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Will Rams keep their left tackle and how much will it cost?
On a list of the top-100 NFL free agents at The 33rd Teams, L.A. Rams left tackle Alaric Jackson came in at 28. The former undrafted free agent out of Iowa has lived up to his billing as the best UDFA of that year, working his way up from a backup to starting 35 games over the past three seasons.
The 33rd Team ranked Jackson as the second-best left tackle on the market, a reason for the Rams to have pause when it comes to who their replacement would be if he left.
Alaric Jackson’s 2.5 percent blown block rate is the best of this free-agent group of tackles. His age and development path should make him a desired target for any team in need of tackle help. Listed at 6-foot-7, 345 pounds, he has the size to be a wall on the outside with the movement to not be too stiff to defend around the edge.
The highest-paid left tackle in the NFL by salary is 49ers’ Trent Williams at $27.5 million per season. While you can usually never overestimate how much a team is willing to pay for an offensive lineman (last year we saw second-tier guards pull in up to $20 million per year), Jackson likely won’t go that high. After Williams:
Those are the other seven left tackles making at least $20 million per season. Jackson’s agent will be asking to get at least that much, but maybe at the end settle for $18 million per season, which is a tick more than Cam Robinson made as a free agent.
A.J. Jackson is not worse than Cam Robinson.
The only other current Rams player on the list was Demarcus Robinson, who came in at 91st.
