When the Los Angeles Rams drafted interior offensive lineman Steve Avila with the 36th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, it was thought that he would be a staple on the offensive line for years to come. While Avila impressed as a rookie, he simply hasn’t taken that next step that would have been expected at this point.
Following a strong rookie season, the Rams considered moving Avila from left guard to center heading into his second year. This came after the Rams signed Jonah Jackson. With the combination of Jackson, Avila, and Dotson, the Rams would have an interior to excel in their duo-based run game that requires a more ‘at you’ blocking approach. Avila practiced at center for most of the offseason, but just weeks before the opener against the Detroit Lions, the Rams decided to move him back to left guard and put Jackson at center. Jackson had played just 24 snaps at center in the NFL. Additionally, he hadn’t played center full-time since his sophomore year at Rutgers.
Throughout the offseason, the Rams seemed adamant that Avila would play at center all up until the moment that they weren’t. The Rams may have been dealing with some injuries and Alaric Jackson’s suspension, but it also seems easy to connect the dots. The context clues suggest that Avila may not have picked up the responsibilities at center as quickly as the coaching staff had hoped.
From there, Avila got hurt in Week 1 and proceeded to miss the next seven games with a sprained MCL. From Weeks 10-18 Avila was fine, but took a step back in pass protection. His pass-blocking grade via PFF dropped from 65.0 to 50.6. Avila gave up a press once every 22.4 snaps compared to once ever 21.4 snaps his rookie season.
With a full offseason healthy, a lot was expected of Avila heading into year three. However, the former second round pick once again got injured in Week 1. Avila sprained an ankle which sidelined him for Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans. He is once again listed as doubtful heading into Week 3. If Avila does miss the game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he will have missed nine out of the last 20 regular season games.
That’s a concerning trend considering what the expectation is for Avila. It’s difficult for him to be the staple on the interior if he’s available only half the time. It makes his pending contract negotiation after this season that much more complicated. The Rams will probably wait until the end of next year, but he is someone that they will have to consider for an extension. Sometimes the best ability is availability and Avila simply has not been available.
However, Avila has also very clearly been the best left guard that the Rams have had over the last three years. In the eight games that Avila has missed, the substituting player has averaged a run-blocking grade of 60.25, a pass-blocking grade of 39.5, and allowed 2.5 pressures per game. That’s a combination of Jonah Jackson, Logan Bruss, and Justin Dedich. Last season, Avila’s final PFF grades were 70.6 in run-blocking, 50.6 in pass-blocking and he gave up 1.9 pressures per game. There is a drop-off when Avila isn’t on the field.
The start to Avila’s career isn’t too far off than that of Rodger Saffold’s. Saffold started all 16 games as a rookie before playing just 19 of his next 32 games. Saffold played just one full season between 2011 and 2017. He missed multiple games in four out of five years between 2011 and 2015. Still, Saffold remained one of the more important players on the Rams offensive line until he left in 2019.
Obviously the hope is that Avila gets healthy and is able to stay that way going forward. However, it’s also hard to call him injury prone at this point. He didn’t deal with injuries in college at TCU and a sprained ankle can simply be a case of getting unlucky.
The worst thing that the Rams could do would be to give up on Avila and then have him thrive elsewhere. That’s something that the Rams have benefitted from in the cases of Austin Corbett and Kevin Dotson. Avila has shown enough flashes to warrant continued belief in his long-term potential, but he needs show that he can be relied on consistently.
