ESPN CONFIRM: Rams Head Coach Acquired Another Strong Star To….
After a successful 2023 season running the ball, the Los Angeles Rams decided to bolster interior of the offensive line.
The first domino was when the Rams agreed to terms with Kevin Dotson on a three-year deal that kept him with the team. However, Los Angeles then outdid themselves when they signed former Detroit Lions guard Jonah Jackson to a three-year deal to give them more experience and talent inside.
Jackson’s arrival means that Steve Avila will move to center, though he has experience at the position as he played there while at TCU. With Dotson, Jackson and Avila starting, the Rams have arguably one of the best offensive lines in the league.
Dotson hasn’t had much time to get to know Jackson but believes he and Avila will work out just fine. “I haven’t really gotten to meet Jonah, but I know of him and how good he is,” Dotson said. “I know this is just adding to the offensive line and I feel like Steve will be able to adapt and get to learn the position.”
Dotson also explained how crucial it is for L.A. to have continuity along the offensive line. “Man, the more that you can have the same people, the better and more confidence we play with, the more belief in the person next to you, so it’s always good to have that same group or at least close to that same group so we can all have that mindset even more than we did the year prior. At offensive line, it’s one of the best things to have, that kind of continuity.”
Aside from the interior, the Alaric Jackson and Rob Havenstein are expected to resume their roles as the starting left and right tackles for the Rams, respectively. Head coach Sean McVay leaned into the physicality and strength of his offensive line last season, and it looks like that will continue for the 2024 season.
Dan Lanning and Oregon no longer have an opening at running backs coach.
The Ducks are set to hire Arizona State’s Ra’Shaad Samples as its new running backs coach and assistant head coach, sources tell 247Sports.
Samples will be Oregon’s replacement for Carlos Locklyn, who left the Ducks on Monday to take the running backs coach job at Ohio State.
Before being hired as Arizona State’s pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach last year, the now 29-year old Samples was the youngest running backs coach in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams after stints as a running backs coach at SMU and TCU.
“When you think of Coach Samples, this is a guy who’s been an assistant head coach in college football from the time he was 26,” Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said last year. “He’s been the youngest position coach in the NFL. This guy will be the youngest head coach in college football someday. It will happen. There is no doubt in my mind he’s going to be. He’s ready for it. He could go run a program today. I don’t know if somebody is going to hire somebody that young. … But if somebody did, they could hire him today and he’d go run a football program.”
In addition to being regarded as one of the nation’s top recruiters, Samples helped Arizona State wide receiver Elijhah Badger earn All-Pac 12 honorable mention recognition last season and helped Ulysses Bentley become a Freshman All-American running back at SMU in 2020.
“He’s a young dude, but he has a presence,” Dillingham said of Samples last year. “He has leadership. He’s not a young dude where everyday kids walk over him. He’s a guy who has kids in the meeting rooms with him early. He’s a guy who is hard on guys. He’s a guy who has a standard.”
These are the NFL-Star Wars mashups you’ve been looking for! Welcome to a collection of concept football helmets by artist John Raya that recasts each of the NFL’s 32 teams as a squad that’d be fit to take the field in a galaxy far, far away. In other words, if you’ve ever wondered what the New England Patriots would look like if they played on Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi home, well, you’re about to find out.
Because the NFL-Star Wars connection is a real thing here in the real world, we’ll also show you some of the best Star Wars cosplay that’s been captured at NFL games. As the pictures prove, these fans did not come to play; they came to dominate in their best Darth Vader helmets.
