Tag: Joe Noteboom

Joe Noteboom reworks contract to stay with Rams, lowers cap hit by $8.4M

Joe Noteboom has agreed to a reworked contract to stay with the Rams, lowering his cap hit by $8.4 million

The Los Angeles Rams knew they had to do something about Joe Noteboom’s contract this offseason, given his $20 million cap hit. As a projected backup, his cap hit was much too high for the Rams’ liking so he would either have to be cut or take a pay cut.

Noteboom has opted for the latter, lowering his cap hit to save the Rams some money in 2024. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Noteboom agreed to a reworked contract that includes nearly $7 million in guarantees and allows him to earn up to $14 million.

Over The Cap has noted that his cap hit drops from $20 million to $11.6 million, saving the Rams $8.4 million this year alone.

Noteboom started the year at right guard last season but got injured and never reclaimed his starting spot. He did fill in at left tackle and right tackle when Alaric Jackson and Rob Havenstein were out, but he failed to stick around as a full-time starter.

The Rams signed him to a three-year, $40 million contract in 2022 but he’s started just 14 games since then, dealing with several injuries.

Sean McVay non-committal on Joe Noteboom’s future with Rams

Joe Noteboom has one year left on his contract but he’s someone the Rams could cut this offseason

The Los Angeles Rams already began freeing up some cap space this week when they announced the release of Brian Allen, who had been with the team for the last six seasons. Another potential cap casualty is Joe Noteboom, who was drafted the same year as Allen and signed a contract extension in 2022 like Allen did, too.

Noteboom has a $20 million cap hit in 2024, the fourth-highest on the team and much too large for a player who may not earn a starting role next season. If the Rams release Noteboom outright, they’ll take on $15 million in dead money, which amounts to a net savings of $5 million. It’s not ideal, but it might be their best option.

Sean McVay was asked about Noteboom’s future Thursday and he was non-committal on the subject, saying the team is “working through” that right now.

“We’re working through all those things right now,” McVay said. “I think it’s so impressive what Joe did do, the toughness that he showed last year, the ability to really play all four spots with the exception of center. We are working through that. We’ll see what that looks like as it relates to his status with us moving forward. But Joe’s been a big-time contributor and certainly we wouldn’t have done a lot of good things without Joe and his ability to play right tackle, left tackle, right guard. If he had to play left guard, I’m sure he could but fortunately we had a rookie and (OL) Steve Avila that came in and played a hundred percent of the snaps. And so real credit to Joe for what he was able to do and the many contributions he had last year.”

There’s no doubt Noteboom provides value. He can play every offensive line position besides center, and has at some point during his career. Unfortunately, his contract is just too large for what he brings to the table.

If he were still on a rookie deal, there’s no question he’d remain with the Rams as a swing tackle and backup guard. However, at $20 million, it’s hard to imagine your fourth-highest-paid player being a backup.

Perhaps the Rams will ask Noteboom to take a pay cut in order to remain in Los Angeles, but it seems the two sides could be headed toward a split at some point this offseason.

Rams have big decisions to make with two of their highest-paid O-linemen

Joe Noteboom and Brian Allen have a combined cap hit of $28 million in 2024, but with either be back with the Rams?

After the 2021 season, the Los Angeles Rams rewarded two starting offensive linemen with contract extensions. They signed left tackle Joe Noteboom to a three-year, $40 million deal, committing to him as their replacement for Andrew Whitworth. They also gave center Brian Allen a three-year, $18 million extension after he put together a strong season in 2021.

Neither player started more than seven games in the first year of their extensions, battling through injuries during a difficult 2022 season for the entire team.

This past season wasn’t much better, with Allen getting beaten out by Coleman Shelton at center and Noteboom making just eight starts at left tackle, right guard and even right tackle. He was a valuable depth piece, but that’s not what the Rams paid him to be.

Entering this offseason, the Rams have big decisions to make with both players. Alaric Jackson, Coleman Shelton and Kevin Dotson will all be free agents, but does the front office and coaching staff feel confident enough in Allen or Noteboom to go back to them as starters? Or, will the Rams move on from them after they both failed to meet the expectations that their lucrative contracts came with?

According to Over The Cap, Noteboom has a cap hit of $20 million in 2024, the fourth-largest on the team. Allen’s cap hit is $8.05 million, seventh-highest on the roster. This is the result of the Rams restructuring the contracts of both players last offseason in an attempt to free up some cap space in 2023, though it came at the expense of giving each player larger cap hits in 2024 and 2025.

