Staying on track: Atlanta United’s Noah Cobb among world’s most used young center backs

As Atlanta United and MLS develop a deeper understanding and use of data analytics, we’ll look behind the curtain at some of the specific statistics valued by the club. In our new weekly content series, we look at a metric provided by StatsBomb that may not stand out at first glance, but upon closer evaluation is a useful tool for measuring team performance. This is Staying on Track presented by MARTA.

Eight local players participated in Atlanta United’s 3-0 round of 16 victory at the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Tuesday night. One of them was Noah Cobb, a local defender from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Cobb was not in the starting lineup for Tuesday’s Open Cup match, but he came on early in the match to replace Stian Gregersen, who had to be replaced in the 11th minute due to injury.

This wasn’t a situation where Atlanta United head coach Gonzalo Pineda had to look deep into his depth chart and select a player who could debut against a lower division opponent. Cobb is one of the club’s most experienced youngsters, already logging 532 minutes of MLS action in 2024 according to StatsBomb. He has made nine career MLS appearances and has appeared in the starting lineup six times so far for all 5 sides in the regular season.

His playing time is among the best in the world among young players. After the May 7 match against Minnesota United, Cobb ranks number 1.15 across the world in minutes played by a central defender under the age of 19. This breadth of data from StatsBomb includes 76 leagues and almost every semi-major league in the world.

According to these same filters, Cobb ranks third in North America and South America combined.

For a player of this age, minutes played are one of the the best indicators of success, and this is a very positive sign for Cobb’s development. This not only shows a player’s potential, that he has more years ahead of him than a 32-year-old earning the same number of minutes, for example, but also his ability to get on the field. Managers see their players training every day, so placing them in the starting lineup is a sign that the player is performing well on a daily basis. The fact that Cobb is a first-team starting center back in MLS, which requires quality attackers on defense, shows great confidence in a player of essentially high school age.