Jared Goff didn’t get much of a chance to shine in his rookie NFL season, and it didn’t do much to silence the critics who felt that the Los Angeles Rams gave up far too much for the right to draft him.
Almost a year later, Rams general manager Les Snead would do it all again.
“Yes, no doubt,” Snead told CBS Sports’s Pete Prisco at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Last year we were sitting at No. 15 and we knew we had to find a long-term starter. We then identified Jared and we liked Carson [Wentz] too. I always say this about the calculus equation. Needing one is part of the equation. Identifying one is another part. But the toughest part is how do you acquire that guy. We found a way and decided to do it. That’s why we made the move.”
Snead came away impressed with how the rookie quarterback handled himself on a team that changed coaches and went 3-13.
“There was adversity, road blocks, hindering type issues,” Snead said. “But it was the first step for him to becoming a franchise quarterback. He didn’t blink. He didn’t mope. He didn’t shake his confidence. We saw a lot of what we saw at Cal in college, but what we didn’t know was when things went bad how would he handle it. And none of that shook him.”
It doesn’t sound like Goff has a limitless leash, and Snead is hardly going to go out and publicly say that the team made a mistake less than a year after drafting a franchise quarterback. Still, they’re going to give Goff every chance to succeed under new coach Sean McVay.
