FanPost

Saffold at guard





One interesting development from my favourite game of the season so far, which risks being overshadowed by certain break-out performances, was the O-line.

Long, Williams, Wells, Saffold, Barksdale

Saffold came in for Dahl at right guard and seemed to do a good job, and the interior line was bossing it early on when Stacy got his score. Also Saffold seemed pretty postive about the whole scenario postgame, saying he was going to work on his errors and spend some time with the coaches to improve his play at his new position.

So I guess the question is - is this a long term solution? I really hope so as to me it seems ideal. I think Saffold has potential to excel in that position long term, and would then also give us the flexibility of having a backup tackle on the roster should we need it. It also means we could draft a top tackle prospect and get them on the field next year at RT, with a view to succeeding Long at LT at some point. It will be really interesting to watch our O-line over the next few games and see how this experiment works out.

The one spanner in the works is that he is a free agent in the offseason and all this current positivity could just be a guy playing for a contract, who may be unhappy with his role but willing to show he can be professional and put his own aspirations aside for the greater good. Some rival teams might see him as a potential starting tackle and offer him a contact as such, which I doubt the rams could match.

I suppose we won't know until the offseason and it will inevitably come down to money. The prevailing narrative seems to be that tackles get more respect and money than guards and all guards would rather be tackles, but you never know maybe with another #whilewaitingforJake style campaign and a strong end to the season and we could see him take a current team discount.