RADIO
Jared Goff had about as much fantasy value last season as Tim Tebow had. Maybe less. Goff did not quiet any doubters who thought the Los Angeles Rams were crazy to take him with the first overall pick of the 2016 NFL draft. He did not strap on a helmet until the second half of the season and probably did fantasy owners who used him more harm than good.
He finished his rookie campaign with a 5-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio, a 63.6 QB rating, a 54.6 completion percentage, a paltry 1,089 passing yards in seven games, and millions of fantasy owners and football fans who believe he has no chance of becoming the next Vince Ferragamo, let alone the next Peyton Manning.
But like second-overall pick Carson Wentz of the Philadelphia Eagles, Goff has plenty of talent loaded up in his reliable right arm. Goff’s first season might have fantasy owners thinking he is the next Tim Couch, Ryan Leaf or Heath Shuler, yet there are signs that he could become a fantasy sleeper in 2017 and could be additionally attractive in dynasty leagues where fantasy owners can hitch their wagons to him for the next couple years.
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L.A. Is the New Buffalo
Goff has what you need to be an NFL quarterback. He has a good enough arm to make all the throws an above-average quarterback needs to make to succeed, he has a quick release that will help cut down on the punishment he receives, can put the right amount of touch or velocity on his passes, and he has a great football I.Q. when it comes to throwing to the right receivers and recognizing blitzes. All he needs is experience, better than below-average receivers around him, and a coaching staff that can teach him how to become a franchise quarterback.
Give the Rams credit for overhauling one of the worst receiving corps in the NFL this offseason. Three of the teams’ top four pass catchers last season (Kenny Britt, Brian Quick and Lance Kendricks) all find themselves on new teams, while the Rams used three of their first draft picks this past April on a tight end and two wideouts. Yet the Rams’ biggest splash came this week when they acquired injury-prone gamebreaker Sammy Watkins from the Buffalo Bills. Watkins immediately becomes the No. 1 receiver of L.A.’s suspect group. If he can find the right podiatrist to keep his always-achy feet healthy, Watkins could have 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2017 and be a fantasy sleeper like Goff.
Los Angeles also brought in possession receiver Robert Woods, another former Bill who was stunted in Buffalo’s run-first offense because Tyrod Taylor helps his receivers as much as Fox News helps Democratic politicians. Woods should have a 300-pound chip on his shoulder pad that makes him want to show skeptics he can be a No. 2 receiver for Goff. With Watkins stretching secondaries vertically, that should create opportunities underneath for Woods to run shorter routes. Watkins and Woods are no Swann and Stallworth, but they will provide more help in the pass-catching department than what Goff had in 2016.
New Coach, New Mindset
A new coaching staff cannot do any worse than the last one Jeff Fisher headed that did everything in its power to put an offense on the field that was blander than plain toast and less talented than Milli Vanilla was. The staff and its offensive strategies (boy, were they offensive!) reduced ballhog Todd Gurley to a three-yards-per carry pedestrian and used greyhound Tavon Austin for nothing more than swing passes and reverses. The Rams finished the 2016 season with the worst offense in the NFL and were equally horrid both rushing and passing (31st in the NFL in both).
New Rams head coach Sean McVay worked wonders as Washington’s offensive coordinator last season, including guiding quarterback Kirk Cousins to 4,917 passing yards and milking 1,000-yard years out of veteran receivers DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon when they were arguably past their primes. Because of his recent success retooling passing offenses, McVay sounds like the perfect head coach to coax a sleeper season out of Goff. Cousins was not a first-round pick when he came out of college, let alone the first overall pick, so McVay should have even more talent to work with when coaching Goff.
If McVay can get Gurley and the ground game on track for the Rams, that will open more doors for Goff than Macy’s does at midnight on Black Friday. Play-action passes will work more often, defenses will crowd the line of scrimmage and allow Goff more open lanes to throw through and give his pass catchers more one-on-one matchups in the secondary.
While the coaching staff and receiving corps around him has improved, Goff’s sleeper status is mostly up to him. If he can shake off his freshman fiasco of a season and take a page out of the books of Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning, who also struggled during their rookie seasons and eventually became Hall of Fame quarterbacks, Goff could make fantasy owners that draft him in the latter rounds feel like lottery winners.
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