Despite selecting former California signal caller Jared Goff No. 1 overall in this year’s draft, the Los Angeles Rams are going to begin training camp with veteran Case Keenum as the team’s starting quarterback.
That much was made clear by head coach Jeff Fisher following the Rams’ final minicamp practice on Thursday.
Not that it’s much of a surprise, but Fisher said Keenum will enter training camp as the starter at QB.
— Myles Simmons (@MylesASimmons) June 16, 2016
There were reports following the draft that Los Angeles was planning on starting Goff out of the gate (more on that here).
It’s not as much that Goff struggled during the team’s off-season activities. It’s more about the Rams wanting to wait for the top pick to be ready before throwing him into the fire.
Goff took first-team reps with the Rams earlier in the week, at which point he seemed comfortable with the speed of the NFL.
“I felt good out there. It didn’t feel much different than the last few days. It’s just a different group of guys. It’s exciting. And I had a good time building that relationship with them,” Goff said, via the Rams official website. “There’s the first-team defense out there, and they’re one of the best defenses in the league. So it’s definitely a little bit different. But at the same time, I think it went well, and I got pretty comfortable with it.”
The more interesting dynamic here is that Fisher didn’t even come close to mentioning Nick Foles with the rest of the quarterbacks competing for reps this summer. This is a clear indication that the team has moved on from the veteran signal caller.
Should Goff perform at a higher level than Case Keenum in training camp, there’s a chance he will be the starter for the team’s opening night game against the division-rival San Francisco 49ers, Goff’s favorite team growing up.
Though, we can expect both quarterbacks to be given ample first-team reps during the preseason. That should tell us more about where this competition is headed moving into the regular season.