10 things with Joe Noteboom

[BonifayRam]

Bonifay Where have you Been ??
Over Paying ??? Since when ???

Whitworth was a nice signing , but The Rams offense needed a team leader on
the Offensive Line.
Just don’t understand everyone??
Will see what happens, but I don’t see that happening if history stays strong.

I will attempt to respond to your questions:

......... Right here with you did you not notice?

......... Yes agree it was a great sign for this Ram Org.

......... Rams will always need a veteran leader type starting in our young OL.

I am sure that when the Rams signed 28 yr old OT Rob Havenstein in 2018 to 4 year, $32,5 million contract the thinking was he would take over for Andrew Whitworth in 2020. IMO OT Rob Havenstein stands to be the veteran leader of this OL in 2020 not OT Whitworth.

Fact is Whitworth on field has been in decline for years now & he was the leader of a Ram OL that was rated #31 one away from being the worse OL in the NFL in 2019. If the Rams had $20 to $25 million of available salary funds you might consider overpaying for a AW, but when you have less than $15million it's not going to happen. AW's 2019 cap hit was $16.7 mil. according to Spotrac.

I think it would serve the Rams OL better if center Austin Blythe signs for a 1 yr prove it deal than to go into the retirement center & drag Whitworth back onto the field. Blythe is only 28 yrs old a decade less than AW. Blythe had all kinds of major physical issues through-out the 2019 champagne. Had two surgeries too. Rams gravely need a veteran center to blend in with the four very young OC's they have under contract. I believe that Blythe will sign a cost friendly contract not Whitworth.

Yes most all the top cadre UFA's in their positions are overpriced which means you sign you usually overpay. Its an accepted way of doing business. No other way to depict it. Rams will be utilizing their 2018/2019 drafted OT assets (Havenstein/ Noteboom/ Evans/ Edwards/ Brewer) & a priceless 2020 unknown drafted LT to fill the needs @ both OT positions. This plan will not involve in overpaying.

 

[Rams43]

I will attempt to respond to your questions:

......... Right here with you did you not notice?

......... Yes agree it was a great sign for this Ram Org.

......... Rams will always need a veteran leader type starting in our young OL.

I am sure that when the Rams signed 28 yr old OT Rob Havenstein in 2018 to 4 year, $32,5 million contract the thinking was he would take over for Andrew Whitworth in 2020. IMO OT Rob Havenstein stands to be the veteran leader of this OL in 2020 not OT Whitworth.

Fact is Whitworth on field has been in decline for years now & he was the leader of a Ram OL that was rated #31 one away from being the worse OL in the NFL in 2019. If the Rams had $20 to $25 million of available salary funds you might consider overpaying for a AW, but when you have less than $15million it's not going to happen. AW's 2019 cap hit was $16.7 mil. according to Spotrac.

I think it would serve the Rams OL better if center Austin Blythe signs for a 1 yr prove it deal than to go into the retirement center & drag Whitworth back onto the field. Blythe is only 28 yrs old a decade less than AW. Blythe had all kinds of major physical issues through-out the 2019 champagne. Had two surgeries too. Rams gravely need a veteran center to blend in with the four very young OC's they have under contract. I believe that Blythe will sign a cost friendly contract not Whitworth.

Yes most all the top cadre UFA's in their positions are overpriced which means you sign you usually overpay. Its an accepted way of doing business. No other way to depict it. Rams will be utilizing their 2018/2019 drafted OT assets (Havenstein/ Noteboom/ Evans/ Edwards/ Brewer) & a priceless 2020 unknown drafted LT to fill the needs @ both OT positions. This plan will not involve in overpaying.

You raise an excellent point about Blythe’s multiple health issues during the season, Bonifay.

A bad ankle and TWO bad shoulders that required post season surgery? Wow! One has to wonder what the experienced and 100% healthy Blythe could accomplish at C this season. Plus, it would be nice to be able to use our top picks for that D, instead of C, huh?

