Ask any coach or quarterback around the league and they’ll tell you continuity is one of the most important parts of a young quarterback’s development. There’s often a lot of talk about the freshman-to-sophomore leap that top young quarterbacks make, and Jared Goff certainly made one this past year.

But not a lot of those quarterbacks had a brand new head coach, coordinator and offensive scheme while making that second-year leap. The lack of continuity from Goff’s first to second seasons makes his progression last year even more impressive, and should leave Rams fans very excited about the prospect of a third-year leap.

What Goff was asked to do during his year with Jeff Fisher was entirely different from what he was asked to do by Sean McVay this past season, and he only played in eight games as a rookie anyway. It’s near universally acknowledged that Fisher’s teams were running a pretty antiquated offense, so last year was Goff’s first real year in a modern NFL passing attack.

After struggling as a rookie under Fisher in the confines of offensive coordinator Rob Boras’ offense, Goff thrived under McVay’s tutelage this past season. He threw for 3804 yards with 28 touchdowns and just seven interceptions, earning a pro-bowl selection.

Since the slate was wiped almost entirely clean, this past year was essentially Goff’s rookie year. Of the 18 quarterbacks drafted in the top 10 from 2006-16, only Goff, Blaine Gabbert and Matt Leinart had new head coaches at the start of their second season. The fact that Gabbert and Leinart flamed out relatively quickly shows just how important continuity is, and also shows how impressive it was that Goff progressed as much as he did in his first year in a new system.

All of this should have Rams fans very excited to see what Goff does in 2018. With a full offseason to digest the complexities of McVay’s offense, and plenty of game tape to watch of himself, there’s no telling what the limit may be.

The bottom line:

If the second year in a system is when the light is supposed to flip on, Goff may have only scraped his potential this past year. His pro bowl campaign may have just been a preview of what’s to come.