The Los Angeles Rams had a huge need at offensive line last offseason, and when they sought help at the position, they got a value that no one saw coming.
Just before the regular season, the Rams acquired guard Kevin Dotson from the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for just a couple of late-round pick swaps. Considering they got him for a bargain price, the Rams saw this deal pay off immensely right away.
Not only was Dotson starting-caliber, but he was one of the best guards in football as he finished with an outstanding grade of 85.2 from Pro Football Focus.
The Rams knew they struck gold with Dotson, and made sure to keep him around with a three-year extension this offseason. The former Louisiana standout was slated to hit free agency last week, but L.A. made it a priority to keep him around and he couldn't be happier.
"I just think we had pretty good communication with each other and my agent is really good at being able to get us to that point where everybody feels comfortable and being able to get into the situation where we're having talks about respectable numbers pretty early on," Dotson said, per the Rams' site. "I think they did a good job of not going how the usual route goes.
"I asked a lot of people who've been in contracts before about what's the first, how it's going to start and stuff like that and they said usually teams gives you a really, really small starting point just to kind of haggle and they didn't really haggle too much with me or try to start low balling me at the beginning. Everything felt respectable from the beginning to end so I think they made the process easy too."
Ultimately, the Rams had an offer that Dotson couldn't pass up, and not just due to money. The 2020 fourth-round pick said that continuity played an important part in his decision, as did the opportunity to remain in California.
The Rams also allowed Dotson to play more free and improvise more than he could in Pittsburgh, another key point in their favor.
"It was really fulfilling to be able to set my mind on something, find the plan of attack and be able to really go through with it," Dotson said. "It felt great, man. It just feels like I came in there with a mission and I was able to check all the boxes even more than I even believed I was going to. So it definitely felt good."
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