Coming out of training camp and heading into the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, one of the biggest stories surrounding the Los Angeles Rams has been rookie quarterback Jared Goff and how head coach Jeff Fisher is bringing him along.
Case Keenum will be the starter for the Rams and, to the surprise of many, Goff won’t even be on the active roster for the opener as Sean Mannion will be the backup.
With the Philadelphia Eagles set to start second overall pick Carson Wentz in their opener, the comparisons of the top two picks is inevitable. However, Fisher let it be known how he felt about those comparisons via NFL.com:
“Maybe if we traded our starting quarterback, we’d start our rookie quarterback, too,” Fisher said.
The situations that Goff and Wentz are in are completely different and probably shouldn’t be compared, but that won’t stop them from coming. Nonetheless, Fisher continues to bring Goff along slowly and he spoke about trying to protect Goff in an interview on Sirius XM NFL Radio:
Fisher: We just don't want to put Jared [Goff] in a position to fail #MobSquad #Rams
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) September 9, 2016
Unfortunately for first round quarterbacks, they are now expected to come in and immediately start and change things and that simply isn’t possible for some players. The success of guys like Cam Newton and Andrew Luck who started from day one has made it so that fans expect the same from all top picks.
At the end of the day, if Goff spending some time on the bench makes him better in the long run then that is the way to go. Playing him immediately means nothing if he doesn’t actually improve from it. Fans can only hope that Fisher is making the right call, and time will tell if he is.
