Los Angeles Rams: Talk of Jared Goff losing starting job is absurd
Jared Goff wasn’t good as a rookie for the Los Angeles Rams, but that doesn’t make bust talk any less absurd right now.
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay’s generic comments about playing the players that give the team the best chance to win somehow became a Jared Goff bust proclamation. It’s funny how one benign comment from the head coach has somehow elevated all that Goff bust talk.
After a recent Rams voluntary OTA session, McVay gave the requisite coachspeak on guaranteeing no one a starting job right now in response to a question about the quarterback competition between Goff and Sean Mannion, as the team’s official website reported:
"“I think what we’ve tried to preach to our players is we’re going to let the best players play. We’re trying to win football games and whoever we feel like gives us the best chance is who’s going to play behind center … I think what we’ve seen is good for those guys, but right now Jared’s the starter and he’s done a nice job commanding that role.”"
That led to all sorts of speculation that the Rams are not convinced Goff will be their starter next season.
“You’re not supposed to put much stock in the things players and coaches say during spring OTAs,” SB Nation reported. “However, what Rams head coach Sean McVay said about second-year quarterback Jared Goff on Tuesday sounds like an ominous warning about Goff’s future with the team.”
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From CBSSports.com: “Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but again, it’s June 1. Goff is learning a new offense, with a new coach and it’s not realistic to expect him to be in midseason form during OTAs.”
Is giving Goff a big head part of McVay’s job description? What’s McVay supposed to do? Should he give a detailed account of how much better Goff is than Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins was at the same stage of his career? Why would he put more pressure on Goff to succeed early?
“As a head coach, you have to stand in front of that room and preach competition,” NFL.com analyst Charley Casserley said. “Everybody’s job is up for it. So he has to say that and be honest with it.
“Goff fits the McVay system. …So I think the fit is there in the system, but I also think competition is what (McVay) has to sell to the team.”
Everyone points to Goff’s rookie season as the initial stages of the Goff bust syndrome. After all, he did go 0-7, have1,089 passing yards, a quarterback rating of 22.2, 26 sacks, five touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 54.6 completion percentage.
Did everyone forget what the Rams offense also did to running back Todd Gurley, the 2015 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year? Barring injury, Goff will start 16 games in 2017. And even then, he won’t be a finished product.
Besides, the Rams don’t yet have all the complementary pieces they want around Goff. If he has another subpar year, he should get more leeway because of the dearth of talent surrounding him. Goff won’t be a finished product by the end of 2017. More importantly, he’s not getting benched.
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That makes the Goff bust talk nonsense less than two months before the start of his training camp. Is that a guarantee he won’t be a bust? Of course not. But let’s not write him off before he’s ever truly had a chance.