LA Rams FA Joseph Noteboom tops PFF’s 2022 boom-or-bust list

Swing Tackle

The fact is that the development and progress of offensive lineman Joseph Noteboom have not followed the traditional ‘You are our future left tackle’ track, but rather the LA Rams loved his potential and so tried to find a position/opportunity to harness that talent early in his career. So rather than earmark him for an offensive left tackle, the team moved him to the starting left guard position in 2019. That experiment lasted just six games before his season ended due to injury.

He would return to a starting left guard role in 2020, where he would perform much better than the previous year. But once more, he would fall to injury due to a lower calf injury that would bench him for six weeks. While you may view this as an unfortunate incident, it was the set of circumstances that would eventually lead to his extension in 2022.

Noteboom returns just in time

He returned to the team’s active roster just in time to take over for the injured starting left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who suffered an MCL injury in Week 10 of the 2020 NFL season. Unlike his 2019 start, Noteboom played admirably, particularly when considering he had just returned from injury himself, and truly had no time to prepare to take over full time at left tackle.

While Whitworth healed quickly enough to take over for the playoffs, the LA Rams coaching staff and front office learned that Noteboom could be counted on to take over at the most important offensive line position on the team.

He would start three more games for the LA Rams in 2021.  He started at left tackle in Weeks 8 and in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He also started at the right tackle spot in Week 14 when starter Rob Havenstein tested positive for COVID-19 and was inactive. Noteboom handled both assignments well, and immediately elevated his role for the team as a swing tackle on the roster.