Rams' Jason Smith, Barry Richardson battling

By Brian McIntyre

Earlier this offseason, St. Louis Rams offensive tackle Jason Smith, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, took a significant pay cut, reducing his total compensation from $10 million to $4.5 million for the upcoming.


The pay cut did not, however, assure Smith of a starting job as free agent addition Barry Richardson is getting some work with the first-team offense, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"The more familiar he becomes with our system, the better he is," head coach Jeff Fisher said of Richardson, who shares an agent (Ben Dogra) with Smith. "There’s a lot of competition all over the roster, and Barry’s created some competition at right tackle."

According to Football Outsiders Almanac 2012, Richardson was among the leaders in "Blown Blocks" (leading to sacks, intentional grounding or holding calls) in 2011 and lingered on the free agent market until May 16, when the Rams signed him to a one-year, $800,000 contract that included $100,000 in guarantees.

Durability is one area where Richardson has a clear edge over Smith. Richardson started 32 consecutive games for the Chiefs and played in 100 percent of their snaps last season. Smith's career has been marred by concussions, ending his rookie season after eight games and last season after just six contests.

Given Smith's shaky injury history, the Rams are smart to open the position up to competition.

I don't blame the Rams for drafting Smith. He was a major need and supposably the best OT in the draft. The top picks of that draft(beside Stafford) all turned out to suck more or less. I just dont get how he can be so bad that he is having trouble holding the starting RT spot when healthy.

Richardson might be durable, but his blown blocks stats are pretty horrid. I dont know weather to be more worried about RT or LT at this point.

From what i have seen so far, i would have no problem with Fishead drafting a RT in the 1st/2nd round(i know Fisher never did while in Tenn) next year.

Im hoping for the best this year, but am skeptical to say the least.

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Originally Posted by Tampa_Ram

I don't blame the Rams for drafting Smith. He was a major need and supposably the best OT in the draft. The top picks of that draft(beside Stafford) all turned out to suck more or less. I just dont get how he can be so bad that he is having trouble holding the starting RT spot when healthy.

Richardson might be durable, but his blown blocks stats are pretty horrid. I dont know weather to be more worried about RT or LT at this point.

From what i have seen so far, i would have no problem with Fishead drafting a RT in the 1st/2nd round(i know Fisher never did while in Tenn) next year.

Im hoping for the best this year, but am skeptical to say the least.

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Jason Smith was arguably one of the best. Many felt Eugene Monroe and Michael Oher were just as talented. (I personally thought Monroe was the best...he was the best "pure" pass protector in the draft)


I say that before we cut our losses, Jason Smith should at least be tried at LG. We have a hole there and he might be able to fare better in the interior where his style of play fits better.

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Originally Posted by RockinRam

I say that before we cut our losses, Jason Smith should at least be tried at LG. We have a hole there and he might be able to fare better in the interior where his style of play fits better.

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I agree, we're going to have to pay him anyway, might as well try him out where ever he might be productive. Heck, they could tell him to lose a bunch of weight and go back to TE at this point if he does bad enough at RT. I'd be ok with that.

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Originally Posted by Tampa_Ram

I agree, we're going to have to pay him anyway, might as well try him out where ever he might be productive. Heck, they could tell him to lose a bunch of weight and go back to TE at this point if he does bad enough at RT. I'd be ok with that.

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It's VERY unfortunate for a team like us that is rebuilding to have NO.2 overall picks not pan out.

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Originally Posted by rNemesis

It's VERY unfortunate for a team like us that is rebuilding to have NO.2 overall picks not pan out.

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It's unfortunate that it happens far to often with teams picking high in the draft. And especially unfortunate for the Rams, since its the team we love.

Easy guys.... it's just a camp report lets wait and see a few preseason games before we completely give up on Smith. Competition is good, he needs to be pushed,

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Originally Posted by Rambos

Easy guys.... it's just a camp report lets wait and see a few preseason games before we completely give up on Smith. Competition is good, he needs to be pushed,

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I know what you're sayin' - but - it has also been reported that Chris Long has been having his way with Smith on a regular basis. Hopefully Long has just become that much of a beast.

