[Will0120]

Former NFL player and scout Bucky Brooks knows the ins and outs of this league, providing keen insight in his weekly notebook.

But first, we begin with an in-depth look at how the No. 1 overall pick is faring in his first training camp ...

Patience is a virtue -- in virtually all aspects of life. But it is rarely found in NFL locker rooms.

In a league where production and performance are paramount, general managers and scouts frequently fall prey to the outside noise and rush players onto the field to justify lofty draft-day selections. This happens with most top picks, but quarterbacks are especially susceptible to microwave treatment when they are selected in the first round -- and even more so when they're taken with a top-10 pick.

That's why I'm paying close attention to how the Los Angeles Rams are bringing along Jared Goff.

The football world will be clamoring to see the No. 1 overall pick when the Rams open their season in front of a national television audience at San Francisco in the final game of Week 1 on Monday, Sept. 12. While I've heard all of the rhetoric from coach Jeff Fisher and his staff on resisting the urge to put the rookie out on the field before he is ready, we've seen nearly every quarterback selected with a top-five pick over the past five years take the ball as the team's starter very early in the season. Thus, I traveled to Rams camp fully expecting to see Goff primed and ready to supplant Case Keenum as the team's starter.


I mean, on paper, this shouldn't be a fair fight: Goff boasts prototypical physical dimensions (6-foot-4, 215 pounds), A+ arm talent and a polished game, while Keenum has a smallish stature (6-1, 205 pounds), an average arm and a lack of cachet as a former undrafted free agent and current NFL journeyman. Sure, Keenum led the Rams to a 3-2 record as the team's part-time starter a season ago, but Fisher wouldn't seriously consider using the fifth-year pro as a legitimate starter this season. Right?

To my surprise, Goff isn't anywhere close to being ready to play as a starting quarterback at this stage of training camp. Now, this isn't a direct knock on him or his future potential. It can be a process. Having been around some of the best quarterback developers in the game (Mike Holmgren, Andy Reid, Jon Gruden, Steve Mariucci, Dan Henning, Kevin Gilbride, Mike McCarthy and Mike McCoy), I know that young signal callers must check the boxes in three key areas before they are primed to step on the field as a starter:

» Communication
» Coverage identification
» Judgment

Watching Goff over a full workout, I sensed that -- despite widely reported improvement since the end of OTAs and minicamps -- the Cal product still has a long way to go before he reaches the standard needed to wrestle the starting job from Keenum.

After spending his formative years directing a spread offense (Sonny Dykes' "Bear Raid"), Goff is still mastering the verbiage and communication skills to own the huddle. The lengthy play calls and at-the-line adjustments require far more verbal communication than the no-huddle system he ran in Berkeley. In addition, the constant chatter and identification require complete mastery of the playbook to make split-second decisions at the line. While I'm not privy to the Rams' playbook or their audible system, I can say that the offense operated with better tempo and pace when Keenum was at the helm. Goff had his moments directing the two-minute offense in team drills, but the pauses between plays were noticeably longer with the rookie in charge.


Moving on to some of Goff's post-snap responsibilities, I believe he is still adjusting to the complex coverages routinely employed by NFL coordinators. Rams DC Gregg Williams is one of the most creative tacticians in football, and his carefully crafted pre-snap disguises frequently mask the designated coverage. Thus, opposing quarterbacks must be in tune to the depths of linebackers and safeties in order to get a bead on the blitz or coverage. Keenum efficiently sorted out the myriad disguises and blitzes from the Rams' starters to find the hot route or open receiver down the field. He was rarely flustered by the constant movement, and his efficiency certainly surprised me, based on the complexity of the defensive looks.

Meanwhile, despite facing a more static look, Goff struggled a bit against the defense in team drills. Williams frequently aligned his defense in a Cover 2 shell (two deep safeties with corners aligned at 6 to 7 yards) and used a variety of simple zone (Cover 2, Cover 3) or zone-blitz (five-man rush with three deep and three under) concepts against the rookie. These defenses are the equivalent of what you would see in an NFL 101 class, yet Goff routinely had a tough time finding the open guy. And when he did identify the open man, he was frequently late with his throw, resulting in a contested catch or off-target toss down the field. At the NFL level, quarterbacks must throw with timing and anticipation to consistently complete passes in tight windows between multiple defenders.

Now, I don't want to be too critical of a young passer in the opening stretch of his first NFL training camp, but judgment is arguably the most important part of playing the position, and Goff seems so overwhelmed by the speed of the game that he's been inconsistent with his decisions. Some of his poor determinations are understandable, due to the uncertainty that plagues every young QB, but he also has been prone to making some "hero" throws in traffic. In the workout I attended, Goff threw four passes that should've been intercepted, each the result of a forced throw at intermediate range despite the fact that a checkdown was available underneath.

To be fair, most quarterbacks are reluctant to take the open checkdown when they believe they can make a "hero" throw. But Goff is in line for a number of turnovers off tips and overthrows until he develops the patience and poise to settle for a short completion instead of gambling on a "wow" play. He might foster these characteristics after a few preseason games, but I believe it will take him some time to learn the management skills needed to start for a competitive team.

Taking all of this into account, I think it's sensible for Fisher to officially name Keenum the starter and stick with him through at least the first half of the season. The veteran not only gives the Rams the best chance to win right now, but the team believes in his talent and leadership skills. Speaking to several offensive players, I repeatedly heard the word "gamer" and "winner" in reference to the 28-year-old Keenum. In fact, one Rams receiver said the offense would thrive in 2016 with Keenum at the helm, even though everyone expects Goff to eventually become a "baller" at the position.


