Rams start 2016 NFL draft by picking Jared Goff over Carson Wentz
The choice will live with the Los Angeles Rams forever, good or bad, and it will likely spark a million debates about Cal’s Jared Goff and North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz. It has been almost 20 years since the 1998 NFL draft and you’ll still hear Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning mentioned in the same sentence.
The Rams will begin their second stint in Los Angeles with Goff as their quarterback of the future. They made him the first pick of the draft on Thursday night, choosing him over Wentz. The team made good on its promise and kept the pick mostly a secret right up until NFL commissioner Roger Goodell read the name. There have been plenty of speculative reports leading up to the draft that the pick would be Goff, and that became official shortly after 7 p.m. Chicago time. The Rams couldn’t go into this season in star-studded Los Angeles with Case Keenum at quarterback, and now they have Goff as a cornerstone.
With Goff off the board, the Philadelphia Eagles surprised nobody and picked Wentz second overall. Quarterbacks did not go 1-2 in the NFL draft from 1999-2012, and now it has happened three times in the past five drafts.
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Why did the Rams go with Goff over Wentz? None of these decisions come down to one single reason, and there were good arguments for both players, but clearly the Rams felt more comfortable taking Goff at No. 1 after giving up a surprising amount of picks in a trade with the Tennessee Titans to move up to the top spot. It could come down to the comfort level of picking a player from Cal versus picking one from North Dakota State.
Don’t expect to hear that reason in any press conference, because there’s no need for the Rams to downgrade Wentz. But when you give up two first-round, two second-round and two third-round picks to move up to No. 1, it’s scary to then take someone who quarterbacked in the Missouri Valley Conference. The last time a player from a non-FBS school was taken first overall was Ed “Too Tall” Jones in 1974. The Rams, in many ways, went the safe route with Goff.
There’s more to it than where the two quarterbacks played. Many people questioned Wentz in the buildup to the draft, believing he is a project who will need a lot of work. There are questions about Goff too, most notably how he’ll transition from a spread “Air Raid” offense at Cal to a conventional offense in the NFL. There are also questions about Goff’s 14-23 record at Cal, which is the worst ever for a quarterback taken No. 1 since the common draft started in 1967, according to ESPN Stats and Info. Football is a team game and a quarterback doesn’t control his record by himself, but it’s still another question about Goff. There are plenty of positives with Goff as well, like his accuracy and touch from the pocket. The Rams clearly think he can be a star, based on what they gave up to take him.
The Eagles moved up to No. 2 last week in a big trade with the Cleveland Browns, and were stuck waiting to see which quarterback the Rams would take first. Getting Wentz isn’t a bad second option. He’s big, ran a lot of NFL concepts in the North Dakota State offense, and many feel he was the best quarterback in this draft. The Eagles have been looking for a franchise quarterback since Donovan McNabb, and Wentz gives them a shot for one.
The picks are made and the teams have to live with the results. The Rams move into a new Los Angeles era with Goff, and not Wentz, as their quarterback. The Rams better hope that’s not a mistake. They’ll hear about it for a long, long time if it was.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
