The St. Louis Rams clearly made it a point this offseason to target upgrades along the offensive line. Considering former franchise signal-caller Sam Bradford was lost to an ACL injury on an awkward hit in the 2014 preseason and Bradford's understudy's - Austin Davis, Shaun Hill - both spent ample amounts of their time on the field last season tossing short passes and avoiding pass-rushers, it's entirely understandable then why Rams head coach Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead committed four draft picks in the 2015 NFL Draft and a 2016 fifth-round pick in the supplemental draft to add an influx of talent to their bevy of blockers up front.
While Rob Havenstein, an offensive tackle out of Wisconsin, was the team's first selection along the offensive line in the draft, it seems their third-round pick, Jamon Brown, was given fairly high praise by Fisher recently.
"I was with Jeff Fisher last night, and the Rams are really excited about OL Jamon Brown; they think the third-rounder has Pro Bowl potential," NFL Network senior analyst Gil Brandt tweeted Monday.
Brown, 6-foot-4, 323-pounds, was a three-year starter at Louisville. He began his starting career for the Cardinals at right tackle, but spent the final two seasons of his collegiate tenure at left tackle, taking home All-ACC honors both years.
While Brown starred at tackle in college, Fisher has said that he expects him to slot in at guard in the pros - Rob Rang of CBS Sports agreed with that notion earlier this offseason.
"Brown is at his best simply mauling defenders at the point of attack, utilizing his long arms (34 3/8") and leg drive to generate movement - making him a better fit at guard in the NFL in a run-heavy, power-based scheme rather than the relatively finesse approach most teams expect from tackles in today's pass-happy attacks," Rang writes.
Now it seems that not only is Fisher expecting Brown to be a guard, he's expecting him to be a Pro Bowl caliber guard. While every NFL coach at each of the league's 32 franchises would likely say that they hope and expect every player they select winds up a Pro Bowler, it's still interesting to hear a head coach single out a specific draft pick as a future star when speaking with a former NFL personnel executive.
