The Los Angeles Rams’ offensive line was decimated by injuries last season. Not only did four of their five starters go down at one point or another, but several backups missed significant time, too.
Alaric Jackson, Joe Noteboom and Brian Allen all missed significant time, none playing more than eight games all year. Jackson had to be shut down due to blood clots, Noteboom tore his Achilles six games in and Allen dealt with numerous ailments, from a knee issue to a thumb injury and a calf strain.
Sean McVay met with reporters on Friday and shared some encouraging updates on all three players. Jackson has been cleared to return, Noteboom will be ready for training camp and Allen should be good to go for the start of the offseason program.
“Yeah, so AJ’s doing well. He had to just get on a medicine and he’s feeling good and to my understanding, he’s going to be clear to return and it’s a blessing that we were able to find that out and he was able to kind of get that under control. But he’s feeling good. He looks good. Excited to be able to get him back out on the field,” McVay said. “Joe will probably be a guy that we’ll be monitoring throughout the course of the offseason, but then once training camp rolls around he’ll be ready to go. And to my understanding, Brian is feeling good. I had a lot of different little injuries here and there. But to my understanding from talking with Reggie (Scott) and those guys, his knee is feeling good. He had a calf strain, he had a thumb issue that he had dealt with, but both of those things should be feeling good around this time and when the offseason is due to kick off.”
All three players could potentially be starters next season. Noteboom and Jackson are candidates to start at left tackle, and both of them can also play guard if needed. Allen is penciled in currently as the starting center and barring a change, it’ll probably stay that way.
The Rams need all the depth and talent they can get along the offensive line after a disastrous 2022 season up front, and getting these three players back will be a major step in the right direction.
