In the evaluation of Rams rookie quarterback Jared Goff, we always heard about the “throws.” He had them all, and on the occasions he connected with those throws, ex-head coach Jeff Fisher was quick to praise and point them out. But as fans and the NFL media would begin to take note, Jared Goff may have an NFL arm, but his ability to become a starter in the National Football League may be another story.

Today a large percentage of college QBs like Jared Goff are leaving school and can't call a football play, or can't take a snap under center — Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) February 15, 2017





A tweet, courtesy of Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, caught my eye about the Rams now second year quarterback. His observation about Goff and the future of college QB’s, especially those running a spread offense who make the jump to professional football, is a discussion that wasn’t lost this season in Los Angeles, but one teams will have to ask themselves.

At Cal, Jared Goff operated in a high volume, shotgun oriented offense that was all tempo and rhythm.

Mind you, “tempo” and “rhythm” are two words you’d not associate with the Rams offense in 2016. Yet knowing that, Les Snead and Jeff Fisher traded the house away for a guy who had no idea about a huddle, being under center, or calling a play. As I wrote in an earlier piece, the Rams were the definition of a square hole and Goff a round peg.

It never fit.

Omar Kelly asks a smart question.

In all the uproar about Tim Tebow not being able to be an NFL quarterback because of how he played the game, his accuracy, and his circus-like presence courtesy of the media, you also have a generation of college quarterbacks who are also playing a different game in college.

They don’t think for themselves.

Everything is scripted.

They are on an unbelievably short leash.

Seldom under center.

Repeat.

Touche. The problem is these spread systems. Don't dummy down football. And college teams need headsets like the NFL. https://t.co/oM87NdgL0h — Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) February 15, 2017





That’s the overwhelming majority of quarterbacks trying to make the leap to the pro game. And the NFL isn’t helping themselves.

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At some point, will teams take the next logical step and create an offense that at least cater to SOME of the skill set a player like Jared Goff would bring to a franchise?

I mean, if the Rams were hell-bent on running a slow, methodical pro style offense, I’ve got ZERO problem with that. But if that’s the case, the guy who went immediately after Goff was the type of quarterback who would have better fit that system in Los Angeles.

Goff isn’t the tip of the iceberg, but his skill set and experience playing football at a high college level, is epidemic of the type of players NFL teams looking for quarterbacks have to choose from. The college game caters to a more athletic, uptempo, pass oriented, micro managed type of player who is “safe-spaced” from their Freshmen year to their last college game.

And as Jared Goff so dismally showed, being able to make “all the passes” doesn’t always translate to immediate success at the next level.

But that really isn’t all on him or any other QB in the same boat.

At some point, the NFL may benefit from some progress where a player like Goff needn’t be “broken” to be rebuilt into a system exclusive quarterback. To watch the Rams this past season was to watch dysfunction play out in real-time. It was clear that his game was stuck in neverland with a coaching staff whose creativity and imagination was akin to manufacturing plain vanilla ice cream.

But the Rams may yet get the equation right.

Sean McVay is not Jeff Fisher or Rob Boras, and that’s a good start. Perhaps in the hours of watching tape from year one in Los Angeles and the years at Cal, the new regime will better know how Goff can be an NFL quarterback who succeeds by understanding what made him successful at Berkeley.

Does anyone think those two things AREN’T mutually exclusive?

As for the rest of the league looking at college “system” quarterbacks for their own system, the smart ones will look to how sideways the Rams approached not just a top QB pick, but one drafted to be a franchise type player.

Eventually, these systems have to be able to meet somewhere in the middle, or the days of “franchise” type quarterbacks will end.

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