The best option I see without signing Barksdale is drafting a talented OT to start. Even OT Robinson who was the 2nd overall pick did not start until week 6 after Davin Joseph was benched. Robinson did not start @ OT until an injury mandated his start. So if you let UFA JB sign elsewhere then your options in the first part of the draft are diminished greatly. Forcing Snead into need mode instead of BPA made with need considerations. This need mode can have Jason Smith & Alex Barron type results. That's why Snead/Fisher were a frogs hair away from selecting OL'er Zack Martin to be our future ORT with the #13 first round pick.
I agree UFA Mike Person may end up being a very good dressed game day OL swing reserve for most all of the OL posts if we can resign him. I thinking his best starting position in the NFL may end up @ center. If RFA OC Barnes, UFA OC Person returns along with OC Rhaney having those three OC's present could free up Barrett Jones for consideration as an option @ ORT with out Barksdale. Jones who started for 26 games on the right side for Bama then moved to OLT as a Jr. Other than the above Riverumbbq I know of no other options @ ORT. What options were you thinking of?
A couple things here :
I believe its much tougher to adjust from the college level to an NFL LT position than RT. The foot work facing off against the best DE's in the league does have a higher learning curve imo.
Outside of Robinson, the 2015 OT draft class looks deeper than last season, and we all knew that GRob had pass pro issues which needed to be dealt with before starting. His initial learning curve was supposed to be at LG, obviously that got moved over, and the results so far are looking quite good. Hasn't Ju'Wuan James started all 10 games for Miami at RT this season, and his issues were more with rush protection, ... and many feel he was way over drafted in the middle of the 1'st round.
The Rams are responsible for taking Smith in a poor draft for OT's, we needed one and he was going to be our savior, and busted right out of the gate. Barron had a decent career, although his desire was questionable and he was over drafted. These matters should have been picked up thru better scouting and less panic buying imo.
I'm not worried about starting a rookie RT if our guys do their scouting jobs properly ... and getting him coached up during the pre-season, for a smart player with the positional & physical skills, the learning curve shouldn't be all that high. If the Rams are as willing to seek an excellent OLineman as they appeared to have been last season with Z.Martin, maybe go after a La'El Collins, then i'll rest assured that we have made an improvement, ... and reduced our CAP costs for the position. jmo.