Rotoworld Ranks Rams In Bottom Third Of NFL's QB "Situations"

Rotoworld's Patrick Daugherty released his yearly ranking of the best "QB situations" among the 32 NFL teams yesterday. It's not a QB power ranking for 2016 alone, but more of a combination of that with, well, youth.

The certainty at the position for teams like the Seattle Seahawks with Russell Wilson, the Green Bay Packers with Aaron Rodgers, the Carolina Panthers with Cam Newton and the Indianapolis Colts with Andrew Luck outshine any other. No surprise they make up the top four. Beyond that, it's a wild mix. This is the post-Peyton (and sometime soon post-Tom Brady) NFL.

For the Rams, this is a tough exercise.

One would think there's some stability given the recent selection of Cal QB Jared Goff with the #1 overall selection of the 2016 NFL Draft. On the other hand...trying to project the Rams at pretty much any position outside of RB and DT thanks to Todd Gurley and Aaron Donald is probably a wash.

That being said, Daugherty slides the Rams with Goff (and not even including Case Keenum, Sean Mannion or Nick Foles) in at #22 up four slots from a year prior:

The Rams have had two good quarterbacks in the past 20 years. One of them, Kurt Warner, was an undrafted free agent. The other, Marc Bulger, was a sixth-round pick. Both were protégés of a generational offensive mind, Mike Martz. Jared Goff? He will not be playing for a generational offensive mind. Jeff Fisher’s take an offense is that it’s a necessary evil, something best approached with the subtlety of a tactical nuke. Runs and screens, runs and screens. Goff, who was successful in college despite not being set up for success, will have to hope the approach translates to the NFL, because he is not being set up for success. He’ll be playing for the league’s least-creative offensive coach behind one of its worst lines. His "No. 1 receiver" is a 5-foot-8 gadget player who has a "I’d Rather Be Playing Running Back" bumper sticker on his car. Goff should clear the lowest bar: Be better than Case Keenum and Nick Foles. But in trying to avoid the same fate as Sam Bradford, he’ll have to work through all the same issues. Uninspired coaching, a shaky supporting cast and an impatient fanbase. Good luck, kid.

I don't think that's all that unfair of a ranking or description, though I'd substitute "screens" for "checkdowns" in the Rams' offense, but the majority of it passes.

For reference, here's what he said a year ago when the Rams were ranked #26 with Nick Foles at the preseason helm:

Is Nick Foles the Rams’ best quarterback since Marc Bulger? Such is the depressing state of the position in St. Louis. The bar isn’t high for Foles. He simply has to be better than Sam Bradford. The Rams know they didn’t acquire the quarterback who posted a 27:2 TD:INT ratio in 2013. The question is if they’re even getting the 59.8 percent passer from last season. Foles’ pedestrian 2014 (before he broke his collarbone) came with a much more impressive supporting cast than the one he’s inheriting in St. Louis. That’s to say nothing of the brain drain between coaching staffs. Foles is not a special talent, and there’s a chance he’s not even an ordinary one. Heading into the final year of his rookie contract, the odds are no better than 50-50 that Foles will be back as the Rams’ starter in 2016.

Welp.

Put the 2015 ranking (which in retrospect was perhaps a bit too high) behind us. Is 22nd fair for the 2016 LA Rams and Jared Goff?