Look for the four-way competition to land offensive tackle Barry Sims to come down to a intra-division battle between the 49ers and Rams. All four teams - the Patriots and the Ravens are the other two - could stand to boost their depth along the offensive line, but the Rams and 49ers appear to offer Sims the best chance at seeing playing time.

The Rams certainly have one of the greatest left tackles of all time in Orlando Pace. But Pace has played in only nine games in the last two seasons and suffered a season-ending injury in Week One last year. That injury proved to be a nasty harbinger for the Rams' offensive line, which lost one lineman after another in 2007. Pace is now recovering from off-season rotator cuff surgery, a tough injury for a tackle. On the other side of the line, the Rams have Alex Barron, but there is little depth beyond that. It should be noted that Sims can play on both the left and right side, but that he primarily was a left tackle while with the Raiders

The 49ers, meanwhile, have concerns on the right side of the line where oft-injured Jonas Jennings is the starter. Rookie Chilo Rachal is second on the depth chart there, but there is a belief inside the organization that his true position is guard and that he should be developed there. At this point, it is hard to imagine that Rachal, who last played tackle the summer before his freshman year at USC, would start there if Jennings became injured.

In Baltimore, Jonathan Ogden retired last week. But his heir apparent appears to be massive second-year player Jared Gaither, a supplemental draft acquisition last year. Adam Terry is manning the right side.

Aside from the Super Bowl, New England's offensive line held up well last year. Matt Light is on the left side while Nick Kaczur, Ryan O'Callaghan and Oliver Ross can play on the right side.

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Thanks to Cecil Lammey and Sigmund Bloom for having me on their radio show yesterday. To listen to the podcast, click here.

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Athletes Against Autism is holding its annual golf tournament this weekend in Santa Barbara and several current and former NFLers with Bay Area ties will be taking part including Tom Flores, Ryan Nece (current Tampa Bay lb; Ronnie Lott's son), and former 49ers Chris Hetherington and Travis Hall. My money's on Hetherington, whose father owns a golf course in Connecticut.

-- Matt Barrows.