Hell, maybe extending Blythe is the smart strategy for this cap strapped Ram team.

 

[BonifayRam]

You raise an excellent point about Blythe’s multiple health issues during the season, Bonifay.

A bad ankle and TWO bad shoulders that required post season surgery? Wow! One has to wonder what the experienced and 100% healthy Blythe could accomplish at C this season. Plus, it would be nice to be able to use our top picks for that D, instead of C, huh?

Hell, maybe extending Blythe is the smart strategy for this cap strapped Ram team.

When you see articles that contain guesstimates of Blythe signing a sizable contract based on his Colts & Rams seasons..... After the 2018 & 2019 seasons just does not feel right.

PFF graciously gave Blythe an overall rating of 50.5alm: in 2019. They also rated him as the #38 center playing in the NFL .....that's a very low grade. I don't comprehend those high projected contracts being offered.

If Blythe is looking for an annual $6 million a year good luck on that. If I were Snead I would table an offer close to #3 million for 2 seasons. Blythe is sure to reject an offer that I suggested thus he will happily test the FA market. I would be in no rush to sign him for anything more.

 

[iamme33]

Now with a year of complaining we didn’t retain Saffold people insist we have to move on from young guys that have had in almost every case less than a year of starting.

i don't know that anyone is saying that we move on from the young guys but many think we should at least get some competition for them. you seem to be saying we should not give up on the young guys until they have more experience. some of us are saying they should not be considered the answer based on around 8 games of experience. and as far as saffold goes we did give up on him he just failed a physical then had shoulder surgery and became the player most wished we had kept

 

[So Ram]

I will attempt to respond to your questions:

......... Right here with you did you not notice?

......... Yes agree it was a great sign for this Ram Org.

......... Rams will always need a veteran leader type starting in our young OL.

I am sure that when the Rams signed 28 yr old OT Rob Havenstein in 2018 to 4 year, $32,5 million contract the thinking was he would take over for Andrew Whitworth in 2020. IMO OT Rob Havenstein stands to be the veteran leader of this OL in 2020 not OT Whitworth.

Fact is Whitworth on field has been in decline for years now & he was the leader of a Ram OL that was rated #31 one away from being the worse OL in the NFL in 2019. If the Rams had $20 to $25 million of available salary funds you might consider overpaying for a AW, but when you have less than $15million it's not going to happen. AW's 2019 cap hit was $16.7 mil. according to Spotrac.

I think it would serve the Rams OL better if center Austin Blythe signs for a 1 yr prove it deal than to go into the retirement center & drag Whitworth back onto the field. Blythe is only 28 yrs old a decade less than AW. Blythe had all kinds of major physical issues through-out the 2019 champagne. Had two surgeries too. Rams gravely need a veteran center to blend in with the four very young OC's they have under contract. I believe that Blythe will sign a cost friendly contract not Whitworth.

Yes most all the top cadre UFA's in their positions are overpriced which means you sign you usually overpay. Its an accepted way of doing business. No other way to depict it. Rams will be utilizing their 2018/2019 drafted OT assets (Havenstein/ Noteboom/ Evans/ Edwards/ Brewer) & a priceless 2020 unknown drafted LT to fill the needs @ both OT positions. This plan will not involve in overpaying.

agree with Blythe as well.Bring both back.Whitworth imo will be back though. He also is hanging with Reggie with an ankle injury.

 

[Hram]

Yeah I think you've nailed it. He definitely needs to get stronger so I would guess he gets the 2020 season or most of it to do that. So his real "window" as it were to make a mark on the top of the depth chart will be the 2021 season.

Which is the last season of his rookie deal. It's a damn bummer but he's still got his entire career ahead of him.

oops, meant this in reply to Bruce’s reply on the rebuild.

I’ve been thinking the same thing. We waited one year too long to fix the oline long term, but you can’t fix everything at once. Overall their moves and drafting have made sense the past three years. At least they appear to have a strategic plan and are executing it while remaining flexible enough to take advantage of opportunities.

