Do the Rams have a center controversy on their hands?

The Los Angeles Rams are potentially hitting the reset button at center during the last week of training camp and ahead of the first preseason game this weekend against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic reported on Monday that the Rams have shifted Brian Allen to the starting center position and returned Austin Corbett to right guard, where he started last season.

The two interior offensive linemen seem to be rotating, so nothing is yet set in stone. This is a position battle to watch as the Rams close training camp and prepare for the regular season.

LA replaced the highly regarded offensive line coach and run game coordinator Aaron Kromer with Kevin Carberry, Stanford, this offseason. It is fair to assume that Carberry was able to voice his opinion in the initial move of Corbett to center, though Allen was a relatively unknown commodity heading into this season after suffering a gruesome injury in 2019. The hiring of Carberry also signaled a potential shift to a gap-based running game, which would complement the abilities of Cam Akers. With Darrell Henderson replacing the injured Akers, the Rams may feel pressured to return to a scheme centered around the wide-zone that they have leveraged for most of Head Coach Sean McVay’s tenure.

Allen was drafted in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL draft in order to be the heir apparent to veteran John Sullivan. He was deemed the starter heading into the 2019 season, but had significant performance issues and suffered a season-ending injury early in the season. After losing Allen, Los Angeles shifted Austin Blythe to center, where he remained the starter through the end of last season. Blythe is now a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, but seems to be losing the starting center battle to rookie Creed Humphrey.

McVay indicated during his Monday press conference that Allen has surprised coaches with his performance to date:

“If you look at Brian Allen, he looks physically impressive, he’s strong, - he’s sturdy. You can see all of the work that he has really put in. I think you can see that he’s feeling really good being another year removed from that knee injury.”