ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez listed his five takeaways from the Los Angeles Rams’ offseason program today, and none offers more prominence than franchise QB Jared Goff detailing his accelerated learning curve this offseason.
Jared Goff is a quick study
Goff recently asked McVay how much of his offense has been installed, and McVay told him about 95 percent. "If that’s what we have in," Goff said, "I’d say I’ve understood all of it and grasped all of it so far." Goff added that he has learned this year's offense "much quicker" than he learned last year's, which he attributed to spending an entire season in the NFL and then having a full offseason to prepare. Goff, who is 22 and coming off a catastrophic rookie year, made several nice, downfield throws during 11-on-11 drills. But that was without pads or contact. It's extremely difficult to truly evaluate in a setting like that. What's important is that teammates notice more confidence, more leadership, more conviction in Goff. And that he is seemingly picking up the playbook quickly. The rest will sort itself out later.
While it’s worrisome that Goff struggled to pick up the playbook in 2016 (shades of Tavon Austin experiencing the same problems in 2014 when the playbook was in Spanish), the net gain should be heartening. The only caveat I’d note is to amend Gonzalez’s final sentence to read:
The rest will sort itself out later. Unless it doesn’t.
Pass-catching group defining itself
I do appreciate that Gonzalez used “defining” rather than “defined” because, much like the offensive line, the depth chart here is certainly in flux.
Think about the sheer scope of personnel. 2013 NFL Draft first-round pick Tavon Austin. First-year free agent signing Robert Woods. 2016 NFL Draft picks Pharoh Cooper and Mike Thomas. 2017 NFL Draft picks Cooper Kupp and Josh Reynolds. UDFA superstar Nelson Spruce. All of that even without mentioning the tight ends would be impossible to supply entirely in any way.
Last year, WR Kenny Britt led the team in 111 targets. Austin was targeted 107 times. TE Lance Kendricks was at 88, WR Brian Quick was at 79 and RB Just Todd Gurley was at 57. Those five were the only Rams who averaged more than 2 targets per game. So at that rate, only Woods, Austin and one of the other options would be major factors. The rest would hardly have a significant impact on the offense over the course of the season.
Plenty of definition left.
Jamon Brown getting his chance
The Greg Robinson era is over. Signing Andrew Whitworth helped accelerate that ending. That left the new coaching staff to tinker with the rest of the line especially on the right side, pushing Rob Havenstein inside. And while Robinson initially held down the right tackle spot, he quickly ceded to Jamon Brown.
The one asterisk to notch here is Brown’s 2016 season. He battled with Cody Wichmann for time, not exactly a ringing endorsement for his candidacy to hold the starting RT spot for Week 1 this year.
Suffice to say, I doubt the shuffling on the line is finished. Not to say that the Week 1 line won’t match the line we see to open training camp in a month and a week, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to see a couple other permutations both in practice snaps and the preseason before the regular season begins.
Nobody's worried about Aaron Donald
Nobody's worried about Aaron Donald.
No serious injuries yet
If we’re being sincere about the value of the 2017 season (and I’d argue we don’t need to be in and of itself), this should probably be #1. As the New Orleans Saints were reminded when starting left tackle Terron Armstead injured his shoulder sidelining him for the next 4-6 months, injuries in the preseason can completely derail your regular season. That’s just the nature of the beast.
Coming off of a season in which the Rams were the healthiest team in the NFL, it’s worth remembering that injuries are going to happen. A regression to the mean for the Rams is likely in this department. Here’s hoping it gets delayed until like Week 16.
The 2016 offseason program is over. It’s time for vacations and decompression and some level of complete disconnection from football for the roster, the coaching staff and the front office.
In 37 days, rookies report to training camp.