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?
Buy Rams TicketsUpon 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.
