Free agency micro-preview: offensive line

Top 5 UFA tackles: 1 - Doug Free 2 - Tyson Clabo 3 - Jermon Bushrod 4 - Jeromey Clary 5 - Jammal Brown

Free had a solid first season as Dallas' starting LT. Clabo is well-regarded, another of those Falcon players who just gets the job done. Better pass-protector than run-blocker. San Diego has a very similar player in Clary, but 3 years younger at 27. I get less and less sure what to make of Bushrod. He protects Drew Brees' blindside, and the Saints were a top-5 o-line last year in sacks allowed, but he gives up a lot of pressures. Brown's career has really been set back by injuries, and a problem with him is that he's likely to demand LT playing time, LT pay, or both.

Top 5 UFA centers: 1 - Lyle Sendlein 2 - Kyle Cook 3 - David Baas 4 - Olin Kreutz 5 - Samson Satele

Who? Pro Football Focus ranked Big Dead center Sendlein as the third-best pass-protector at center in 2010, behind only Jeff Saturday and Matt Birk; heady company. Bengal center Cook gets high marks for his leadership and athleticism; good marks for his run-blocking. While PFF calls Baas one of the worst pass-protecting centers in the league, he's the 49ers' top free agent priority, and they're afraid someone's going to swoop in and offer him "Jason Brown money". (Brown is the fifth-BEST pass protector at center, btw.) PFF's stats could be misrepresenting Baas since he switched to center from guard last season. He's likely to improve. Kreutz had a terrible 2010, and is likely on the downside of his career, but he still ranked well in pass protection, and Chicago's line was coming together by the end of last season. The undersized Satele's reputation is as a good pass-blocker, but his numbers don't show it. Still, he's an experienced starter.

Top 5 UFA guards: 1 - Carl Nicks 2 - Marshall Yanda 3 - Harvey Dahl 4 - Daryn Colledge 5 - Robert Gallery

Nicks and Yanda are two of the top young guards in the NFL and are expected to be top re-signing priorities of their respective teams, the Saints and Ravens. Yanda's also very capable at right tackle. Dahl's one of those instigators you always hate until he's on your team, though not the hack Richie Incognito was when he was here. PFF also considers Dahl a top-10 pass-blocker at guard, and, sit down if you're reading this, gives top 20 ratings to Incognito and Jacob Bell. Colledge had a solid 2010 for the Packers at LG, which seems to be his best position. Gallery is actually going to be one of the more interesting free agents to watch. He's played well for Oakland at guard, salvaging a little bit of the treasure trove they paid him to play tackle as the second pick overall in 2006. A lot of teams, including Seattle, sound very interested in him, and he's expecting a(nother) big payday.

Sleepers: Wayne Hunter (t), Ryan Harris (t), Jason Spitz (c), Justin Blalock (g)

Hunter's considered one of the best swing tackles in the league even after giving up 3 sacks in one game last year against Miami. Very strong but better at pass-blocking than run-blocking. Denver isn't expected to re-sign Harris, possibly due to injury problems, but when he's been on the field, he's allowed an impressively-low amount of sacks. Spitz is a powerful, um, road-grader, one of the strongest linemen in the league for his size. Can play center or guard and isn't expected to be re-signed in Green Bay. Falcon linemen are sure getting mentioned a lot in this post, and they're going to have problems keeping everyone. Blalock's a solid run-blocker at LG who can handle a bull-rush, but you can beat him with speed.

Out of the running: Logan Mankins (franchised by New England), Ryan Kalil (franchised by Carolina), Alan Faneca (retired), Will Svitek (re-signed with Atlanta), Daniel Loper (re-signed with Oakland), Mansfield Wrotto (re-signed with Buffalo), Richie Incognito (re-signed with Miami)

Voting present:
Tackles: Khalif Barnes, Matt Light, Jeremy Trueblood, Charlie Johnson, Barry Sims, Mario Henderson, Ryan Cook, Jonathan Scott, Trai Essex, Jon Jansen, Stephon Heyer, Rashad Butler, Guy Whimper, Quinn Ojinnaka, Allen Barbre, Tony Moll, Zach Strief, Pat McQuistan, Rob Petitti, Corey Hilliard, Adam Terry, D'Anthony Batiste

