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After a brief wait, we finally know just how
much money the Los Angeles Rams are committing to Austin Blythe in 2020. He
agreed to a one-year deal with the team when free agency first began, but the
terms of the contract weren’t released until recently.
As
first reported by Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, Blythe’s contract is worth up to
$3.9 million with $3.5 million of that guaranteed.
His
base salary next season will be $2.95 million, and he’s also getting a $950,000
signing bonus. His 2020
cap hit is $3.9 million, according to Over The Cap, 13th-highest on the team.
The Rams didn’t break the bank to keep Blythe
on the roster, but that contract suggests he’s in line to start again in 2020. His cap hit is only $2.76
million less than Andrew Whitworth’s, and is the third-highest of any offensive
lineman on the team – largely because the Rams’ other linemen are on
rookie deals still.
The
Rams’ biggest holes up front are on the interior where it’s a cluster of
unproven guards and centers competing for starting jobs. Blythe has the most
experience of them all, starting for two seasons in Los Angeles at both guard
and center.
Austin
Corbett, David Edwards, Joseph Noteboom and Brian Allen are all in the mix,
too, but Blythe has
outperformed all of them, for the most part. And it’s worth noting that
Blythe played through injury last season, undergoing surgery on both of his
shoulders after the year ended.
When fully healthy, Blythe is a quality
starter at guard. He’s also very capable of playing well at center, as he did
in 2019 after Allen went down. That versatility isn’t something to ignore,
especially with Aaron Kromer coaching the offensive line; he’s known for
cross-training his linemen.
Blythe has been a valuable player for
the Rams the last two years, first stepping up as a starter at right guard in
2018 when Jamon Brown was injured. He never relinquished the starting job at
and retained that spot at the beginning of the 2019 season, before eventually
sliding over to left guard and then center.
Next
season, Blythe will have the chance to contribute at both guard and center,
depending on how he performs at each spot – and how the Rams’ other linemen do,
too. But at $3.9 million, it’s clear Los Angeles didn’t bring him back to ride
the bench.
