WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – To call what became an injury-shortened final NFL season difficult would be an understatement.
You wouldn't know it based on the way Rams coaches and teammates saw offensive lineman Rob Havenstein handle himself in those trying times.
"The more that I'm around Rob, the more I love him," head coach Sean McVay said on Jan. 16. "We have a longstanding history, but I think when you watch how people handle not ideal circumstances and situations, you learn about them. This guy continues to come away as an incredibly special person. I look at it, having two sons now, when my sons eventually go through something like this, I hope they handle it the way Rob Havenstein has."
The way he went out, and the relationships he made a long the way, speak to the legacy he leaves as he retires after 11 years in the league.
---
As players finished cleaning out their lockers on the final day of the 2025 season, Dotson shared long embraces with center Coleman Shelton and right guard Kevin Dotson.
Dotson first joined the team in late August 2023 via a trade with the Steelers. His and Havenstein's friendship became so close in the following years that Dotson gifted him Cartier Buff sunglasses like the ones he wears.
"Even outside of football, he was always welcoming to even come to his house, hang with his kids and everything like that," Dotson told theRams.com. "It was just way more than football friendship. So it's gonna be tough to not have him in the building, but I don't think I'm gonna lose him as a friend. So it's bittersweet in that way, (but) I'm still gonna have him in my life. So it's still a positive in that way."
"The way he leads the room, he's always willing to help guys, honestly both on and off the field," offensive lineman A.J. Arcuri said. "It doesn't just transfer to the field. Like, if you need advice for the at-home stuff, he's there. He's just the guy everyone looks up to and leans on for any advice."
Havenstein had older players who set an example for him when he first entered the league, and he maintained the same approach as he became one of those veterans and later a four-time team captain. Countless times throughout the season, teammates and coaches brought up the way he poured into teammates, especially Warren McClendon Jr. who started in his place at right tackle.
"After every series, he'll come up to me and be like, 'Hey, good series there or, hey, I saw this,'" McClendon said on Rams Revealed this season.
"It's always refreshing to see some stuff like that, because I've been in places where they don't want the person in front or behind them to get that shine, and not give them advice," Dotson said. "And he's never, ever been a person to try to hold somebody back or not give them info that could help them look good. From the day one of Warren getting in there, like, they have all those talks, he never took that as that type of competition where he doesn't help. He's always been a mentor to everybody in the room. He's always been really the following figure of the room. So to have him do that, you almost expected from him. Of all people, you expect it from him."
That was something Dotson felt from the first day he arrived in Los Angeles. Healthy or not, it has always been important to Havenstein to maintain a presence around teammates, such as being on the sideline to keep teammates informed of what he's seeing unfold on the field.
Dotson said his first day and overall assimilation into the Rams being an easy transition was a credit to Havenstein.
"I feel like I'm following in his footsteps, because I feel like I try to give advice to everybody," Dotson said. "I see him giving that advice without any type of hesitation, and I try to do the same as him."
That ownership and responsibility was as strong on the practice field as it was in the meeting room.
D.J. Humphries was one of two veteran offensive tackles the Rams signed for depth last summer. Both Day 1 starters after getting drafted in 2015, they had parallel careers across the division as Humphries went to the Cardinals and Havenstein to the Rams.
In getting to know Havenstein, the experience has confirmed everything positive Humphries thought about him. Humphries found Havenstein to be more personable than expected.
Making others feel welcome wasn't exclusive to just the younger players, as Humphries learned first-hand with the way Havenstein helped him feel embraced by the offensive line room.
"He was very welcoming of me," Humphries said. "And it wasn't like a welcoming me, 'and you need to be this way.' It was more of a welcoming that 'we're excited to have you here. We've always thought this of you, and now you're here, we get to experience you.' And that was all from him, that was energy that was coming from him. Making sure that the young guys treated me like a vet, because they didn't know me. … Fast forward to now, and us developing a friendship over the time, it's been cool, man. I thought that he was a great dude, just from the outside, but being here, being a part of it, this is everything I thought he was, even more I would say for sure."
Speaking of that mutual respect, Humphries also was impressed by how Havenstein maintained the standard for the room.
"It's been awesome to watch, watching another veteran be a good vet and lead the young guys and make sure he has heavy ownership in what's going on the film, and speaking up when he sees something that he doesn't like or thinks that things should change a (certain) way or a standard that he set," Humphries said.
While it was not uncommon to witness Havenstein spending extra time working with younger offensive tackles after practice, he went of his way to put the rest of the offensive line in a position to succeed as well, regardless of their role – or whether they had his height.
"We were watching some film from practice, and it was a mid-zone block I had, and it was when I was climbing the linebacker, and he was talking through his thought process of when he was climbing through a backer and where he's putting his hat," offensive lineman Justin Dedich said. "Sometimes we can relate. He's cool because he can relate to different guys. Me being 6-2, him being 6-7, sometimes stuff doesn't work, so he'll sit there and try to figure out what helps a shorter guy. (It's) super cool, because not a lot of older vets – some guys on other teams, you hear the horror stories of guys not really taking the time to help out their young cats, so it's cool to have a guy like that."
"One thing that I always talked about Rob was how consistent he was throughout his career, and I think it's cool to see that come to life now, regardless of the situation, he hasn't changed who he is since I've gotten here," offensive lineman Steve Avila said. "He's always been, honestly, like a fourth coach in the room. He really cares about us and really pours into us."
----
A close friend of Havenstein's, center Coleman Shelton has known Havenstein the longest of the current group, having been teammates from Havenstein from 2019-23 and again this past season. Shelton said Havenstein's been "such a good asset" to the team because of the way he comes into the building each day, the way he helps out with McClendon or the tackles, his positivity, and being a good friend and leader.
"He's just here, and you can tell he wants what's best for everybody," Shelton said.
"Everyday life, he's there," Arcuri said. "He's a guy you want in your foxhole."
The positivity, and the confidence, are two things that resonated with offensive lineman Alaric Jackson.
"To cheer you up, but also, like, give you good feedback," Jackson said. "Some guys may do it in a more aggressive way, not as positively, but Rob does it that way all the time."
In 2022 – when he was named a team captain for the first time – Havenstein said he "truly want what's best for guys." He embraced competition, but he also wanted what was best for the group, so trying not to help certain teammates because he thinks of them as a threat to his job would be counterintuitive to what he stood for. He also wanted to be selective about when he spoke up, so his words would carry weight.
The stats and the achievements are great measure of Havenstein's consistency, between 161 career starts across the regular season and playoffs and closing out his career with four straight seasons of peers voting him a team captain.
But the greatest of all is what he can take the most pride in entering retirement:
Knowing he stayed true to himself, no matter the highs and the lows his career brought him.
"He's one of my best friends," Shelton said. "He's one of my longest teammates ever. I can't say enough about him. He's always kind of been like a big brother, had my back. When I was really young and came in, he was always there. He's a good dude, and he's just there to there to help, and there to be your friend and just a mentor. He's always been awesome. All I can say is one of my best friends, and I'm thankful for having this teammate as long as I've had."
