seasons, but he was just average as a run blocker. Well, that trend has flipped, with Dotson grading out exceptionally well in the run game and still above average as a pass blocker.
He’ll be a free agent after this season but he might be playing his way into an extension with the Rams.
