The NFL is a strange profession. Some players become 10-year veterans, while others find themselves out of the league in a heartbeat.

Case Keenum, who is at the moment the presumed to be the Los Angeles Rams starting quarterback by some, could find himself off the roster next season. How crazy does that sound? While Keenum obviously won’t be out of the league or anything near that, he signed a tender with the Rams, but it was only for one year. This means that the 28-year-old QB will be a free agent come 2017.

Keenum has had a pretty average career overall, and with rookie signal caller Jared Goff vying for his time in the spotlight, Keenum could be pushed into a backup role sooner than later.

While much of the conversation currently is about Keenum vs. Goff, let’s keep in mind that the Rams drafted a guy by the name of Sean Mannion in the third round in 2015. While we aren’t ready to believe that Mannion is a serious threat to start or anything, he’s at least placed himself in the mix for a potential future backup role.

Mannion is the Pac-12’s all-time leading passer. That is a lofty title, seeing as the Pac-12 has had some illustrious QBs come out of it, including Goff. For what it’s worth, Mannion had a very small sample size of work during his rookie year, completing six of seven passes for 31 yards.

The former Oregon State star isn’t set to become a free agent until 2019. With that said, instead of spending the money on Keenum to keep him as a backup, the Rams should continue to develop Mannion, and after this year make him the No. 2 quarterback. Perhaps down the line if Goff struggles to live up to the lofty expectations, Mannion may potentially be able to step in (which we’re all hoping will never be the case). A far less extreme case than that, would be if Mannion ends up not being needed, and the Rams could trade him in the future, similar to how the Patriots traded Ryan Mallett.

Mannion is a useful and interesting player at this point. He’s only 24 years old and could prove to be a starter, a reliable backup or even trade bait down the road if the Rams play their cards right.