Champion Rams re-sign LT Joseph Noteboom to 3-year deal

Offensive lineman Joseph Noteboom has agreed to a three-year deal to stay with the Los Angeles Rams.

The Super Bowl champions announced the deal Monday with Noteboom, who was headed toward free agency after four seasons spent largely as Andrew Whitworth’s backup in Los Angeles.

Noteboom is nearly certain to be the Rams’ starting left tackle next season if Whitworth retires as expected. The 40-year-old Whitworth has all but said he won’t return after winning his first league title last month and being selected as the league’s Walter Payton Man of the Year in an impressive culmination of his 16-year career.

Noteboom missed the NFC championship game and the Super Bowl last month because of a chest injury from the Rams’ playoff victory over Tampa Bay, but he has filled in solidly for an injured Whitworth whenever called upon over the past four years with the Rams.

He started two games at left guard and seven more at left tackle in the 2020 season after Whitworth went down with a knee injury, and he started two games in Whitworth’s place last season. Noteboom also played as an extra blocker in heavy run formations for the Rams down the stretch of their championship season.

Noteboom was the Rams’ starting left guard in 2019 before a knee injury ended his season after six games. He was a third-round pick out of TCU by the Rams in 2018.

Noteboom’s signing provides stability in what could be an offseason of big changes on the Rams’ offensive line. Along with Whitworth’s probable retirement, center Brian Allen and right guard Austin Corbett could both leave as free agents.

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