It's fair to say Jared Goff did not live up to expectations in his first season as the Rams' quarterback. It's also fair to say that condemning Goff as a bust would be a foolish decision considering he's played in just seven NFL games.

The upcoming season will tell us a lot about Goff. After all, he's longer saddled by Jeff Fisher's "middle school offense," as Todd Gurley so aptly put it a season ago.

Speaking of Gurley, he offered some praise for Goff's work this offseason, saying that he's seeing noticeable improvement in his game.

"Oh, he's been getting better. Obviously, he didn't go No. 1 for no reason. He has the talent, and he's just been getting better," Gurley told SiriusXM NFL Radio, according to NFL.com. "He definitely had a great OTAs, great minicamp. Coaches have been doing a good job with him. Just his preparation, him being there all day, he's been great so far, man, so I'm definitely looking forward to it."

In 2016, Goff completed 54.6 percent of his passes, averaged 5.3 yards per attempt, threw five touchdowns and seven interceptions, and posted a 63.6 passer rating. The Rams went 0-7 with Goff under center. But there are a couple of reasons to be optimistic about his development.

As previously mentioned, Fisher is no longer running the team. With Goff in mind, the Rams went out and hired Sean McVay, who thrived as the offensive coordinator of the Redskins. The expectation is that McVay will be able to offer some more scheme creativity and put his players in a better position to succeed.

Then there's the fact that Goff didn't really receive much help last season. According to Pro Football Focus, Goff's receivers dropped 16 of 128 catchable passes.

Of course, it's important to note that the Rams didn't exactly transform his supporting cast this offseason. Their biggest addition? Robert Woods. Tavon Austin is still their WR1. So this could be an issue again in 2017.

Goff probably won't get much help from his pass catchers, but he could be aided by Gurley's return. Gurley wasn't hurt last season, but he looked nothing like the rookie sensation he was in 2015. Last year, Gurley averaged 3.2 yards per carry. Two years ago, he averaged 4.8 yards per carry.

Again, the key is McVay finding ways to creatively use Gurley. The Rams are short on playmakers, so they need to rely on Gurley as much as possible. According to NFL.com, the Rams have been moving Gurley all around the field during practice.

Still, despite the change in coaches, it seems unlikely they'll do much damage this year. It's not Goff's rookie year anymore, but he is still being asked to learn a new offense. Furthermore, the primary reason behind the Rams' struggles is not coaching, it's a talent deficiency. The Rams likely won't be able to undergo a drastic improvement until they revamp their roster. And that'll take some time.

In the meantime, the best-case scenario for Los Angeles is seeing some improvement from Goff once the games begin. Despite all of their roster holes, if the Rams can get Goff to perform up to his potential, they'll win big-time by filling the most important position in all sports.