Cutting Noteboom before June 1 isn’t a great idea. That would come with a dead cap charge of $15 million, netting a savings of only $5 million. It’s more feasible to cut Allen before June 1, which would save the Rams $4.9 million after a dead cap hit of $3.15 million.

As post-June 1 cuts, the Rams could save $15 million with Noteboom and $7 million with Allen. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t see the cap savings of those moves until after June 1, but it would be more financially responsible than taking on $18.15 million with pre-June 1 cuts.

Trading either player doesn’t save the Rams any additional cap space compared to cutting them before June 1. The savings with Noteboom would only be $5 million and trading Allen would save $4.9 million.

There are a few different ways the Rams can play this with Noteboom and Allen. Jackson should be back as a restricted free agent, but if Dotson prices himself out of the Rams’ budget, might they just plug Noteboom in at right guard and hope he can stay healthy? The same goes for Shelton, who will be an unrestricted free agent and should have a decent market after playing well in 2023. If he leaves, will the Rams feel good enough about Allen to give him a third opportunity to start?

No matter what, it’s not a great situation to be in. The Rams will either be taking a risk with injury-prone players, paying them a lot to be backups or cutting them for an insignificant savings before June 1.

There’s been no indication yet of which way the front office will go, but it’s a decision that will need to be made at some point for both players.

Rams injury report: Tyler Higbee DNP, Jordan Fuller limited Wednesday

Tyler Higbee and Joe Noteboom were both held out of practice, while Jordan Fuller was limited by an ankle injury

The Los Angeles Rams are in the final week of the regular season, but their 2023 campaign won’t end here. They’ve punched their ticket to the playoffs and after facing the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday, they’ll look ahead to the wild-card round where they’ll face either the Cowboys, Lions or Eagles.

Health-wise, the Rams are in decent shape but a handful of players came out of Sunday’s win over the Giants a bit nicked up – including Tyler Higbee, Jordan Fuller and Joe Noteboom.

Sean McVay gave injury updates during Wednesday’s press conference, sharing which players were held out or limited during practice to start the week.

Noteboom (foot) and Higbee (shoulder) were both non-participants, as was Brian Allen (illness). Rob Havenstein got a veteran’s rest day, as well.

Jordan Fuller was limited because of his ankle injury and Desjuan Johnson was also limited by a toe issue. Other than that, everyone else was a full participant.

Sean McVay still considers Joe Noteboom a starter for Rams

Sean McVay wouldn’t rule out Joe Noteboom taking back a starting job when fully healthy

Joe Noteboom was active for the Los Angeles Rams in Week 7 versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he still wasn’t a starter along the offensive line. Even though Noteboom didn’t see the field on Sunday, Sean McVay still considers him a starter for the Rams.

“I look at Joe as still a starter,” McVay said. “Joe is working himself back to being healthy. When he is at full health, exactly how that affects what we’ll do with that five-man rotation is to be determined. But I’ve been pleased with those guys. I really like what I’ve seen from the left side of our offensive line. I think Alaric (Jackson) and Steve (Avila) are younger players that are continuing to get better and better with experience. Love the communication and the command and the competitiveness of Coleman Shelton. I think Kevin Dotson’s done a nice job since he’s played. I thought Joe Noteboom did a really good job when he played. I thought Joe did a good job against Indianapolis starting at left tackle and I’ve been really pleased with the steady consistent presence and play of Rob Havenstein. I thought he did an excellent job against a really good player yesterday. Those guys have done well. There are always areas of improvement, but overall, I thought they did a nice job particularly in the run game. There were some good situations in the protection and there were some certain situations that we can certainly be better, but it’s to be expected against a really good front like them.”

Noteboom has been dealing with a groin injury and hasn’t started since the team’s Week 4 matchup with the Indianapolis Colts. With Jackson excelling at left tackle, Noteboom was starting at right guard before he sustained his injury.

At the same time, Dotson has been starting at right guard in recent weeks because of Noteboom’s absence. The Rams acquired Dotson in a trade before the season began and the former fourth-round pick of the Steelers is playing extremely well.

Whenever Noteboom is fully healthy, it remains to be seen if McVay elects to reinsert him back into the starting offense. We do have to consider that McVay could simply be talking up Noteboom ahead of the trade deadline at the end of October.

