Sean McVay already believes Jared Goff is ‘the man’
Jared Goff may not have played well in last year’s Super Bowl, but Sean McVay has no doubts about his ability to lead the Rams into the future.
The Rams’ inability to move the ball against the Patriots in last year’s Super Bowl has caused plenty of people to forget just how good Jared Goff was in 2018. One bad game did nothing to diminish head coach Sean McVay’s confidence in his quarterback.
Instead, McVay believes that Goff has already established himself as “the man.” Specifically, he pointed to the trust Goff’s teammates and coaches already have in him as proof of his status with the team. McVay insists that Goff needs to continue to elevate his game in the future, but there’s no concern about what he’s done so far in his career.
The real proof about McVay and the Rams’ feelings about Goff will come when it’s time to revisit the signal caller’s contract status. The former Cal star is entering his fourth season as a professional. That’s the time when many NFL franchises start to consider locking their first round quarterbacks up with new contracts.
The Rams have several good reasons not to rush into that kind of move with Goff. The most compelling of which is that they need to take advantage of Goff’s low salary to surround him as much talent as possible in the short-term. Los Angeles has done a terrific job of taking advantage of their quarterback’s rookie contract to assemble one of the most talented rosters in the league. If they start paying Goff like a star, it’s going to cost them a lot of flexibility elsewhere on their roster.
The Rams front office should also have some hesitance to pay Goff like a star. He was one of the worst quarterbacks in the entire NFL during his rookie season. It’s only after McVay’s arrival as the team’s head coach that Goff started to look like anything resembling an above-average starter. The Rams will need to evaluate how much of the quarterback’s progression is due to his own talent and hard work and how much is due to the innovative offensive system McVay has implemented.
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No one should expect the Rams to let Goff walk at the end of his rookie deal, but don’t be surprised if his contract negotiations with the team are more contentious than most of his peers. McVay might think Goff is the man, but that doesn’t mean the Rams want to pay him like one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL.