[Indrid Cold]

And a TE:

My first reaction was who the hell is Colby Parkinson? Two surprising moves on Day 1 -- $24.5M AAV (not cap hits this year) on offense. I don't know much about Jackson, either. I was (and still am) all in on D (Edge and CB), but this is interesting and certainly a part of a plan.

One other thought was that if Colby Parkinson doesn't work out, Canuck would create an awesome nickname for him with that moniker's latitude.

[69RamFan]

Massive OL:

LT/AJ/6-7 330, LG/JJ/6-4 311, C/Avila/6-3 330, RG/Dotson/6-4 320, RT/RHav/6-8 330

This OL is going to be top five for our pass and run game.

Here is JJ highlights:

[Dare]

Wow this looks to be an impressive signing. I didn't think they would move Avila to center but now the Rams have an awesome IOL. This looks like a commitment to running the ball inside which would make their playaction by Stafford really effective. I love this signing.

The Rams aren't messing around anymore with a second rate offensive line. I have to assume they will upgrade the left tackle position in the draft. Rob Havenstein is getting a bit long in the tooth as well so I can see two tackles being taken in this draft unless they make another big OL signing.

[Dare]

Signing Parkinson I think is targeted at Hopkins who has shown nothing. The problem with Parkinson is how good is he at blocking? He hasn't exactly looked good. But Colby has the size the Rams like at TE. Hopkins is undersized at 6'4".

To me it's clear that Allen is the heir apparent as the starter when Higbee finally retires. Also, maybe there is a question how long Higbee will be out? When it happened McVay speculated that Tyler would start the season on PUP and so I think the Parkinson signing is confirmation that they anticipate that being the time line. Also when you look at Higbee's contract this year is essentially his contract year. I think there is a chance he might not be back beyond this year.

So I think this is a very good signing of a guy that can provide good depth at TE.

[Elvis]

[ramsww]

My first reaction was who the hell is Colby Parkinson? Two surprising moves on Day 1 -- $24.5M AAV (not cap hits this year) on offense. I don't know much about Jackson, either. I was (and still am) all in on D (Edge and CB), but this is interesting and certainly a part of a plan.

One other thought was that if Colby Parkinson doesn't work out, Canuck would create an awesome nickname for him with that moniker's latitude.

I put on the Lion’s playoff game and immediately saw Jackson pushing our DLine around in the first drive. He was part of a triple team on AD and our other linemen went nowhere where. Next signing out to be a real Edge player.

[Elvis]

[Elvis]

[Indrid Cold]

A lot of coin for Parkinson's experience to date. I'm down with Jackson and using cap dollars at both G positions as Bill Barnwell wrote. Which is the most AAV cap value ever allocated to the G position in NFL history.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/ ... als-trades

Winners: Guards!
It was a good day to be a big man in the NFL. Eight interior offensive linemen signed deals with an average annual salary of $10 million or more Monday, which is remarkable given that nary a single interior lineman was making north of that figure as recently as 2016. As Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap pointed out before free agency, spending at the top of the guard market has risen at the third-fastest rate of any position over the past decade, trailing only right tackle and quarterback. That has come at the expense of center and running back, so it probably shouldn't be a surprise that six of the eight linemen making eight figures on their new deals are guards.

In one fell swoop Monday, we saw virtually all of the talented guards coming off rookie deals in the prime of their careers sign for significant money. Take the Rams, a team that typically hadn't spent money on the interior of the line in the Sean McVay era. They committed more than $30 million per year in combined AAV to a pair of guards, as they followed up the re-signing of Kevin Dotson before the legal tampering period by inking Lions guard Jonah Jackson to a reported three-year, $51 million pact.

For the Rams and for other teams across the league, their newfound interest in investing at guard is a product of how the offensive meta has changed. As recently as a few years ago, NFL running games were built around the zone concepts McVay and Kyle Shanahan had employed to great success. As their coaches were hired across the league, defenses were forced to adapt. We saw the Patriots famously run a 6-1 front to shut down the Rams in the Super Bowl, but we also saw defenses grow more familiar and comfortable handling the outside zone game and the boot concepts off it over the past few seasons.

Shanahan adapted by moving toward more gap- or man-based blocking schemes in his run plays, which typically require heavier linemen. The Rams noticed, and while McVay tried to follow suit in 2022, the changes didn't really stick until 2023, with Kyren Williams taking over in an offense built to his strength as a gap runner. While zone schemes usually require lighter and quicker linemen, gap schemes ask linemen to be more powerful while pushing defensive linemen directly backward on their double-teams.

The Rams responded by trading last August for the 322-pound Dotson, who had been stuck spending his career in a zone scheme with the Steelers. Dotson subsequently put together a Pro Bowl-caliber season. Now, the Rams will team him with the 311-pound Jackson, who was widely regarded as a mauler and excellent run-blocker during his time with the Lions.

We saw the Patriots bring back Mike Onwenu and the Giants add Jon Runyan, but the most notable pair of moves on the interior came in Carolina. The Panthers signed former Seahawks guard Damien Lewis to a four-year, $53 million pact and teamed him with Dolphins lineman Robert Hunt, whose deal came in for an eye-watering amount at five years, $100 million. Hunt has to be the most unheralded player in league history to sign a deal with eight zeroes.

[snackdaddy]

From what I've seen and heard Parkinson was below average as a blocker when he first started. Then worked at it and became one of the better blocking tight ends. At 6'7" he's a big target in the redzone. And a good blocker. Its possible they already view him as the TE1.