One of the main themes of the 2024 season for the Los Angeles Rams were the early injuries to the offensive line. The Rams started the season with Alaric Jackson suspended. In Week 1, Steve Avila got injured and the next week it was Jonah Jackson. Later in the year, right tackle Rob Havenstein missed time as well. It felt like the Rams didn’t have a fully healthy offensive line until the second half of the season and then not again until the playoffs.
Rams head coach Sean McVay touched on that a little bit on Thursday before heading out for the offseason. Said McVay,
“The easy answer is to complain about the injuries that we had that threw off the continuity and while that might be true, you can’t allow that to inhibit us the way that it did. That’s nobody’s responsibility but my own.”
Back in 2022, the Rams set a record for most injuries on the offensive line. While the injuries to the offensive line weren’t that bad this year, it certainly inhibited the offense for periods. The offensive line was never truly able to get into a groove because the same five guys rarely played together.
Aaron Schatz of FTN Fantasy shared a metric called OL continuity score. The Rams ended up with a score of 24 which ranked 30th. Only the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots were worse. The Rams had 11 different starting offensive linemen, eight different line changes, and the longest stretch with the same offensive line was four games. Their score of 24 was five points lower than their score in 2023.
OL continuity scores for 2024. No team started the same 5 OL in all 17 games. Closest was the Ravens, who changed LG/RT in Week 4.
Patriots tie for the second-most OL starters in a season since 1999 with 13. 2022 Rams had 14. pic.twitter.com/vozyLk1wk8
— Aaron Schatz (@ASchatzNFL) January 24, 2025
As Schatz mentions, no team started the same offensive line for 17 weeks. If anything, it goes to show just how important offensive line depth is. One singular unit can only handle so many injuries. However, being six or seven offensive linemen deep and having versatility is very important. For example, the Eagles had a continuity score of 29 with 10 different starters and seven different combinations. They navigated through that and are in the NFC Championship Game. The Washington Commanders benefit from a mobile quarterback, but are just two places above the Rams. Contrarily, in the AFC, the Bills and Chiefs are near the top.
Having depth that can be relied on is important and the Rams didn’t have that this year. The loss to the Miami Dolphins can be attributed to them starting Joe Noteboom at right tackle and Jonah Jackson at center. The loss to the Cardinals in Week 2 had a lot to do with the offensive line as well.
The Rams are going to be losing some depth this offseason. Noteboom is a free agent and likely won’t be brought back. There are also questions about the futures of Alaric Jackson, Jonah Jackson, and Rob Havenstein to an extent. The offensive line and the depth could look very different next year. This is also why it makes sense to an extent to upgrade from Beaux Limmer. Limmer would make a great, proven depth piece.
Next season is important for the championship window when it comes to Matthew Stafford. When the Rams have had a top offensive line, they’ve made it to the Super Bowl. Having a starting five that the Rams feel confident in and reliable depth will be critical to making one final run with Stafford as the quarterback.
