Los Angeles Rams HC Sean McVay: Extension for QB Jared Goff “will get done,” “zero percent chance” Goff won’t get a deal from Rams

Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean McVay offered his most emphatic quotes to NFL Media’s Mike Silver today regarding an extension for QB Jared Goff:

Silver mixed up McVay’s final sentence there as he later clarified that McVay tied off those quotes saying it was a matter of when, not if.

If that’s the case, the Rams would be wise to get a deal done as soon as possible, though recent reports have suggested that deal won’t get done until next year at the soonest. That delay, and I’m not sure why there is one if the Rams are as committed as McVay’s comments today suggest, could incur a 3-5% surplus on Goff’s deal as the market continues to evolve. The Rams made sure to avoid that surplus by extending RB Todd Gurley after three years. Not sure why their deal for DL Aaron Donald or a potential one for QB Jared Goff wouldn’t look to do the same, but that’s a question for Chief Operating Officer and Vice President Kevin Demoff and his Special Assistant Tony Pastoors, not McVay.

The timing is interesting given that Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio pushed another piece (following his first one in late May suggesting he wouldn’t be surprised if Goff didn’t get an extension with the Rams) to suggest the Rams might not re-sign Goff, this time using McVay’s previous quotes as the reason why:

The point isn’t that McVay will simply cut the cord on Goff and find someone else. The point is that, as the top of the quarterback market continues to climb and climb and climb (in less than two years, it’s gone from $25 million per year to $35 million per year), someone eventually will say “no” to the demands of a quarterback who values himself more than the team values him. And until Goff signs a long-term deal, he could be the guy who demands too much, prompting the team to choose to spend less for someone whom Sean McVay can develop into “one of the top quarterbacks in the game,” the same way he has developed Goff.

McVay’s effort to boost Goff in the face of Roggin’s misstated (if he’s talking about my theory) notion that the Rams will just summarily drop Goff actually could contribute to an eventual scenario where Goff does indeed ask for more than the Rams will pay, because McVay’s praise of Goff will do little to dissuade agent Ryan Tollner from trying to make Goff the highest-paid player in NFL history whenever the Rams decide to open talks with Goff.

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McVay maybe genuinely believe all of that. (Chris Simms doesn’t; he’s put Goff at No. 19 on the list of current NFL quarterbacks.) McVay also may be simply pumping up his guy, mindful of the reality that, in order to get the most out of a quarterback, the coach must zealously defend and promote him to anyone and everyone.

Regardless, Tollner will print Goff’s assessment and laminate it for use in the negotiations with Rams COO Kevin Demoff, who will have to deal with McVay’s words when trying to peg a value for Goff’s contract.

So the point I previously made still applies. There’s a chance that Goff will want more than the Rams will pay, and that the Rams will decide to pay another available veteran as much or less or to pay a rookie much, much, much less, thanks to the rookie wage scale. That won’t be known until Goff formulates what he wants. However, McVay’s words won’t make Goff want less, that’s for sure.

MMQB’s Albert Breer explained the source of the speculation in and of itself:

But if nothing else, McVay has made his most emphatic statement yet. That’s undeniable.