When asked if Noteboom could be a player the Rams consider trading before the deadline, here’s what McVay said.

“We’d have to see how things go,” he said. “He’s a starting-caliber player. We look at him as basically a starter on our roster too. The only reason that he was inactive a couple weeks ago is because he wasn’t ready to play through the groin. He’s still getting himself back where we deemed it that him being up as a possible, whether it be guard or a tackle, even when he’s not at a hundred percent is better than some of the alternatives but you still want to be smart with him. But I would think he would fit in that role, but he’s a really valuable player to me and to us.”

Rams inactives: OL Joe Noteboom out, LB Ernest Jones to play

The Rams were down one starting offensive lineman in their Week 6 game against the Cardinals.

The Los Angeles Rams entered Week 6 with three players listed on the final injury report as questionable to play against the Arizona Cardinals. Two of those three players will be out.

The Rams released their inactive list for Week 6 and linebacker Ernest Jones, who was dealing with a knee injury, will dress and is expected to start.

Guard Joe Noteboom, who has a groin injury, will not play. Neither will defensive lineman Larrell Murchison, who has a knee injury.

Los Angeles Rams Week 6 inactives

  • OLB Nick Hampton
  • DL Larrell Murchison
  • OL Zach Thomas
  • OL Joe Noteboom
  • DL Desjuan Johnson

With Noteboom out, Kevin Dotson will likely get the start at right guard.

Thomas, the brother of Cardinals linebacker Cameron Thomas, will not dress to face his brother.

The Cardinals and Rams kick off in Week 6 at 1:25 p.m. Arizona time from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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Rams have only re-signed 3 players drafted in the Sean McVay era

Since 2017, the Rams have only given second contracts to 3 players that they’ve drafted and only 1 has really worked out

Drafting rookies is hard. Ask any general manager, scout or head coach. Finding future stars in the NFL is extremely difficult, and even landing a handful of starters in one class is a challenge.

For the most part, Rams GM Les Snead has done a good job selecting players in the draft. He found Aaron Donald, Jared Goff, Cooper Kupp, Michael Brockers, Tyler Higbee, Todd Gurley and Rob Havenstein. Lately, though, the results have been more of a mixed bag.

Since 2017, the Rams have had their share of misses, with the 2020 class immediately coming to mind. After trading Van Jefferson to the Falcons, the Rams have just three players left from that nine-player class: Brycen Hopkins, Jordan Fuller and Tremayne Anchrum Jr., two of whom are backups.

Not a single player from that class has received a contract extension yet, and it’s unclear if any of them will next offseason when they become free agents. It could follow the path of the 2019 class, which the Rams have no players left on the roster from.

Widening the scope, it’s become common practice for Los Angeles to let draft picks leave, either via trade, release or in free agency. Since Sean McVay took over as the head coach in 2017, only three players drafted by the Rams have gotten second contracts.

  • Cooper Kupp: three years, $48 million (2020)
  • Joe Noteboom: three years, $40 million (2022)
  • Brian Allen: three years, $18 million (2022)

Typically, the mark of a good draft pick is a second contract. If a team doesn’t give a player a second contract before or after their rookie contract expires, it’s usually a sign that the player didn’t do enough to earn a long-term extension – unless they priced themselves out of the team’s range in free agency.

For the Rams, many of their draft picks since 2017 simply haven’t panned out, and it’s not as if they’ve gone on to have big years with other teams. Sure, Taylor Rapp, Greg Gaines and David Edwards were solid players, but they didn’t turn into must-keep free agents.

And obviously, the 2020 class is headed down the same road with Cam Akers and Jefferson being traded, Terrell Lewis and Terrell Lewis being cut last year and Clay Johnston and Sam Sloman failing to make it through their rookie years in L.A.

The Rams have overcome some draft misses and still won a Super Bowl, but it’s not often this team nails a pick that becomes a high priority when their rookie contract expires. Hopefully Ernest Jones, Cobie Durant, Steve Avila and Byron Young (among others) can change that narrative in Los Angeles.

What will the Rams’ offensive line look like when Alaric Jackson returns?

When Alaric Jackson returns from his injury, what will the Rams’ offensive line look like?

Ahead of Sunday’s overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Los Angeles Rams ruled out Alaric Jackson, prompting the team to shake up the offensive line again. Jackson suffered a hamstring injury in Week 3 against the Cincinnati Bengals and it remains to be seen if he’ll be available in Week 5 versus the Philadelphia Eagles.