To get a management perspective, I talked to several team officials who suggested Keenum can succeed because he has a clear understanding of his limitations and won't try to do too much with the ball in his hands. Unlike some quarterbacks who shrug off the "game manager" label, Keenum seemingly has embraced the approach -- and everyone in the building believes he won't mess it up if he gets the chance. Given that Los Angeles has a budding superstar in Todd Gurley who can pound the football, savvy game management from the quarterback position could work quite well for this team.

For the past several months, I thought the prospect of Keenum taking the field with the starting unit was simply the product of coachspeak. But after spending time at Rams camp, I believe the team should play the veteran quarterback until the youngster proves that he is ready to handle the job. This is the blueprint Fisher successfully used with a young Steve McNair during his time heading the Oilers/Titans. Despite entering the NFL as the third overall pick in the 1995 NFL Draft, McNair didn't become a full-time starter until 1997. He went on to make three Pro Bowls and earn NFL MVP honors in 2003. Fisher should keep this in mind, to help Goff eventually reach his full potential as the Rams' franchise quarterback.

Link: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... ii-project

I listen to the podcast with Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah all the time and it would appear that they know what they are talking about. I found this article to be quite insightful as to Goff's "current" progress. If anything, it is certainly an interesting perspective to keep in mind as we go through the training camp. I am definitely hoping for the best case scenario in which Goff improves sufficiently in all those 3 areas that Bucky mentioned by week 1 and starts though.

[aeneas1]

there's simply no substitute for real game experience... warner used to talk about this all of the time, being a number 2 or 3 just doesn't give a qb the work he needs, there's just no time during practice for the 2 or 3 to take snaps with starters once the season starts, all focus is on the starters, that's a long stretch of time without seeing live game action, without seeing the field, without practicing with the top guys... intuitively it makes sense that not rushing a rookie into the mix is the smart thing to do, but i just haven't seen any evidence of that, hell i'm still chapped that fish took so long to let donald loose, probably cost him an all-pro nod, he averaged just 25 snaps per game through the first 4, it wasn't until game 6 that he started getting a full load, i think he was ready to go from day 1...

is brady brady because he held a clipboard for a year buried in he depth chart behind bledsoe and bishop? is rodgers rodgers because favre couldn't make up his mind to stay or go forcing rodgers to ride pine for a whopping 3 years? brees rode pine his rookie year and then followed with two years of unremarkable ball, shouldn't he have lit it up once he became starter given he wasn't rushed into the mix, given he was given time to "develop"? montana rode pine behind deberg for a year and a half, only to have a rough go of it when he finally took over for deberg halfway through his second year in the league... the next year, his third year in the league, he lit it up, all-pro... was this because of the year and a half he rode pine or was it because of the valuable live game experience he booked when he finished the second half of the season for deberg his second year in the league, even tho he struggled? me? start goff. fisher? good luck with that.

[max]

The way I see it, there are 2 things to consider:

1. Do you want to win now? Cause if the talented rookie is gonna make a ton of mistakes off the bat, that is gonna cause some losses that you won't get with an average vet.
2. Assuming you aren't too concerned with winning now, and as long as your OL is good enough to keep your rookie QB from getting killed, then you might as well play him.

I think Fisher is under pressure to win ASAP. Also, the fans in LA will be screaming to bench Goff if he is stinking it up due to not being ready, and the rest of the team won't be too excited if they believe they are not being given the best chance to win.

So my view is that as long as there's not too much difference in performance between Keenum and Goff, and the OL is good enough, then play Goff. Otherwise, play Keenum.

[snackdaddy]

If Keenum gives them the best chance to win, I don't have a problem with Goff holding a clipboard for a while. At some point, Goff will take over the reins. When that will happen is anyone's guess. I'm not in favor of throwing away games just to get the rookie some in game experience.

[BuiltRamTough]

If Goff isn't ready then he's not ready. Roll with Case.

That's the question Fisher will ask himself a week before San Fran. Not now.

There's still a lot of reps to be taken, a lot of football to be learned.

[aeneas1]

If Keenum gives them the best chance to win...

"keenum gives the rams the best to chance win", now that's some discouraging stuff.... btw i'm not saying that's what you're saying, i'm just pointing out how depressing that statement is, to me at least.....

[ramsman34]

I wonder which practice Brooks attended? I saw these things the first 2 days for sure. But, he looked much sharper day 3 and his clock looked to have sped up a bit relative to the first 2 practices. That said, Keenum hasn't looked bad at all. It is his utter lack of arm strength that gets me. I came away after Tuesday's practiced certain Goff would claim the staring roll. More will be revealed today and throughout the preseason. Unless one of them totally craps the bed, I can see Fisher waiting to name a starter for game one as early as after preseason game 3, or as late as the week of practice prior to the opener.

[BrendanOC6]

Although I think Goff should not be starter right away, I wouldn't call a former KR in the NFL the Gold Standard for QB evaluation. Especially after watching only one practice.

[snackdaddy]

If Keenum gives them the best chance to win...

"keenum gives the rams the best to chance win", now that's some discouraging stuff.... btw i'm not saying that's what you're saying, i'm just pointing out how depressing that statement is, to me at least.....

I know you mean. When you're scraping the bottom of the barrel it's not like improving is hard to do.

[Hacksaw]

Goff needs the reps. Give him plenty of PT during the pre's. The only risk is his losing his confidence. And if he does and wilt's, then he was the wrong choice. Play the crap out of him.