Los Angeles Rams: It is way too early to give up on Jared Goff

The Los Angeles Rams had a disappointing 2019 and with the team being financially gridlocked, some are ready to move on from Jared Goff.

A year ago the Los Angeles Rams were coming off of an ugly Super Bowl loss but still looked to be the team of the future. Sean McVay was the NFL’s next genius coach and the young and the 2018 season appeared to only be the start for the young upstart Rams.

The 2019 season was a massive disappointment. Los Angeles missed the playoffs for the first time in Sean McVay’s tenure and the front office’s aggressive mindset in pursuing talent started to backfire.

The offensive line was in shambles, Jared Goff did not perform well and now, moving forward, the Rams do not have a first-round pick for two years and virtually no cap space with large contracts to Goff, Todd Gurley, Brandin Cooks and Aaron Donald.

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Gurley and Cooks could both be traded if there was a suitor and the price was right, Donald should be untouchable and there are fans that want to see the team move on from Goff. The wrinkles in Goff’s game started to come out in 2019 without the ability to lean on Todd Gurley, making his new contract extension all the worse.

Is Goff’s contract overpaying him? Absolutely. However, the Rams kind of had to do it. There were no viable replacement options and the team had to roll with what they had, meaning they had to overpay Goff.

That does not mean he is a bad quarterback and this is coming from someone who has had his fair share of criticisms of Goff. He is not an elite quarterback, but he definitely is good enough to win the Super Bowl and should not be given up on so soon.

First of all, while Goff was getting the benefit of Gurley’s running game in years two and three, he also got the disadvantage of playing behind a pretty awful offensive line in 2019. Any quarterback is going to play worse when there is more pressure in their face and the young Goff had to face true adversity in every single game for the first time in his career.

That does not rid him of the blame for his mistakes, but it is safe to say that he will be better with a better offensive line.

Plus, it is not like Jared Goff threw 30 interceptions like Jameis Winston and the Rams were a mediocre team. The Rams still finished with a 9-7 record, which was better than the NFC West-winning Philadelphia Eagles and very well could have finished with a better record.

If Greg Zuerlein does not miss the game-winning kick against the Seattle Seahawks then the Rams would have been 10-6. They nearly beat the NFC West-winning San Francisco 49ers in Week 16, and if that three-point result flipped, the Rams would have been 11-5.

They were not terrible in 2019 and neither was Goff. He still finished with more touchdowns (22) than interceptions (16) with 4,638 yards. Let’s not pretend that this is a great season by any means, but he still had more games with one or fewer interceptions (11) than games with 2+ interceptions.

Goff is in good company historically as well. From years 2-4, Goff threw for 13,130 yards, 82 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. Dan Marino is the only other quarterback in NFL history to throw for 13,000 yards and 80 touchdowns from his second season to his fourth. Marino threw 26 more interceptions and had a worse passer rating.

Peyton Manning threw 85 touchdowns and 58 interceptions in his first three years as a starter, Tom Brady had 43 interceptions when he threw his 80th career touchdown pass. Drew Brees had fewer passing yards (12,127) and touchdowns (79) with more interceptions (53) in his first four years as a starter.

Next. Three teams that could trade for Todd Gurley. dark

I don’t want to predict that Jared Goff will become an all-time great for the Los Angeles Rams. But when compared to the all-time greats, it is pretty clear that it is way too soon to give up on Goff as the quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams.

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