Centers: Chris Spencer, Jonathan Goodwin, Rudy Niswanger, Ben Claxton, Dylan Gandy, Eric Ghiaciuc, Chris Morris

Guards: Kyle Kosier, Deuce Lutui, Davin Joseph, Pork Chop Womack, Max Jean-Gilles, Derrick Dockery, Mike Brisiel, Billy Yates, Tony Ugoh, Mike Pollak, Evan Mathis, Scott Mruczkowski, Chester Pitts, Nick Cole, Kevin Boothe, Kasey Studdard, Tony (Ruh-Roh) Wragge, Reggie Wells, Josh Beekman, Nate Livings, Chris Chester, Leroy Harris

The doctor will see you now: Damien Woody, Willie Colon, Jared Gaither, Mark Setterstrom, Ryan O'Callaghan, Ray Willis, Ben Hamilton, Cory Procter

The financial planner will see you now: Langston Walker (could retire, 2010 season ended by concussion); Casey Wiegmann (working out with Chiefs but hasn't ruled out retirement)

Gawd no: Alex Barron, Sean Locklear. What team in their right mind is going to sign Alex Barron? Would you even sign him for your UFL team? I don't think so. Locklear's turned into Seattle's version of that tackle who's bad, but you still can't get rid of him, like Barron was with the Rams. Maybe this year.

RamView's move: Right guard is where all the action's going to be here; let's dispatch with the rest of the line quickly. Rodger Saffold looks like he's going to be a gem at LT. Jacob Bell at LG and Jason Brown at C don't seem to have lived up to their contracts as run-blockers, but they appear to make up for it as pass-blockers, if you take those numbers at face value, and Josh McDaniels' arrival at Rams Park will certainly increase the emphasis on pass-blocking. Jason Smith's been up-and-down, and injured a lot, at RT; it'd be great if this is the year his game takes the quantum leap to match his 2009 draft position. Renardo Foster was a pleasant surprise in spot duty at both tackle positions. He gives the Rams a level of comfort with their tackle depth; veteran Hank Fraley, who didn't have to take the field last year, should be able to help out at center or guard if needed in an emergency.

There's no such comfort level for the Rams at right guard, where I'm surprised at just how bad Adam Goldberg was last year. Yes, it was pretty apparent he was a liability run-blocking, especially in goal-line and short-yardage situations. What I didn't realize was on top of that, he was also the fifth-worst pass-protector at guard in 2010. That's flat-out bad, worse than I would have graded Goldberg even at mediocre. John Greco stole some reps from Goldberg during the regular season despite missing the better portion of training camp (again) due to (another) injury. It was apparent that he gave the Rams running game more power. And once you see how poorly Goldberg fared as a pass-blocker, how much worse could Greco be? (Seeing Incognito as a top-20 pass-protector makes me want to smash my head into all four pillars, btw.)

Time for Greco to live up to the Nick Kaczur hype he was getting before he was drafted; RamView's installing him as the starting RG in 2011. But keeping a close eye on college guard prospects again for 2012. You lose some versatility if you lose Goldberg, but nothing at guard you can't make up for by signing a veteran such as Max Jean-Gilles or Derrick Dockery.

Shoot the moon: Do what the Raiders did a couple of years ago with Gallery and admit you way overdrafted a guard. We know Jason Smith can maul people. Shuffle him inside and snag one of the top tackles. Heck, really shoot the moon and sign Ryan Harris from the Broncos; he's only given up 3.5 sacks in 24 career starts. He is a big injury gamble, but we're shooting the moon here, and if this slightly-crazy plan works, you've got the mauler the running game needs at RG and an elite or near-elite pass-protector at RT. Worth the gamble? Worth the PR hit the front office's drafting reputation would take? Hey, go big or go home, right?

Prediction: The coaching staff's "body language" from last season is that they like Goldberg - they kept rolling him out there, after all - and don't trust Greco; witness all the times he was inactive, though according to Steve Spagnuolo, it was done to keep Foster active due to injuries at tackle. I think they'll re-sign Goldberg (I'm not against that; I thought he played well as a spot starter before last season, and also note the leadership role he's taken with the linemen during the lockout), install him as the starter and cross their fingers along with everyone else in Rams Nation that Greco takes the RG job from him in training camp and makes Goldberg the swing man on the o-line again.

Up next: defensive line.

Photo: St. Louis Rams