When the Los Angeles Rams signed Jonah Jackson away from the Detroit Lions, it was to serve as their left guard, with Steve Avila expected to kick it inside to center to replace departing stalwart Coleman Shelton.
And yet, after a few months on the practice field, Sean McVay has decided to change course, with Jackson, not Avila, who will be snapping the ball to Matt Stafford in Week 1.
Asked about the decision to switch centers this late in the game on Rams Revealed, Stafford noted that he isn't too worried about it, as Jackson is a veteran who he trusts.
“Yeah, I'm not too worried about it,” Stafford explained via Rams Wire. “Jonah's a veteran player. We made a switch a couple of years ago during training camp in 2021 when I first got here. It wasn't quite as late just because of the fact that Jonah really wasn't practicing. Had he been practicing, I think that switch probably would've happened a bit earlier. But I do think we're finding our way to get the best five out there in the best position to succeed. I have no qualms about how he's going to play or how we're going to play up front.”
Is this the correct decision? Should the Rams pull the plug on the Avila at center experiment before he even gets a full game to test his mettle at the position? Or is this game against the Lions simply too important to risk any growing pains, with Jackson, who played some center in college, a safer bet than his second-year counterpart? Considering McVay was just singing Avila's praises a few months back, this decision is a curious case indeed.
Sean McVay spoke highly about Steve Avila as the Rams' center
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While the Rams now look committed to giving Jackson the remaining practice snaps at center in preparation for his return to Detroit at a new position, it was barely three months ago when McVay was incredibly excited about Avila starting under center, as he told the Rams' official website that he had all of the tools needed to be elite in his scheme.
“He's got an amazing athleticism for a big player,” McVay said. “He's got great contact balance; you can see his ability to take second-level angles of departure, fit second-level blocks, play in space. That was one of the things that I went back and evaluated. I think he's got the natural ability to play on the left or the right side of the line, be another lefty center for us.”
What happened over the past few weeks to force this change? Did Avila simply struggle too much at snapping the ball to justify this position change? Or did the Rams see Jackson take some snaps at center and liked what they saw so much they handed him the role in early September? It's impossible to know but come Week 1, fans will have an idea if it was the correct call.