 

[Merlin]

Hell, maybe extending Blythe is the smart strategy for this cap strapped Ram team.

The problem with Blythe is his lack of consistency. His play at Center was far better than how he had looked at Guard, but he seems to be at his best when he doesn't have job security.

He played well for most of 2018 on the heels of taking the RG job, well up until the Bears exposed his and Sully's inability to deal with a physical DL. From that point forward he was below average, far below average, outside of a small stretch of games in which the Rams had run balance with CJ in the backfield.

Then in 2019 he slides over to Center and has a mini-renaissance. It's sort of the same thing, he doesn't have security and is playing balls-out for a job and he looks ok.

My issue is that he's gonna get exposed again as a marginal talent. Barring the Rams loading two roadgrading OGs next to him. And in FA teams are gonna be like "oh look he's not a guard he's a center" and drive his cost up. Only to be disappointed down the road when he gets exposed. So IMO we need to avoid that whole scenario and let him roll out in FA.

Draft a Center this year. Have him compete with Allen and maybe Corbett. Boost the OG position in FA or the draft. Wide open competition in camp and preseason should then get us where we need to go.

 

[BonifayRam]

The problem with Blythe is his lack of consistency. His play at Center was far better than how he had looked at Guard, but he seems to be at his best when he doesn't have job security.

He played well for most of 2018 on the heels of taking the RG job, well up until the Bears exposed his and Sully's inability to deal with a physical DL. From that point forward he was below average, far below average, outside of a small stretch of games in which the Rams had run balance with CJ in the backfield.

Then in 2019 he slides over to Center and has a mini-renaissance. It's sort of the same thing, he doesn't have security and is playing balls-out for a job and he looks ok.

My issue is that he's gonna get exposed again as a marginal talent. Barring the Rams loading two roadgrading OGs next to him. And in FA teams are gonna be like "oh look he's not a guard he's a center" and drive his cost up. Only to be disappointed down the road when he gets exposed. So IMO we need to avoid that whole scenario and let him roll out in FA.

Draft a Center this year. Have him compete with Allen and maybe Corbett. Boost the OG position in FA or the draft. Wide open competition in camp and preseason should then get us where we need to go.

When you are Austin Blythe 28 yrs old & have been in the NFL for a while with 59 NFL gms & over 37 games worth of starts......2 Ram seasons (2018/2019) as their anointed starter! However, it was revealed during your trip to the 2018 SB last year that you are a weak link @ RG when matched up against stronger DT's particularly the bull rush. You were not sound & highly effective starting in this post.

You then follow up 2018 with a 2019 season starting @ both RG then OC your play @ center is still way below most other OC's in the NFL but your better @ OC than OG......maybe the right position you can take going into UFA'cy is....

Blythe's truthful Resume should read like this - I can provide you (NFL team) veteran versatile RESERVE OL'er who has experience starting & playing all three interior post & even @ RT. I would furnish your team OL an enormous benefit performing the role as a veteran interior reserve OL'er working together with your large youthful inexperienced OL cadre. I have fully recovered from two shoulder surgeries & season long soft tissue damage to my ankle & calf. I am looking for a 2 yr contract @ a low moderate veteran wage to work on my skills & abilities to hope to improve to be a future solid starter in my early 30's of my profession later.

 

[VegasRam]

You raise an excellent point about Blythe’s multiple health issues during the season, Bonifay.

A bad ankle and TWO bad shoulders that required post season surgery? Wow! One has to wonder what the experienced and 100% healthy Blythe could accomplish at C this season. Plus, it would be nice to be able to use our top picks for that D, instead of C, huh?

Hell, maybe extending Blythe is the smart strategy for this cap strapped Ram team.

Agreed, and I can't help but wonder if Blythe's questionable play affected Hav, just like (imo), losing Saffold affected AW's play.

Olinemen don't play in a vacuum.