Last year, it was St. Louis Rams end Kevin Carter and Atlanta Falcons tackle Travis Hall. Same division, even the same agent, but, alas, disparate results.

While the Rams star became the leading sacker in the NFL with 17, Hall suffered through another hurtful campaign, an injury transforming him into the league's equivalent of the one-armed man.

Bat .500 in any league, of course, and it's viewed as a success.

Grady Jackson (left), with Darrell Russell, should be celebrating even more this season.(Allsport)

But this time around, we plan to go two-for-two with our "breakout" predictions on the defensive front for 2000. And we'll hold our breath that the players, tackles Grady Jackson of Oakland and San Diego's Jamal Williams, keep their weight under control enough to make both a force at more than just the dinner table.

"The only thing that can stop those two guys from becoming great players is themselves, really," said one AFC West offensive line coach, who has schemed against both. "In the past, neither of them had much stamina, even though they weren't even playing full time. So it's going to be interesting to see if they've made the sacrifice to get into shape now that they are going to be starters. If they have, they can be excellent players."

So far, the results from training camp and the preseason are mixed.

Williams, who will fill the starting vacancy created by the departure of tackle Norman Hand to New Orleans, is 25 pounds lighter than a year ago and has increased his bench press from 375 pounds to 440 pounds.

Jackson, unfortunately, was not as diligent in the offseason but is working himself into shape and will fill the void left by the exit of Russell Maryland to Green Bay.

Selecting the two interior linemen, who have just three starts between them in a combined five NFL seasons, was hardly an easy call.

There were plenty of deserving candidates at end, including N.D. Kalu (Washington), Ebenezer Ekuban and Peppi Zellner (both of Dallas), Rich Owens (Miami), Keith McKenzie (Cleveland) and Andre Wadsworth (Arizona), assuming he is fully recovered from arthroscopic knee surgery.

At tackle, Buffalo's Pat Williams is becoming a true force, but demonstrated last season he is a handful for opposing guards.

Among the rookies, we expect Cleveland end Courtney Brown, the first overall selection in the draft, to make an immediate impact and notch double-digit sacks.

In the AFC West alone, there are a number of young linemen worth watching. Every one of the teams in the division, it seems, is relying on a young veteran to step up big.

• Seattle likely will have two new starters in tackle Riddick Parker and end Lamar King.
• At Kansas City, it looks like Eric Hicks will start at end.
• Denver hopes second-year pro Montae Reagor can provide better pass rush in "nickel" situations.
• While he has 21 sacks over the past two seasons, Oakland end Lance Johnstone could reach 15-16 this year playing alongside tackle Darrell Russell, and second-year end Tony Bryant could emerge also.

One factor that favored Williams and Jackson is they have improved every year in the league as third tackles in their teams' rotations and now seem prepared to step up to starter's status and make an impact.

Another element was the belief that, for all the credit the upfield ends merit in a league where the sack has become a transcendent play, any pass rush originates on the inside, with the tackles compressing the pocket.

Between the two of them, Jackson and Williams might not have 10 sacks in 2000, but they should generate inside push and also play stout against the run. Certainly their coordinators are counting on them to do just that, and the Chargers and Raiders jettisoned more experienced tackles because they believed the youngsters were ready for an expanded role.

"People are counting on me and I know that," said Jackson, who, at 6-feet-2, 325 pounds, looks like a classic, two-gap tackle but has more countermoves than most pure bull rushers. "This is my time to shine. I'm more motivated than I've ever been before."

A large part of that motivation comes from the death last Nov. 29 of Attie Brocks, his great grandmother and the woman who raised him, at age 86. Jackson's mother died when he was 8 years old and his father was murdered when he was 15. His grandmother died in between, and he then went to live with Brocks, who also took in his two younger brothers at her modest home in Greensboro, N.C.

She never saw him play an NFL game, passing away last year about a week before she was to travel to Nashville for the Raiders' matchup with the Tennessee Titans.

"He's a real impressionable kid and losing his great grandmother hurt him deeply," said agent and close friend Terry Bolar. "He's the kind of player who needs football to take his mind off some of the bad stuff that's happened in his life. He's come from nowhere, really, just a sixth-round pick, but he is realizing now how good he can be."

The Chargers used a second-round choice in the 1998 summer supplemental draft to get Williams, and the team has brought him along slowly. He averaged about 27 snaps per game in 1999 as part of a rotation that included Hand and John Parella, and there were stretches when he dominated in run defense.

San Diego plays a very disciplined style under coordinator Joe Pascale, shutting off the run first and backing opponents into third-and-long situations.

The primary task of the tackles is to keep blockers away from linebacker Junior Seau and strong safety Rodney Harrison, the big hitters on the unit, and rarely do the interior players make many tackles. But Williams is a load, even at his new svelte weight, and his strength and motor should mean very little dropoff at the position.