Reports: St. Louis Rams Have Interest in Free Agent Guard Justin Blalock
According to St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat reporter Jim Thomas, the St. Louis Rams have expressed interest in free agent offensive guard Justin Blalock:
Rams have shown some interest in former Atlanta offensive guard Justin Blalock.
— Jim Thomas (@jthom1) March 9, 2015
The 31-year-old Blalock was released by the Atlanta Falcons, who he played with from 2007-2014, on February 27. The 6-foot-4, 326-pounder has been rather durable over the course of his eight-year career, starting 125 of a possible 128 games. Blalock did miss a game in October of 2014 with a back injury.
Blalock was drafted out of the University of Texas in the second round of the 2007 draft. He has experience with current Rams offensive line coach Paul Boudreau, having worked with him from 2008 to 2011, when he held the same position with the Falcons.
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At least according to potentially subjective analytics, Blalock had a pretty strong 2014 season, as he received a positive 3.8 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, slotting him as the 25th-best guard in the NFL. (By comparison, the Rams’ starting guards, Rodger Saffold and Davin Joseph were ranked 41st and 75th, respectively). He received a positive 2.1 pass-blocking grade, but was rated as a -0.2 against the run. He’d definitely have to adjust his focus if he came to St. Louis, as he’d be switching from a passing-based attack centered around Julio Jones and Roddy White to a run-based approach that is very ground-and-pound focused.
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If Blalock would indeed end up signing with the Rams, he’d likely be slotted at the right guard position, where he’d be replacing Joseph, who is a free agent. His addition would effectively solidify three of the five offensive line positions, joining left tackle Greg Robinson and left guard Rodger Saffold. Center Scott Wells‘s future is still up in the air due to the fact that he restructured his contact last summer to make his release more feasible this offseason. Meanwhile, right tackle Joe Barksdale is a free agent and is expected by many to pursue a better offer elsewhere.