Free agent OT Barry Sims signed with the 49ers today. I suspect much of that came down to his desire to start; he'll compete with RT Jonas Jennings in SF.
Is this a loss for the Rams? Not really. After last season's injury parade, we've learned you can never have too much depth, especially depth with starting experience. But at 33, Sims is older than LT Orlando Pace, and I think you'd have a hard time arguing that he's a better RT than Alex Barron. His best chance to start here would come if injury befell one of those two. Is he better than potential backups Adam Goldberg or this year's third round pick OT John Greco? He's more experienced, but is he better?
Oakland's o-line had a better Adjusted Line Yards rating than the Rams last season, according to Football Outsiders, but they ranked worse than the Rams in pass protection (8.5% sack rate versus 8.1%) as well as running down resulting in runs of 10 yards or more and running plays resulting in zero or negative gains.
This morning, however, I kind of hoped the Rams would sign him just to keep San Fran from doing so, not that it matters that much.
The biggest advantage to having Sims was that his name reminded me of the lead man for the Bee Gees, Barry Gibb, and Jimmy Fallon's brilliant portrayal of Gibb.