The Rams are trying another offensive lineman at a new position

One of the bigger stories coming out of Los Angeles Rams training camp has been that second-year offensive lineman, Logan Bruss is switching from right guard to right tackle. However, Bruss isn’t the only Rams offensive linemen who could be switching positions. According to the Rams’ Stu Jackson, Joe Noteboom has been getting reps and competing at right guard. If he performs well there, it’s possible that Noteboom earns a starting role in that spot. Here’s what Jackson had to say,

“Rams head coach Sean McVay confirmed that Noteboom, who had been rotating with Alaric Jackson at left tackle throughout training camp, is getting reps and competing at right guard.”

This type of position switch comes very late in the offseason and as The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue noted, this “would be quite a plot twist — especially after we didn’t see Noteboom getting any right guard reps until the later part of camp.”

As it stands, it’s uncertain whether or not Alaric Jackson or Noteboom will be the left tackle. At center, Brian Allen and Coleman Shelton are still competing at center. Now, add right guard to the list where Noteboom is apparently competing with Tremayne Anchrum. Noteboom moving to right guard is just another thing that the Rams need to figure out on the offensive line in the preseason.

This seems like a situation that the Rams almost have too many versatile pieces and aren’t sure exactly where these pieces should go. They have a puzzle that they need to put together, but all of the pieces look the same. It becomes a problem of finding which pieces fit best together. Because of the versatility that the Rams have on the offensive line, there are almost too many options which is clouding up what needs to be a clear picture.

At this point in the offseason, there are too many moving parts along the offensive line when they need to start building cohesion and consistency. This has been the biggest question mark that the Rams needed to be able to figure out this offseason and only two out of the five positions are locked up.

Said McVay on Thursday about Noteboom,

“Because we feel like he’s one of our better players, we want to be able to move him around and just figuring out kind of the best way to mix and match. Joe’s the guy that can kind of play inside and outside so it’s one of those deals that we kind of had planned initially and he started at guard for us before...You’d like to be able to see him continue to earn his role with our team...I think Joe is a guy that can start at guard or tackle and he’s played at a high level so players like him are very rare that have the ability to do that.”

Noteboom has never played on the right side since joining the Rams in 2017. In fact, he hasn’t played a significant number of snaps on the right side since his sophomore year at TCU. All 699 of those snaps came at right tackle. Noteboom has played left guard for the Rams before, but his most comfortable position and best snaps have come on the left side at tackle. It’s worth noting he played one game in 2021 at right tackle against the Arizona Cardinals.

It’s hard to be too critical until we see the offensive line take the field. However, if the Rams are still moving offensive linemen around, from the outside, it appears like a completely boggled and mismanaged situation. It appears like they still don’t know what to do at the most important position group. At this point, players should be settling into their positions, not still moving around and undecided on whether or not they’ll be playing inside or outside at guard or tackle.

With all of this being said, if Noteboom is starting to get rotated in at right guard, that may mean that the Rams are leaning Jackson at left tackle and Shelton at center who would be the only other option at right guard. Anchrum has been the right guard throughout the offseason, but if the Rams aren’t sold on him at that spot, it might be worth giving Noteboom a look.

All eyes will be on the offensive line throughout the preseason. If anything is certain it’s that nothing is certain when it comes to the Rams offensive line.