Sean McVay expresses confidence in Joe Noteboom as Whitworth’s replacement
There’s simply no easy way to replace a four-time Pro Bowl left tackle like Andrew Whitworth. The Rams haven’t had to since he signed as a free agent in 2017 – until now, that is.
Whitworth went down with a knee injury in Sunday’s game and will miss an estimated 6-8 weeks, though he could return for a playoff run. It’s a huge blow to the Rams offensive line, which has improved dramatically after a difficult year in 2019.
They won’t be bringing in a free agent or poaching someone off a practice squad to take his place at left tackle. Instead, the Rams will give Joe Noteboom a chance to prove himself as Jared Goff’s blindside protector.
Noteboom has eight career starts in the NFL, but all of those came at guard. He has yet to see extended playing time at left tackle since being a third-round pick in 2018. That hasn’t caused Sean McVay to waver on his confidence in Noteboom, putting faith in the third-year lineman as Whitworth’s replacement.
“I think, Joe did a nice job stepping in yesterday,” McVay said Monday. “Coach (Aaron) Kromer has done a great job of developing Joe. Joe’s a guy that has position flex. Obviously, he started at the guard position for us this season and going back to last year, but he was somebody that we always anticipated when we drafted him out of TCU, that he could be a big-time player at the tackle spot. And he’s going to get a lot of great work. We have a lot of confidence in him and I’m looking forward to seeing Joe accumulate some great experience and play at a high level for us starting against the Bucs.”
It’s hard to ignore the magnitude of this opportunity for Noteboom. He was originally drafted to potentially replace Whitworth in a year or two if the veteran retired, but he hasn’t been needed because Whitworth is winning his battle with Father Time.
This is Noteboom’s first real chance to prove himself as a future starting left tackle. If Whitworth retires after this season, the door could open for Noteboom to take his place. But that’ll be less likely if Noteboom struggles to close out this season, causing the Rams to look elsewhere for Whitworth’s heir.
McVay is fully aware of the situation, but he doesn’t want to look too far ahead. He doesn’t necessarily view this as an audition for Noteboom.
“I think what it is, is it’s an opportunity for him to play right now and we’re going to be present in the moment,” he said. “Joe is a guy that we’ve always anticipated in projected as somebody that we do feel like is a starting-caliber left tackle in this league. He’s got the length. He’s got the athleticism. I think he’s doing a great job of continuing to, to grow his repertoire in terms of understanding the techniques, the fundamentals that we want to implement and utilize in the run game and protection. I was pleased with him yesterday, but it’s going to be something that you’ll certainly miss Andrew and everything that he means to us. But, whether you look at it as an audition, I think it’s an opportunity for Joe to step up and I expect him to play.”