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Originally Posted by Ferter

I know what you're sayin' - but - it has also been reported that Chris Long has been having his way with Smith on a regular basis. Hopefully Long has just become that much of a beast.

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Long would beat a lot of RT on a regular basis. I don't think this staff has a magic wand. Smith is going to have to work at it. He has four weeks and a few games to pick it up. It also has been reported the Quinn is beating just about anybody he is facing, including Saffold.

Fisher again on the battle forming.

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RIGHT TACKLE COMPETITION?: Incumbent right tackle Jason Smith has held down that spot in practice every day for every rep of this year’s training camp. Until Wednesday night.

Veteran tackle Barry Richardson got his first look at right tackle with the top offense in that practice and again got work there on Thursday. While it’s only a couple of practices, coach Jeff Fisher did acknowledge that there’s a competition forming there.

“The more familiar he becomes with our system, the better he is,” Fisher said. “There’s a lot of competition all over the roster and Barry’s created some competition at that right tackle.”

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We all know Smith has struggled, I kind of like the idea that Fisher and Co. are sending him a clear message pick it up! We are not going to hand you the job.

It's pretty bad when a former number 2 draft pick is having trouble fending off a guy who was the worst in the NFL last year.

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Originally Posted by Rambos

Easy guys.... it's just a camp report lets wait and see a few preseason games before we completely give up on Smith. Competition is good, he needs to be pushed,

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What? Pushed? A guy that's getting paid $11 million dollars this year after being drafted #2 overall being replaced by the worst rated tackle in the entire NFL last year? To "push" him? Barry Richardson aint pushing anyone! When was the last time a player that was solid was getting "pushed" by his backup thats a scrub! You're missing a sense of urgency.

Well if our O-line becomes an issue again, we can compensate through moving Smith at LG where he can happily maul other D-linemen with Dahl back at RT while Rok johnny on the spots at RG.

DJ Fluker, Alabama
Barrett Jones, Alabama
Chris Faulk, LSU
Jake Matthews, Tx A&M
Taylor Lewan, Michigan
Luke Joeckel, Tx A&M
Ricky Wagner, Wisconsin
Oday Aboushi, Virginia

Names we should be getting familiar with this fall. One of them will be a Ram next April.

am I the only one who thinks this is a good sign for our team?

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Originally Posted by sosa39rams

What? Pushed? A guy that's getting paid $11 million dollars this year after being drafted #2 overall being replaced by the worst rated tackle in the entire NFL last year? To "push" him? Barry Richardson aint pushing anyone! When was the last time a player that was solid was getting "pushed" by his backup thats a scrub! You're missing a sense of urgency.

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How that? Is he losing reps? Yes, then he's being pushed. Does not matter who is taking the reps from him. If you read what the coaches are saying you would get it. Here is what Boudreau, said about who will start.

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"We're going to play the best five," Boudreau said during an interview at Rams camp last week. "Don’t matter if you're a draft choice, doesn't matter if you’re a free agent, doesn't matter if you've been cut by four teams."

Boudreau, who was with Atlanta through last season, drove home that message early in his tenure with the Rams. He pointed to Rams guard Harvey Dahl, one of his former Falcons players, as proof. Dahl and tackle Tyson Clabo became mainstay starters in Atlanta even though neither was drafted and both had been released repeatedly.

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So Richardson may not have been playing at a high level prior to getting coached by coach Boudreau, neither was Harvey Dahl prior to working with coach. We all know Fisher is not going to use a high draft pick to draft a blue chipper he's going to take a player like Dahl and coach him up. Now I'm not saying that Richardson is that guy, what I'm saying is, if you or I came to work and someone was starting to take our workload away no matter who that person was. We both would feel the sense of urgency.

You're missing a sense of urgency... It's the first week of camp. We have not played one game yet. This is a wake up call for Smith step up your play or we will move on. If I don't have the sense of urgency i bet Smith does and that's more important.

Are you really saying Smith is solid? Really, solid? I like the way you have not been to one practice but yet you can call Richardson scrub. Richardson started the last 32 games for Kansas City. My definition of a scrub is a guy that can't make a practice squad. How much better did Smith grade out over Richardson last year?