One of the more interesting battles in Los Angeles Rams training camp is the starting center job after Austin Blythe departed in free agency.
Austin Corbett has been the favorite to win the job all along as the Rams’ starting guard from last season has some history at the center position.
His competition is Brian Allen, a fourth-round pick in 2018 who started nine games at center for the Rams in 2019 before going down with a season-ending knee injury. Allen also sat out the entire 2020 season so it has been a while since he’s seen game action.
It appears he has been impressive in training camp though as Sean McVay revealed that he s currently winning the starting center battle with Corbett moving back over to guard, via Andrew Sicilliano of NFL Network:
"If we were to play right now, he’s done a good job, and he would be our center.”
– Sean McVay confirms to @JB_Long that Brian Allen is winning the starting job…for now.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) August 11, 2021
There seems to still be a lot of question marks along the Rams’ offensive line, which isn’t exactly ideal considering continuity is typically a big precursor to success.
If Allen is worthy of a starting job though then that is positive news as Corbett could move back over to his normal guard position in place of Bobby Evans.
It will be interesting to see if these guys get any preseason reps or if who wins the starting jobs is decided during practices, which is the more likely scenario.
Either way though, offensive line remains one of the Rams’ biggest question marks going into the 2021 season so it will be up to those guys to prove the doubters wrong.