When Jackson returns to the field, what could the offensive line look like?

Upon Jackson’s exit from the game against the Bengals in Week 3, Zach Thomas replaced him at left tackle. Thomas would struggle in relief of Jackson and the Rams elected to make him a healthy scratch on Sunday against the Colts.

Instead of starting Thomas, the Rams moved Joe Noteboom back to left tackle and activated Kevin Dotson for the first time this season. Dotson would make the start at right guard and he performed well in his first game since being acquired via trade from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

According to PFF, Dotson finished with an impressive 86.0 overall grade (89.3 run-blocking, 60.8 pass-blocking), which led all offensive linemen on the Rams in the overtime victory over the Colts. Comparatively, Noteboom concluded Sunday’s game with a below-average 44.5 overall grade and he now has a 42.1 overall grade on the season (51.0 pass-blocking grade, 24.7 run-blocking grade).

While PFF grades aren’t the end-all, be-all when dissecting players’ performances, Noteboom hasn’t been a bright spot on the offensive line. Whether it has been at left tackle or right guard, Noteboom hasn’t shown anything that suggests he should be a definitive starter.

Whenever Jackson returns, it’s clear that he’ll be the starting left tackle again with how good he looked before sustaining his injury. The other starters moving forward should be Steve Avila, Coleman Shelton, Dotson, and Rob Havenstein, leaving Noteboom on the bench as a backup tackle and guard.

In hindsight, Sean McVay wishes he would’ve moved Joe Noteboom to LT vs. Bengals

After Alaric Jackson went down, the Rams put Zach Thomas at LT. In hindsight, Sean McVay realizes maybe that wasn’t their best option.

Things fell apart along the Rams’ offensive line in Week 3 after left tackle Alaric Jackson suffered a thigh injury and was unable to return. The pass protection broke down after that, with Zach Thomas struggling to hold up against the Bengals’ pass rushers at left tackle.

Some fans were surprised by Thomas being the first guy up on the left side, expecting Joe Noteboom to move out from guard to tackle in that situation. And as Thomas kept struggling, fans kept calling for Sean McVay to give Noteboom a shot outside.

In hindsight, McVay wishes he would’ve moved Noteboom to left tackle and plugged Tremayne Anchrum Jr. in at right guard instead.

“The main thing is, we had eight offensive linemen up,” McVay explained Wednesday. “Brian Allen, if something were to happen to Coleman Shelton. There had already been a situation a little bit later on where Joe (Noteboom) did get banged up. Tremayne Anchrum had to come in for an extended period of time and then you’ve got Zach Thomas. And so, if you did do that, you’re talking about a two-man switch where you moved Joe out, then you put Tremayne in. There was a lot of levels to that and so I think in hindsight, you’d say maybe would you give Joe an opportunity to go out there? Yes, but he also got banged up and there had been some things that we had seen and there was a lot of things that had gone on quickly. I’m not going to pretend to be perfect, but I will learn from those things and we’ll make better decisions if we feel like those are applicable.”

Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like Jackson’s injury will be a long-term one, with McVay saying the Rams are taking it a “day at a time” as they prepare to face the Colts on Sunday afternoon. His status is still unclear for that game, but the hope is that he can go.

If not, the Rams might have to seriously consider playing Noteboom at left tackle and Anchrum at guard because Thomas had a rough time on Monday night, earning a pass-blocking grade of 8.6 from Pro Football Focus.

Even McVay admitted it was a tough night for Thomas.

“I think it was tough,” McVay said of Thomas’ play. “I think it was a challenging situation. It was a tough atmosphere and environment. There was a lot of different things. He came in and competed the best that he could, but there were certainly some challenges as I think we all saw.”

Jackson is a key piece of this offensive line and we saw just how important he is on Monday night.

Rams RG Joe Noteboom exits vs. Bengals with knee injury

Joe Noteboom got banged up again, leaving Monday’s game with a knee injury

With Alaric Jackson already on the sidelines due to a thigh injury, Joe Noteboom joined him in the third quarter. Noteboom left the game with a knee injury late in the third and is questionable to return.

It’s the second straight week Noteboom has gotten banged up, injuring his shoulder last week against the 49ers. Just as he was a week ago, Noteboom was replaced by Tremayne Anchrum Jr. at right guard.

Anchrum was quickly called for a facemask penalty on third down to negate a first down, costing the Rams a big gain and leading to another punt.