The Los Angeles Rams broke the bank last year in order to acquire their franchise quarterback in Jared Goff. While he has yet to prove his legitimacy as such, there is much more optimism surrounding the young quarterback heading into the 2017 NFL season with the addition of several offensive lineman and wide receivers.
That sense of optimism even stretches to head coach Sean McVay who has been pleased with Goff’s improvement so far in offseason practices. However, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, Goff’s status as the clear-cut starter is anything but a sure thing:
“I think what we’ve tried to preach to our players is we’re going to let the best players play,” McVay said. “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. Right now, we feel very good about what they’ve both done. Jared has done a nice job getting better, but you always want to make sure that you’re playing the guy that you feel like gives you the best ability to win football games, because we owe it to our coaches, to our players and to this organization to do that. 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.”
The consensus going into this year was that Goff would be the starter given the assets the front office gave up in order to select him first overall at the 2016 NFL Draft. However, given their current playoff drought and the pressure of winning in their new hometown, it makes sense that McVay plans to keep an open mind.
Despite his limited snaps, Sean Mannion has looked impressive at times during the preseason. At the very least, it could be McVay’s attempt at creating an atmosphere of competition in the “iron sharpens iron” mentality that is so prevalent in the NFL.
