The Rams’ offensive line was bound to undergo some changes this offseason. Andrew Whitworth is on the verge of retirement, Brian Allen and Austin Corbett were free agents and Joseph Noteboom has been waiting in the wings to replace Whitworth at left tackle.
One day into the legal tampering period of free agency, the Rams’ O-line is already taking shape. They re-signed Noteboom, Allen and Coleman Shelton, keeping them in the mix for 2022. Corbett won’t be back in Los Angeles, however, after he landed a three-year, $29.25 million deal with the Panthers.
We still don’t officially know Whitworth’s plan for 2022, but he’s been hinting at retirement for some time now. So assuming he does retire from the NFL, the Rams’ starting offensive line isn’t terribly difficult to project at this point.
It will probably look something like this
LT: Joseph Noteboom
LG: David Edwards
C: Brian Allen
RG: Coleman Shelton
RT: Rob Havenstein
There’s a chance that Shelton could play left guard and Edwards could move to the right side, but for now, we’ll project Edwards to stay at left guard and Shelton to replace Corbett at right guard.
Shelton started at left guard against the Vikings in Week 16 after Whitworth and Havenstein tested positive for COVID-19, forcing Edwards to play left tackle with Noteboom at right tackle. So he has experience at left guard, and in college, Shelton also played right guard.
Had Allen not been re-signed, it would’ve been easy to pencil in Shelton as the starting center, too. He has position flexibility across all three interior spots, giving the Rams plenty of options in the event of injury.
The Rams committed to Shelton for longer than they needed to, as well, which is a good sign for how highly they think of him. He was a restricted free agent, so he could’ve been tendered for one year for as low as $2.4 million. We still don’t know how much Shelton’s two-year deal is worth, but the Rams clearly wanted to keep him beyond just 2022.