The Los Angeles Rams are all in on Jared Goff. They have to be. After trading away most of this year’s draft picks along with some of next year’s to move up and take the former Cal quarterback with the first selection, the Rams are betting it all on Goff to be the franchise’s next great passer.
Owner Stan Kroenke doesn’t seemed worried, though. He sees a similarity already between Goff and another quarterback the Rams took a chance on.
Kroenke recalled in an interview with USA Today how he helped Dick Vermeil, the Rams’ coach at the time, decide on Kurt Warner as the team’s third quarterback leading up to the 1998 season. Warner ended up starting the following season and the rest is history.
Dick Vermeil asked me my opinion on who the third quarterback should be. I had a great relationship with Dick. Dick loved Will Furrer, the type of guy we’d all want to marry our daughter. He worked his tail off. Came out of Virginia Tech. I liked Will. Nobody knew anything about Kurt, but I watched the scrimmage, and this is the similarity with Goff: I told Dick, ‘OK, I’ve never played football, but you want my opinion? The kid from Northern Iowa can see. He’s got vision. It’s like a really good point guard. Some guys have it, some guys don’t. Whether it’s Arena Football that gave it to him or whatever, but he can see.’
And Jared has that. It’s the vision thing.
The decision to go with Warner worked out pretty well for the Rams. He won a Super Bowl for them in 1999.
That’s high praise to be compared to Warner. Goff hasn’t even played a down yet, but good vision will certainly help him in his career. Kroenke was right once, maybe he’s right again.
