Shocked? LA Rams make a surprising trade for this Steelers player. But why?

III: Neither Joe Noteboom nor Logan Bruss had won the RG job

The rhetoric from the LA Rams training camp, and even through their three preseason games, left little doubt in the minds of LA Rams fans that this team wanted either second year interior offensive lineman Logan Bruss or the very versatile offensive lineman Joe Noteboom to outright win the competition to start at the offensive right guard position.

But as the Rams training camp progressed into preseason practices, it became more and more obvious that neither scenario was likely to take place. After missing his entire rookie season due to a devastating knee injury, a series of minor injuries prevented Bruss from participating in OL drills this offseason, and he was clearly falling behind.

As a result, he has been moved from right guard to right tackle, with each effort an attempt to find some role in which he was both comfortable and competent.|

Waddya' know, Joe?

So too did rehabbing offensive tackle Joe Noteboom return this season trying to reclaim his former starting role on the offensive line. But his minor injuries early in training camp slowed his progress as well, and he also found himself falling behind.

While Noteboom has been a competent backup/fill-in starter for the LA Rams offensive line in the past, the promotion to full time starting left tackle has not gone the way that he and the LA Rams had planned. Not only had Noteboom struggled at times, far more than you might expect a player of his experience to suffer, but his inability to remain healthy and available had crippled the LA Rams offense last season.

The key to starting over in 2023 means that the Rams must be willing to shed past problems that paint them into a corner. For now, I believe that Noteboom will be relegated back to his swing-tackle role, while Logan Bruss may not survive the roster cuts this week.